Category Archives: All Posts

Midshipman’s Log of Robert Horace Walpole 1870-1: The Start of a Life of Adventure

Robert Horace Walpole was born in 1854 and joined the Royal Navy in 1867.  This blog is an account of Walpole’s Midshipman’s log on HMS Bristol from February 1870 to January 1871.  No great adventures are recorded here; the predominant … Continue reading

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Hidden Stories behind the Asylum Records

Written by Christine Shackell, NRO research blogger The Thorpe Asylum casebooks held at the Norfolk Record Office give us a snapshot in time of the lives of the patients admitted there. Extending the search to include other records gives us … Continue reading

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Record Office Recipes

Archives give us a unique insight into the kitchens of our ancestors  We can discover ingredients unfamiliar to our modern taste buds and methods that are no longer used in a modern kitchen.  We can also discover surprisingly familiar ingredients … Continue reading

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Ballgowns and Dinner Invitations

We recently held one of our popular Reading from the Archives events with a very swish title – Ballgowns and Dinner Invitations. Planning for this event was an opportunity to scour the archives using our online catalogue, and find some … Continue reading

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  A Life at Sea – Fishing and Lifeboats

Jackie Mitchell, a volunteer for the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage East of England hub at Norfolk Record Office, explores the audio memoirs of Wells-next-the-Sea fisherman and lifeboat coxswain, David Cox. An interview with Mr Cox was conducted and recorded by … Continue reading

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The Duke of Norfolk’s Deeds: The early Howard Inheritance in Norfolk

The colourful history of the Howard dukes of Norfolk during the Tudor period led to their fall from grace and the loss of their Dukedom in 1572 when the 4th Duke was beheaded. Their faithful adherence to the proscribed Roman … Continue reading

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Bomber Command Medical Officers During the Second World War at RAF Marham

Introduction On D-Day 1945, RAF Medical Officer Victor Tempest introduced his memoirs, Near the Sun: Impressions of a Medical Officer of Bomber Command (NRO, MC 2216/1, 928X7), with the claim that he had achieved a ‘history of how men overcame … Continue reading

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An Enigmatic Diarist as Ever Was Known: The Syleham Diary 1784 – 1824

Taken from Norfolk Record Office, MC 2329/1, 958X1 In 1805 this diarist wrote: This comment led to the diary being offered to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.  They declined the offer and it was subsequently retrieved from a waste paper … Continue reading

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