My History
Introduction
WWII Memories
National Service Part 1
National Service Part 2

Genealogy
Resources
Software
Research

FAQs
Contact Details
Accuracy of Information
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This is the history of my ancestors that I (Norman Arthur Bishop) have been able to trace from the various records that have survived to this day.

The database contains the genealogy records that I have been compiling during the past 30 years or more.


 

 

Most of us at an early stage in our lives tend to care less about our past and focus on the future. Not until we are older do we realise that once we are gone, who will remember us? I am sure that this was the same thoughts our ancestors had before their passing. I have tried to keep alive the lives of our ancestors, by finding, not just their names, and milestone dates (birth/marriage/death), but trying to tell THEIR story.

I had no interest in my family history whatsoever until by chance, some years ago, when visiting my favourite aunt, Birdie (Bertha Lilian Ballard) at Tenterden, who had been bedridden for years with arthritis. She asked me to find a book, and whilst searching I came across a very tattered old book. This was ‘Our Huguenot Ancestors and Family Chart’ by David Espenett, published in 1870, for private circulation. I was intrigued as I really knew nothing of the French Huguenots or of my ancestors, so I borrowed this book and had it restored for her. This book was written by a dissenting minister who was more interested in the religious welfare of the family and though it turned out to be very misleading, nevertheless it had me interested and wanting to know more. I took my redundancy/early retirement in 1990 and this has kept me busy ever since.

I have documented the results of my genealogy research in two books:


The story of the descendants of Samuel Bishop, Master Fisherman of Greenwich,
many who were seafarers or in some way connected with the sea.













The story of the descendants of David Espinet and the families of Huguenot Refugees.