Pen and Sword Books: Tracing Your Canal Ancestors by Sue Wilkes

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Tracing Your Canal Ancestors
Tracing Your Canal Ancestors (9 reviews)
A Guide for Family Historians
Sue Wilkes
Found in: British History Books
Series: Tracing your Ancestors
Paperback 192 pages
ISBN: 9781848842380
Published: 17 October 2011
£12.00
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Britain’s industrial revolution depended on canals for the cheap movement of materials and goods – until the coming of the railways. Canal companies struggled to compete and went into a long decline, but much of the canal network is still with us today, and interest in the history and heritage of canals - and those who worked on them - is strong. That is why Sue Wilkes’s well researched and highly readable handbook on the subject is so valuable.
She concentrates on the people who lived and worked on the waterways – the canal boatmen, their families and their way of life - and those who depended on the canal trade for a living – the lock-keepers, toll collectors, and canal company clerks. She provides a thorough, practical guide to the sources – the archives, books, websites, societies – available for researchers if they are studying our inland waterways, or trying to find out about an ancestor who worked on the canals or was connected with them.
Her book is essential reading for anyone interested in this aspect of the industrial past.
Reviews
Tracing your Canal Ancestors is a practical guide that aims to help people with ancestors who worked on the canals, or for a canal company, to explore these roots.
Read it for a useful... [read full review]
Your Family Tree, April 2012
This is the practical guide that aims to help people with an ancestor who worked on the canals or for a canal company.
Split into two parts, the first section explored the story of... [read full review]
Roots & Branch, WSFHS, March 2012
Britain’s industrial revolution depended on canals for the cheap movement of materials and goods- until the coming of railways. Canal companies struggled to compete and went into a long decline, but much of the canal... [read full review]
Kent Family History Society Journal, March 2012
equally superb offering on a completely different theme – the canal heritage of the British Isles. The book is in two main parts – the first detailing the history and the second how to... [read full review]
Discover my Past, Scotland
The book is well written in a lively style, the information is comprehensive and more than enough to give a researcher a good start in their quest for a canal ancestor… It is well researched... [read full review]
Federation of Family History Societies
A comprehensive introduction to the history of canal and inland waterway workers. This practical guide shows how to trace canal boatmen and their families, explains the workings of the canal network and identifies key sources... [read full review]
Freelance Market News, Jan 2012
“The first half of this volume offers a clear, atmospheric history of canals and the people who built and worked them. The second section of the book guides readers through the various records and repositories... [read full review]
Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, Christmas 2011
Social historian Sue Wilkes’ new book, Tracing your Canal Ancestors, is an authoritative guide for those with connections to Britain’s waterways.
A mixture of socio-industrial history with clear advice on how to find out... [read full review]
Your Family History, Dec 2011
This guide is not just for those with canal boatmen in their trees – it also provides often overlooked information on people who relied on the canal trade for a living, such as lock-keepers, toll... [read full review]
Family History Monthly, Harriet Williams, Dec 2011
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About Sue Wilkes
Sue Wilkes is an established expert on our industrial heritage and a well-known family historian. She has contributed many articles to history and family history magazines, including BBC History, Ancestors, Discover My Past, Family History Monthly, Your Family History and Jane Austen’s Regency World. She has written four books: ‘Tracing Your Canal Ancestors’ (Pen & Sword, 2011), ‘The Children History Forgot’ (Robert Hale, 2011), ‘Regency Cheshire’ (Robert Hale, 2009) and ‘Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives’ (History Press, 2008), which includes a chapter on canal boat families). Sue read Physics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. A member of the Society of Authors, she is a creative writing tutor specialising in non-fiction.

Sue is currently working on 'Tracing Your Lancashire Ancestors' for Pen & Sword. http://suewilkes.blogspot.com/
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