The hidden story of Mary Ann Cooper and Isaac Dibben: a tale of love, loyalty and endurance in the face of Victorian scandal and the workhouse
The Baby Born in an Asylum?
Category: England
Cracking a 19th Century Cross-Written Letter
A tantalising find in an online archive reveals a family conversation hidden in plain sight for nearly 200 years
One Photograph, Four Generations
One faded photograph of a 1920s motorcycle outing transformed my understanding of a grandfather I had known only as a bitter old man
A Woman of Her Own Making
Catherine Dibben (1850-1934) rose from a poor Hayling Island childhood to running a successful boarding house and inspiring four generations of women
Twins and the Paths of Poverty and Prosperity
Henry Mayhew (1812-1881) and Priscilla Mayhew (1812–1886): born together, lives apart - twins in an age of change
Discovering the Missing Mayhew Child
Lily Violet Dorothy Mayhew (1907–1942) vanished from the records as a baby, only to re-emerge as a young woman whose life was shaped by loss, work, and war
A Smörgåsbord of Food Memories
Childhood meals remembered through everyday food, family habits and changing tastes - a glimpse into domestic life in the past
“Present at the Death”
Charlotte Mayhew (c1816–1899): a silenced life recovered through the records
Warrant Officer Edwin John “Jack” Aslett
Killed whilst flying - after VE Day, aged 23
Stoker 1st Class Leonard Francis Beck
Killed on War Service in the Mediterranean Sea, aged 28
