Kathrina Perry - Local Historian

    Lady Manfield was the wife of Sir Moses Philip Manfield, owner of Manfield and Sons. Born Margaret Milne, Lady Manfield was the second wife of Sir Philip and was the daughter of James Milne who was the County Surveyor. [1]  Her obituary in the  Northampton Mercury  makes mention of her “many kind and generous deeds” and describes her co-operation with her husband’s pursuits rather than that of her own altruism. [2]  However, further research into her own activities suggests otherwise. The involvement of Lady Manfield, as she was know from 1894 when her Husband was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours, can be seen as in keeping with the philanthropic nature of the Unitarian church that both she and her husband were members of. When the Unitarian church and school buildings on the Kettering Road in Northampton opened in 1897, Sir Philip Manfield attributed the inception of the church, reported to be circa £5000 (approximately £654,700 today[3]) togethe...

New Series Coming Soon:   Ladies of the Shoe Trade: Women's Philanthropy in the Northampton Boot and Shoe Industry  Recently I was invited to write a blog post for History Bites  and it got me thinking that I should do more to share some of my research on my own blog. So I've decided to start a weekly series with short biographies of the ladies that I am researching for my PhD. The main thought behind this is to gather my research but hopefully people will find them interesting.  I plan to post the profiles every Thursday to give myself a regular target.  Some of the profiles might not be complete but will have lots of information about philanthropic activities that the ladies were involved in.   A number of local boot and shoe making families will be features including the Manfield, Bostock, Lewis, Arnold and Barratt families.  I always welcome comments, particularly with stories about the families. 

March - Still in limbo but have a plan  I thought it would be a good time to do a quick update on how I'm getting on with all those targets I set...... Here's a recap:  For January/February I tasked myself.......  Primary research - including visits to Northampton Central Library, Northamptonshire Records Office and potentially London Type Up Notes  Organise notes into categories/topics (Current plans for General Women, Religion, General philanthropy, politics, organisations including hospitals, local history/geographic factors)  Tidy up bibliography list Create research list for both primary and secondary Create a research timetable Write 800/1000 per week - either chapter work or biographies (To see what I've tasked myself for the whole year check out my last blog post )  January Update January was a bit of a damp squib. Although I had 4 weeks off work (Exams and Semester break - nothing major) and had planned to get a large chunk of writing done I did no...

2022: Another Year Another Blog  Happy New Year. Here's to another year of PhD woes. I say woes, I don't mean it. When I get a chance to sit down and get my teeth into research I actually really enjoy it. I wouldn't even say I don't enjoy writing. I love getting my research on paper and bringing it all together. However, it can be quite tedious and frustrating at times.  Just to update you, I started this PhD in October 2019 bc (before Covid). I've been through transfer and now the world is my oyster until October 2025, which is my final deadline.  I don't make new years resolutions but I do try to make plans. My plans for this year (particularly as I have big chunks when I won't be working so can focus on my PhD) are:  Reach 40,000 words by the end of the year  Write drafts for at least two chapters  Visit Northamptonshire Records Office, the Women's Library and The National Archives  Present at least two seminar papers (one of these is already planne...

Thoughts on the forthcoming 1921 Census Release The news is out that the 1921 census will be released on 6th January 2022. It will be exclusively on Find My Past and on a pay as you go basis initially. After the initial excitement (and whinging about the costs) here are my thoughts on how to approach it.  The 1921 census will be the last census revealed until 2052 for several reasons. The Census Act of 1920 means that documents must remain secret for 100 years, and with the 1931 Census being destroyed in 1942 and no census being taken in 1941 due to the Second World War there is a long wait until the next one.  1. Make a list of who you need to look for  Let's face it, with the £2.50 per transcript view and £3.50 per original image, the cost can still stock up so my advice would be making a list of who you know should be on the census.  I plan to make a list for both my family tree and my PhD research, and I know that for my PhD alone I will have at least thirty reco...

  Looking for Ladies: The Importance of Local History in Women’s History Local history and women’s history are often considered two separate arms of historical research. However, local history resources can be vital in telling women’s story, particularly when considering those who are often left out of the national historical picture. Considering approaches to both women’s history and local history acknowledges comparison of methodologies which in turn allows for development of further studies between the two specialisms. Charles Pythian-Adams argues that academic local history tends to be inspired by geographical subject matter which sees the separation of town and rural with the categories of urban history and agrarian history. [1] If local history is a study of people in a specific geographical local, why are women so often omitted form the local history studies? It takes methodologies such as prosopography and collective biography to draw out the histories of these women a...

 Returning to the Archives: It's Been a While  So today I returned to the Northamptonshire Records Office at Wootton Hall Park. It's been a while (so long in fact that I had to be issued a new card and there now seems to be a school building where the Police station once stood!!)  My quest, to search the card indexes for women. Obviously, not just any old women, but my boot manufacturing WAGS (technically that should be WADS - wives and daughters - but let's not get pedantic over my own little amusement).  I had taken a list of the ladies I am looking for, which is forever increasing, hoping that there would be some appear in the name card indexes. Unfortunately only two, Louisa Manfield nee Bostock and Lady Manfield showed up. This means I'm going to take a different approach on how to find these women.  From the index cards, I have made a list of potential areas and documents to look at.  Currently these are split into six categories; People, Societies, C...