New TNA Podcasts - Merchant Seaman and Victorian Women Prisoners

Two new podcasts in TNA's seminar series are now available.

The very latest, originally given on 14 October, is by Janet Dempsey and deals with records relating to British merchant seaman.

The good news is that there are records for individuals back to the middle of the 19th century. Unfortunately it's a complicated topic as the way records were kept changed frequently. I found the presentation difficult to follow -- it was likely easier with the visual aids used in the seminar room at TNA but these aren't provided. Not all presentations work as podcasts. You might try reinforcing the audio by following along with the merchant navy information at the TNA website.

Th talk on Victorian women prisoners looks at a series of records dating from 1853 to 1887 - and newly indexed records of females released early on licence in series PCOM 4. It also focuses on particular individuals in order to tell their tales, and illustrate the depth of information available. I found the presentation by Chris Heather (sp?), recorded on 7 October, easier to follow than that on merchant seaman.