From laidlaws at hotkey.net.au  Wed Aug  4 10:47:36 2010
From: laidlaws at hotkey.net.au (Doug Laidlaw)
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 10:47:36 +1000
Subject: [Boykett-announce] Robert Ware and "The Hunting of the Romish Fox"
Message-ID: <201008041047.36103.laidlaws@hotkey.net.au>

Here in Australia, having a convict ancestor is now a matter of pride.  My 
mother-in-law tried to hide hers, and a recent article in "Australian Family 
Tree Connections" mentions a similar case.  But now you can Claim a Convict at 
http://www.claimaconvict.net/

Robert Ware wasn't a convict, and I am not sure I would want to claim kinship 
with him.  He was Irish, and the Wares in the Boykett family tree are English.  
He was the son of a historian. During the period of religious conflict in 
England, he published a book in support of the Protestant cause, full of 
incidents he made up.  He then claimed that he had got his info from his 
father's papers (his father was long dead.) A copy of his book "The Hunting of 
the Romish Fox" has been in the possession of various family members since 
before the 1970's.  I haven't read it, but there are discussions of it all 
over the Web.  A bit like Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code," it is a re-telling of 
an earlier publication.  It is fantastic rubbish.  I have created a Web page 
about it at http://www.douglaidlaw.net/boykett/romish.html .  The link in the 
menu says "Robert Ware."  Reading the page, one might think I am a Catholic.  
I am not.  I come from a Protestant background, but I have known Protestants 
who are more interested in hating Catholics than in loving their neighbour.  I 
have a lot of respect for Catholics (and two daughters married into Catholic 
families.)  I have tried to be as neutral in my comments as the subject-matter 
permits.

Doug.


From laidlaws at hotkey.net.au  Wed Aug  4 10:51:45 2010
From: laidlaws at hotkey.net.au (Doug Laidlaw)
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 10:51:45 +1000
Subject: [Boykett-announce] Web site changes
Message-ID: <201008041051.45154.laidlaws@hotkey.net.au>

With more pages being added, it is becoming a big job to update the menus on 
them all.  I am thinking of making some "under the hood" changes to make this 
easier.  The only visible change would be that page names would end in .shtml 
instead of .html.  I will let you know if/when that happens.

Doug.


From laidlaws at hotkey.net.au  Thu Aug  5 00:36:48 2010
From: laidlaws at hotkey.net.au (Doug Laidlaw)
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 00:36:48 +1000
Subject: [Boykett-announce] Ken Boykett and Nancy Davidson - a society
	wedding.
Message-ID: <201008050036.48353.laidlaws@hotkey.net.au>

"Did you undulate, dear?"

The National Library of Australia has digitised some old newspapers, and has 
tried to convert them into text with optical character recognition.  With the 
fuzzy outlines of newspaper type, it is one of the least successful candidates 
for this.  Fortunately, there is an image right beside it.  They ask people to 
correct their efforts.

At 
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4072940?searchTerm=Boykett%20+%20Davidson#pstart476649
there was a full description of Ken Boykett's wedding in the women's pages of 
the Melbourne "Argus."  Hard going for a man, but I fixed it up.   It was 
easier to re-type the whole thing, line by line, than to correct the original 
attempt.  In the circumstances, I had to keep with the spelling "Hibbert."

A couple of male comments:-

It seems that Ken acquired not only a mother-in-law, but the whole of her 
tribe (her maiden name was Shaw.)

I still believe that a husband is only an excuse for an event like this.

The quote at the top, according to my mother, was a question put by a woman in 
the next street to her daughter, after a social event.  That is how Society 
behaves.  I met said daughter on a tram, and she was sporting an American 
accent.  I assumed she had been travelling, but no: it was an affectation.

As an example of the raw material,  here is the beginning of the next item:

"POLO FINALS

riieic MIS gi cat excitement at Alooncc A allcv \estcidi\ when the fin ii mitth 
for the Mi idbroke Cup Mas Mon bj Haldon (INSV, ) Laih *somctH piescntcd the 
cups to the successful te uns His Lxcel lemi (Loid Somers) ind Jjidv Sim?is et 
eiipied the ilceiegil bo\ and the^ MCIC aetompnnied b\ Lieut Colonel md Alis 1 
li Dividson Mis II my Greswick, and"

And here is my corrected version of the wedding description. The gaps are line 
spaces in the newspaper.  I have corrected a couple of remaining typos (mine.)  
Yes, there is a material called ninon:

 WOMAN'S REALM

BOYKETT-DAVIDSON WEDDING.

Decorated with artistic effect the Ewing   Memorial Presbyterian Church, Burke 
Road, East Malvern, was the setting of a wedding         last evening. The 
bride was Nancy Mar-     garet second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Davidson, 
Aldene, Dundonald avenue, East Malvern, and the bridegroom was   Kenneth 
Hibbert eldest son of Mr. and Mrs Hibbert Boykett, Prospect, Adelaide. The 
Rev. W. Johnston conducted the ser-      

vice. The bride, who was given away by   her father, was a charming figure in 
her dainty wedding gown of ivory white gros   grain taffetas, made with a long 
tight-fitting       bodice, with wrist length sleeves. The skirt, which nearly 
touched the ground,        

had the graceful lines of drapery drawn to       the back into a large bow 
below the waist. A distinctive feature of the toilette was   the beautiful 
wedding veil of handmade       point lace lent by the bridegroom's mother,     
in whose family it is an heirloom. The       lovely lace mounted on a 
voluminous foun- dation of white tulle was caught to the head by posies of 
orange blossom and white     heather. The bridesmaids were Misses Mary 
Davidson, Leonie Miller, and Barbara         Boykett (sister of the 
bridegroom) and they were dressed alike in frocks of pale   apple-green ninon, 
the long full skirts of which fell in points of uneven fullness. Their   hats 
of pale green felt had narrow brims       which widened to the back. Sheaves 
of red gladioli were carried, and made an effective touch of colour to the 
becoming   toilettes. Mr Archie MacKirdy was the

best man, and Mr Hector McCowan and   Dr. Ronald Davidson were the groomsmen. 
Master W. Davidson (brother of the bride)

was the usher.

After the wedding Mr. and Mrs. Davidson received a large number of relatives 
and friends at Aldene, where wedding dinner was served. Mrs. Davidson wore a 
graceful gown of black georgette sewn with a beaded design. Her coat of 
seagull grey chenelle   brocade georgette was trimmed with grey fox fur, and 
her small hat was of black

felt.

Among those present were:-  

Mr. and Mrs Hibbet Boykett, of Adelaide     (parents of the bridegroom), Miss 
Alison David-    

son, Mr. and Mrs. George Shaw, Dr and Mrs. Gordon Shaw, Miss Mary Shaw, Mr. 
and Mrs. J. L.

Carnegie, Mr. and Mrs. R. Mathieson, Mr. and Mrs.       McKay Shaw, Mr. and 
Mrs Cyril Goodman, Miss         Mildred Shaw, Dr. and Mrs Patrick Shaw, Mr.        

and Mrs. Henry Shaw, Mr. and Mrs Rou, Misses   Elizabeth Shaw, Cynthia Duigan, 
Marjorie Murphy,    

Laura Shaw (Ballarat), Dr. Lois Duncan, Miss  

Elsie Shaw, Mr. Vincent Smith, Mr. E. Kewney, and Mr. Arthur Begg (Beaufort). 

Doug.


From laidlaws at hotkey.net.au  Fri Aug 27 20:33:50 2010
From: laidlaws at hotkey.net.au (Doug Laidlaw)
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:33:50 +1000
Subject: [Boykett-announce] Thomas Boykett Jr, Chelsea Pensioner Records.
Message-ID: <201008272033.50966.laidlaws@hotkey.net.au>

The records of Chelsea Pensioners are now at the U.K. National Archives, and 
are searchable through www.findmypast.co.uk/ (formerly 1837online.)  To search 
them I had either to take out a subscription or buy 50 credits (the minimum) 
for something like 7 pounds.  Seeing the images was supposed to cost me 30 
credits.

But wait, there's more!

There were 4 images, and each image cost 30 credits (about 2 pounds or 4 
dollars.)  Not what they said to begin with.  More money please!  I had 
subscribed once before.  On that occasion, they sent me almost daily emails 
wanting to know when I was going to give them some money.  Even Ancestry.com 
in the bad old days wasn't as rapacious as this.  No wonder Genes Reunited had 
to double their rates to include the 1911 Census, which fmp controls as well.  
And no wonder the site got the Queen's Award for business excellence.   They 
could teach Microsoft a thing or two.

Since Thomas was an out-pensioner and didn't come to Australia, I decided on 
the "transcription" which cost only 5 credits.  It was about as much like the 
images as a census search result at Ancestry.com.  It contained the following 
details:

Thomas's calculated year of birth was 1826 -- our calculation, too.  He was 
born in the parish of Bow, town of London, county of Middlesex.

At his "attestation date," presumably his enrolment date, (8 Sep 1845) he was 
aged 19 years 3 months.  On his discharge he was with the 56th regiment of 
Foot with the rank of "Serjeant."  Date of discharge was not given.

Elizabeth, I have added you especially, because you told me that you found 
Thomas staying with Hannah's brother, after his discharge and before he became 
a boarder.  I can't find that email at the moment.

Doug.