Anglo-German Family History Society
Founded:1987
Go to the Society website
Peter J. Towey, Vice-President
20 Skylark Rise
Plymouth, Devon
ENGLAND, United Kingdom, PL6 7SN
Telephone: 01752 310852
Fax: 01752 310852
Secretary:
Mrs Gwen Davis, BA (Hons),
5 Oldbury Grove, Beaconsfield,
Buckinghamshire,
ENGLAND, United Kingdom, HP9 2AJ
EMail address: gwedolinedavis@aol.com
Sugar Bakers in UK Website:
Please also visit the allied website listing German sugar bakers in UK from 18th to 19th century. There are currently 3,514 entries in its database. Find it on another server at http://www.mawer.clara.net
Summary Background: We are a mutual self-help group founded in 1987 in London, England, with over 1,100 members from all over the world but mainly in UK. We aim to help each other research ancestors who came from the German-speaking parts of Europe and settled in England. Some settled for only a few years before travelling on to America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc., and some for generations.
We are also members of the UK-based Federation of Family History Societies. Germans have been coming to England, just on the other side of the North Sea, for millennia, but most of our members' ancestors came over in the 19th century. The main causes were over-population, lack of work opportunities, war and political upheaval in Europe and new opportunities in industrializing England. Many came over to work in the sugar baking industry in East London.
We aim to publish as much as we can to help descendants to research German immigrants in England, to discover where they came from and to put their lives in historical context. We now have indexes to the many of the registers of the German churches in England and can search in them for members.
During the First World War, German-born civilians in UK were interned as enemy aliens. We are trying to obtain what records we can. We have an index to internees from 1916 to 1919 and are trying to find earlier lists. What we have is available to members to search.
English Public Records: One of our members, Len Metzner, has been extracting details of Germans from the English Public Records for many years. His indexes now cover:
Army records (including the King's German Legion - effectively the Hanoverian Army in exile during the Napoleonic occupation of Hanover)
Records of the London German Lutheran Church Ladies of Charity in the 19th century.
These indexes also are available freely to members to search.
Computerised Names Index Database: The Society is currently producing a Computerised Names Index database of all the Germans in our records. We intend to add to it all references to Germans in the United Kingdom as time allows. As at December 2000 it contains 500,000+ entries. See below for details on how to have searches made.
Publication: Quarterly Magazine: Mitteilungsblatt 44 pages (in English).
We also send new members a booklet with full details of all our services.
Meeting Dates and Time: We meet at 12.15 p.m. in London on the second Saturday of every other month i.e.: February, April, June, August, October and December.
Location of meetings: King�s Cross Methodist Church, Crestfield Street, London WC1 (directly opposite King�s Cross Main Line Station)
Price List of Publications Available: a number of Research Guides and other books on particular aspects of German research in England. For examples see below
Research Guides include:
Research Guide 2: Tracing German-Speaking Ancestors. New edition published Dec 1998.
Research Guide 4: Useful Addresses for German Research [ie addresses of societies, archives, etc. in Germany] [New edition published April 2000]
Research Guide 12: The Records of German Churches in the British Isles 1550-1900 [published in January 2000]
Record Series:
Record Series One: St George's German Lutheran Church, Alie Street, Aldgate, London. Marriages 1825-1896. [2.50 pounds] (on microfiche)
Record series Two: St George's German Lutheran Church, Alie Street, Aldgate, London. Baptisms: 1763-1895; Burials: 1818-1853. [5.00 pounds] (on microfiche)
Record Series Three: St Paul's German Reformed Church, London. Baptisms: 1824-1940; Marriages: 1858-1938; Burials: 1832-1940.[2.50 pounds] (on microfiche)
Record Series Four: 1881 Census of Heligoland. [2.50 pounds] (on microfiche)
Other Publications:
The German Hospital in London and the Community it Served 1845-1948 by Maureen Specht. Newly revised and illustrated edition. [6.00 pounds]
Civilian Internment in Britain during the First World War. Newly revised and illustrated version. [10.00 pounds]
The Wendish Lands - Especially Old Mecklenburg by Bernard von Neumann. [2.50 pounds]
German Pork Butchers in Britain �by Susan Gibbons. [published in 2001.] [121 pounds]
The King's German Legion: Records and Research by Gwen Davis [published in 2000] [11 pounds]
Our publications can be purchased on-line by accessing our pages at the FFHS separate website www.familyhistorybooks.co.uk .� You can pay by credit card.
Other publication in the pipeline are books on: German hairdressers in UK; German sugar bakers in UK; and a further book on the King�s German Legion.
Postal Bookshop:
Mrs Jenny Towey, BA,
20 Skylark Rise, Plymouth,
Devon, United Kingdom, PL6 7SN,
Phone: 01752 310852
Computerised Names Index: The Society now has a computerised Name Index of Germans and other German-Speaking people in the United Kingdom. As at December 2000 there are 500,000+ entries mainly of the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes the names from the Registers of most German Churches in England, Naturalisations of Aliens in the United Kingdom, Civilian Internees in WW I, Germans in British Regiments, and names from many other sources including miscellaneous "strays" sent in by members, and is being constantly added to.� Currently this service is available to members only.
Research Services (Members only):
Free queries in Mitteilungsblatt magazine
German and Austrian Telephone Directories on CD-ROM
Membership Year: 1 August through 31 July.
Annual Membership Fees: For all new members a joining fee of 5.00 pounds sterling is imposed in addition to the annual membership fee. This covers the comprehensive new members' booklet and helps towards our new publications fund. The annual membership fees are:
In the UK: - 10.00 pounds sterling
Joint Membership in UK (i.e. one magazine between two members) 11.00 pounds sterling.
Single membership: in the rest of Europe: 11.50 pounds sterling (by airmail).
In US, Australia and the rest of the world: 13.50 pounds sterling (by airmail).
Apply for an application form to the Secretary:
Mrs Gwen Davis, BA (Hons),
5 Oldbury Grove, Beaconsfield,
Buckinghamshire,
ENGLAND, United Kingdom, HP9 2AJ
EMail address: gwedolinedavis@aol.com