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Quarterly Chronicle • Volume 23, Number 2 • Summer 2017 In This Issue Battle of the Booksellers First In, Last Out: Part Two The Story of the Aquitania We Shall Remember Them Anglo-Celtic Roots This journal is published quarterly in March, June, September and December by the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa and sent free to members. Unless otherwise stated, permission to reprint for non-profit use is granted to organizations and individuals provided the source is credited. Articles accompanied by the copyright symbol () may not be reprinted or copied without the written permission of the author. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of BIFHSGO or its officers, nor are commercial interests endorsed. BIFHSGO members are invited to submit family history stories, illustrations, letters, queries and similar items of interest in electronic format using MSWord-compatible software, to [email protected]. Please include a brief biographical sketch and a passport-type photograph. For more guid- ance see www.bifhsgo.ca under “Publications.” Authors are asked to certify that permission to reproduce any previously copyrighted material has been acquired and are encouraged to provide permission for non-profit reproduction of their articles. The Editor reserves the right to select material that meets the interest of readers and to edit for length and content. Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40015222 Indexed in the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) Editor: Jean Kitchen Editor Emeritus: Chris MacPhail Layout: Barbara Tose Proofreader: Anne Renwick British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa Founded and incorporated in 1994 Charitable Registration No. 89227 4044RR0001 Contact BIFHSGO at PO Box 38026 Ottawa ON K2C 3Y7 613-234-2520 [email protected] www.bifhsgo.ca Contents From the Editor: COLUMN This issue offers a wide-ranging mix From the President/2 of article topics, ranging over centu- FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH ries and continents. Battle of the Booksellers Terry Findley brings us another Terry Findley/3 story of his wife Tad’s ancestors; an First In, Last Out: Part Two eighteenth-century publisher and Irene Kellow Ip/13 bookseller who became caught up in The Story of the Aquitania an epic battle over copyright—or Lynne Willoughby/24 more precisely, book profits. We Shall Remember Them Irene Kellow Ip concludes her Sheila Faure/31 description of the war experiences her father, Tom Kellow, survived as TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES he spent the whole length of World The Cream of the Crop War I immersed in the struggle. John D. Reid/40 In Lynne Willoughby’s description of BIFHSGO NEWS the RMS Aquitania’s long service, we Membership Report learn of its many incarnations and Kathy Wallace/43 its personal connection to her family. CALENDAR OF EVENTS Back cover And Sheila Dohoo Faure introduces Cover Illustration: us to another casualty of the Great Stationers’ Hall, near Paternoster War, who changed regiments to “get Row, 1750 into the action” and paid with his Source: ©Trustees of the British life. Museum Jean Kitchen Anglo-Celtic Roots • Quarterly Chronicle 1 Volume 23, Number 2 • Summer 2017 From the President Another June. Jane Down has been our Program Another season ar- Director since the elections of 2009, rives. It seems in- serving the full eight-year term as a credible to me that director possible under our bylaws. this June concludes Year in and year out, she has done a my third year as stellar job of encouraging members to BIFHSGO president; make presentations—both full and in only one more Great Moments talks—about their year someone else must take the research and their families’ histories. helm. She has found excellent guest speak- ers and has worked tirelessly to make As usual it has been a successful year our meetings as interesting and stim- of well-attended monthly meetings, ulating as they are. It is mostly due to interesting presentations, a profitable her efforts that we attract well over conference, new databases online, 150 attendees each month. Her shoes stories and news shared in print and will be hard to fill, though she has, in electronically. The Board has been fact, left her successor with nearly a supported by numerous volunteers full slate of speakers for the coming who help keep this well-oiled ma- year! I am grateful for her significant chine running smoothly, and I have contributions over the years. been supported by a hard-working and experienced Board of Directors. I’d like to thank Dave and Jane, all the other Board members and our many, This year we again lose two long- many volunteers for their service to serving directors. The past four years, you, our members. Without them, Dave Cross has been Research Direc- there would be no BIFHSGO. tor, working with volunteers and our website team to oversee and maintain And once again, I would encourage the 10 website databases, man our you to get involved, volunteer and Discovery computer and co-ordinate become a more active member of the monthly Discovery Tables. Dave, BIFHSGO. There are so many rewards in my experience, has also provided a awaiting you. practical approach when the Board is considering some new proposal or expenditure. His contributions have been appreciated and he will be Barbara J. Tose missed. Anglo-Celtic Roots • Quarterly Chronicle 2 Volume 23, Number 2 • Summer 2017 Family History Research Battle of the Booksellers BY TERRY FINDLEY This is the story of the third great-grandfather of Tad Findley, Terry’s wife. Terry has spent the last 20 years researching 32 branches of his and Tad’s families. The couple has embarked on a project to produce a magazine, Many Families; each issue discusses two or three branches and includes stories and genealogy research information. For more in- formation, the Findleys can be reached at [email protected]. Introduction the most powerful and influential If you were expecting a story about men in the book business, who held some long-ago military battle shares in most of the important somewhere in England, you would publications of the period, and who be wrong. This is the tale of a high- definitely lived in “interesting stakes struggle that took place more times.” than 240 years ago over who owned Readers should note that the de- the copyright of books in England. scriptive term “London” booksellers The battle was between the London actually encompasses those from booksellers on one side and princi- two geographic areas: the City of pally the Scottish booksellers on the London (defined by the seven gates other. The conflict’s final phase— to the City, which were torn down in dubbed “battle of the booksellers”— the 1760s) and Westminster (the raged, according to historians, from settlement around Westminster 1743 to 1773. The outcome of this Abbey, the royal palace, and Parlia- protracted battle set the course for ment, which was part of the County today’s copyright laws. of Middlesex and separate from the City of London). Among the leading established Lon- don booksellers back then was one Let me preface this narrative by of my wife’s ancestors, Thomas saying who our Thomas Durham Durham, her third great-grand- was not. Some people say he was father. He was a well-known born in Scotland on 5 March 1727, London bookseller and publisher the son of Thomas Durham the el- who met or worked with some of der and Sarah Sandilands. Anglo-Celtic Roots • Quarterly Chronicle 3 Volume 23, Number 2 • Summer 2017 Regrettably, no connection—with book production being in London. proof—can be made between the Of particular note, London’s book 1727 Thomas Durham and the sub- market in 1700 reveals something ject of our narrative. What can be that may be a surprise to today’s said with certainty is that my wife’s readers—52 per cent of the book third great-grandfather, Thomas topics were divinity in nature, thus Durham, did come from Scotland. showing the religious foundation of The Literary Setting of the the developing book trade. Eighteenth Century The London book trade was concen- To set the scene: England’s popula- trated most notably in and around tion at the beginning of the St. Paul’s Churchyard and Paternos- eighteenth century was about 5.1 ter Row, close by. Other locations million and by the end was around included along the Strand in West- 8.7 million. During this interval, the minster—the street running about population of the City of London in- three-quarters of a mile northeast creased from about 600,000 to from Charing Cross to Temple Bar, 950,000; when Westminster and where it transitions to Fleet Street. Southwark are included, the popula- The Strand had notable mansions tion of “London” was about 1.1 and churches, such as Somerset million. House and Northumberland House, as well as St. Mary Le Strand and St. Who were the readers in England Clement Danes churches. back then? Literacy rates by the mid-1700s show that at least 40 per Life as a London Bookseller, cent of women and 60 per cent of 1750–1774 men could read and write to some To commence working in the eight- degree. With such a large propor- eenth-century London bookselling tion of literate people, and the business, an aspirant usually began absolute numbers increasing, those by learning the printing side of book who considered themselves readers publishing as an apprentice printer. (apart from members of the upper The next step in the journey was to class, clergy, and intelligentsia) in- gain employment as a journeyman cluded professionals, merchants, printer, working for an experienced tradesmen, and skilled artisans.

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