Bibliography - Susan Martin
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300 years, two names, by Susan Martin, published December 2007 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 17 no. 8, article, pp.390-393) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508992] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

A narrative history of the ancestors of James Edward Steer, born 13 January 1921 in Lancing, who married Doris Hill on 23 December 1944 in Walburton and died in Ferring in 1992.

Great-uncles in the Great War, by Sue Martin, published December 2008 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 18 no. 4, article, pp.196-200) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508971] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

War 4 August 1914! The following day great-uncle Robert HILL reported for duty at the barracks of the Royal Sussex Regiment in Chichester. The Chichester Observer (12 August 1914) described: "It was nearly 10pm when at last they left the barracks but large crowds awaited them in North and South Streets and all the way down they were greeted with cheers. This batch numbered just 400. Another left on Thursday". Robert was a reservist so he had been mobilised immediately. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion.

A young lady with four names, by Susan Martin, published March 2009 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 18 no. 5, article, pp.246-247) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508972] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The Sussex connection is somewhat tenuous but this tale may help someone starting to research their family history. Puzzles like this are. I think, on a par with cracking a cryptic crossword clue.
James William HANNINGTON was my grandfather's cousin. His mother Sarah Ann BLACKMAN was born in Harting, Sussex but after her marriage to James HARRINGTON she moved to Brighton, then Reading where James was born in 1873 and finally the family settled in Wokingham, Berkshire. On the 1901 census James was living in East Hampstead, Wokingham with his wife Henrietta aged 31 born Hurst, Berkshire and daughter Florence aged five. Hurst is a parish four miles from Wokingham. James's younger brother Frederick HANNINGTON was living with them, and he and James were both bricklayer's labourers.
I wished to find out Henrietta's maiden name . . .

Rose Boxall: a hard life, by Sue Martin, published March 2010 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 19 no. 1, article, pp.36-42) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508842] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

My interest in Rose Jane BOXALL was sparked when I discovered that she had been widowed three times before the age of 35, two of her husbands being brothers, cousins to my great-grandfather. Had I stumbled across a black widow? Wanting to find out more I looked into her life using census returns and invested in certificates. The results were surprising.

William the stumbling block, by Sue Martin, published June 2010 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 19 no. 2, article, pp.55-59) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508843] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Reading 'William the Invisible' by Michael Ewens in the December 2009 Sussex Family Historian brought to mind the problem I have with an ancestor of mine also called William.
Being Sussex born and bred I am fortunate in being able to trace most of the family to the 18th and in some cases the 17th and even 16th centuries. How frustrating then to find that the biggest 'stumbling block' I've come across is as recent as a great-grandfather. Not so surprising perhaps as my grandmother Nellie HILL (née BLUNDEN) always hinted that there was a mystery around the birth of her father William BLUNDEN, possibly a birth on the 'wrong side of the blanket' which seemed to be associated with his mother working in a 'big house'. She also said he was ill-treated as a child by his father because his father had been made to marry his mother.
William BLUNDEN was certainly illegitimate.

White plague, by Susan Martin, published March 2011 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 19 no. 5, article, pp.231-235) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508846] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

l am pretty sure that every reader will have at least one ancestor or close relative of an ancestor whose death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis, or as we know it now tuberculosis. Our ancestors would probably have named it, if they dared acknowledge it, consumption. This little story is surely one which was replicated in many other families in the 19th century.
Lucy STALLARD was born Lucy TRIMMER and baptised in Harting parish church on 9 February 1835. Her parents were Peter TRIMMER (1789-1855) (my great-great-grandmother's cousin) and Ann EAMES (1789-1876). Lucy grew up in the village situated on the Hampshire border, the youngest of nine children. Her father was an agricultural labourer. Like many girls from the village she went into domestic service, and at the age of 16 as the 1851 census shows she was working as a domestic servant to the widowed Richard HEASEY, of Manor Farm, Greatham. This Greatham was not the one near Pulborough, but about seven miles north from Harting over the Hampshire border, east from Alton. Another domestic servant Jane HARRIS (born BOOKER) a 26-year-old widow also came from Harting. Perhaps Lucy got her position through Jane.

Steers in 19th century Lancing, by Susan Martin, published September 2011 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 19 no. 7, article, pp.328-332) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508848] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

During the 19th century all the families in the coastal village of Lancing apart from one were descended from my ancestor Thomas STEER who settled in the village with his bride Martha MERRIT in 1798. There had been STEERs recorded in the parish registers earlier but no family spanning more than one generation.

Who Can Beat Three?, by Susan Martin, published March 2012 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 1, article, p.2) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508850] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

In my extended family I have recently come across three brothers marrying three sisters. Two brothers marrying sisters happened occasionally but I have never come across three before. Has anyone else? Can anyone beat it?
My three brothers were three of the four sons born to Kenelm and Anna CHANDLER; William Harry born 1873 Haslemere, George Percy born 1878 Haslemere and Herbert Augustus born 1884 Petersfield. . . .

Illegal Marriages, by Susan Martin, published June 2012 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 2, article, pp.54-55) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508851] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

A follow on from the interesting article 'An Unexpected Discovery' by David Pearce in December's issue. Illegal marriages between men and their deceased wives sisters and women and their deceased husbands' brothers were far from unusual. I have come across several examples in my family (as probably have other readers). Here are two examples:
On September 20th 1841 Sarah WILMORE (WILMER) married Nathan Burchell in St Mary's parish church, Shipley.
. . .
On 31 December 1898 Job MILES married Rose MILES in Chichester Register Office

Which William?, by Sue Martin, published December 2012 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 4, article, pp.180-182) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508975] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The STEERS were historically concentrated in Sussex, Kent and Surrey (along with Devon) and in West Sussex they were particularly numerous in the parishes between Arundel and Horsham, one of which is Wisborough Green. William was the first or second most popular names in most parishes, where most boys were usually named out of a pool of no more than eight Christian names.

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published December 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 4, article, pp.168-173) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508854]

Many of my generation are now asking what their grandparents did during the First World War, I am now almost certain; from strong circumstantial evidence that my paternal grandfather George Edward STEER didn't serve in the armed forces. Instead of looking through war diaries and studying military actions I've decided to look at what life would have been like for him and his family in the part of South Lancing called Salt Lake where they lived.

John (Jack) Wild of Harting, 1914, by Susan Martin, published 2015 in West Sussex History, the Journal of West Sussex Archives Society (no. 83, article, p.39) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16404/83] & The Keep [LIB/508996]

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published March 2015 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 5, article, pp.209-215) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508855]

The story of the residents of Salt Lake during WW1 continues from page 173 of the last Historian. Serving in the Royal Navy by the end of 1914 was Henry Charles LOWER from 9 Salt Lake Cottages. He had been born 15 July 1899 in Burgess Hill but following the death of his father in 1902 he, his mother and sisters Emily and Ivy had been living with his grandfather Charles WINTON.

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published June 2015 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 6, article, pp.286-291) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508876]

The story of the residents of Salt Lake during WW1 continues from page 209 of the last Historian

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published September 2015 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 7, article, pp.328-334) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508953]

Situated on the coast Lancing was of course in front line danger for any possible invasion. There would have been a detailed evacuation plan however I haven't come across it. Probably with possible invasion in mind on 2 September 1914 officers of the Church Lad's Brigade offered to give free of charge elementary instruction and musketry and drill to every man over 20 not on the strength of the brigade.

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published December 2015 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 8, article, pp.367-370) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509026]

Indication has already been given that moving within the area during the War was frequent, as it was before and after. Word of mouth must have been the chief means of hearing that another property became vacant. George STEER and his family moved from 5 to 10 Salt Lake Cottages.

John (Jack) Wild of Harting, 1915, by Susan Martin, published 2016 in West Sussex History, the Journal of West Sussex Archives Society (no. 84, article, p.11) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16404/84] & The Keep [LIB/509448]

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published March 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 1, article, pp.20-24) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509161]

Lancing seems to have been a relatively crime free village. Certain crimes were war related. There were several prosecutions for having an unobscured light, particularly on householders along the seafront. One of those was a JP caught with a light showing at 10.10pm.

The Other Wilds, by Susan Martin, published June 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 2, article, pp.57-58) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509232]

If your family lived in a village (or town) where there are a number of people with the same surname (and often the same first names too) then it is usually necessary to research several lines, and what you discover can be very rewarding even if you are getting rather distant from your immediate line. This was the situation I was faced with the WILDs in Harting. Between 1784 and 1794 eight babies were baptised with parents John and Sarah WILD. But they weren't born to a single couple; four belonged to John WILD Jr and Sarah HALL and four to John WILD and Sarah WHEATLEY. The two Johns were first cousins, grandsons of Edward and Mary WILD. John WILD Jr was a witness to the marriage of his cousin John at St Paul's Elsted on 13 January 1787.

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published June 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 2, article, pp.88-93) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509232]

The story of the residents of Salt Lake during WW1 continues from page 20 of the last Historian.

Salt Lake During WW1, by Susan Martin, published September 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 3, article, pp.125-129) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509265]

Name Games, by Susan Martin, published December 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 4, article, pp.156-159) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509472]

There are very few records of men in Sussex with the name Ambrose Steer - were they all related?

The Nottingham Children, by Susan Martin, published March 2017 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 5, article, pp.230-232) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860]

The Weather, by Susan Martin, published June 2017 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 6, article, pp.259-261) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860]