This is an article published in the Summer 2017 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter...
Apart from the regular brick-wall sessions whereby we use our collective brains to resolve an impasse that a member has reached in the development of a family tree, we have investigated the conditions under which our ancestors lived. We selected a period 1820-1850 and each member of the group undertook to research the developments in a range of conditions such as Politics and Voting, Medicine, Industrial Development, Philosophy, Punishments, Transport and Investment, Growth of Empire, Social and Living conditions, Science, Finance and Wages, Agriculture, Communications and Entertainment.
It has been a fascinating exercise and our ancestors experienced a rate of change in their lifestyle that was just as radical as it is today driven by the development of the steam engine and the fear that the spirit of the French Revolution might cross the channel!