Ticking The Boxes

In keeping with my resolve to make the most of our sojourn to the UK, Dick, Andrew and I planned a visit to the Royal Albert Hall.

We went to hear Carmina Burana performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Choral Society, the London Philharmonic Choir, the English Concert Chorus, The Southend Boys' Choir. I will not pretend that I knew what I was about. I was just out for a different experience and this performance certainly filled the bill. I chose this photo by Cormac 70 from the Flickr site as it recreates what we experienced last Saturday.

The programme was varied. There were three items. The first piece was an orchestral piece, the second featured the Hall's very impressive organ and the third was choral. I don't know enough about music to discuss the merits of the performance but the sounds were harmonious, pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable.

Sleuthing O\*

I gave it little thought before assenting when family genealogist, Leon Dash, asked me to do a little research. Our common fore bearer, Humphry Dash, was an early settler in Barbados. He died there in 166? leaving 10 acres of land in St. George to his wife, Elisabeth nee Booth and their children. There is no record of Humphry's entry into the island and my mission was to see if the records in the UK National Archives had an entry of his departure. I contacted another genealogy buff, O\E, and made plans to meet at the National Archives at Kew.

Research on line indicated that I needed to get a Readers Ticket to look at the old Colonial Papers. This was more complicated than expected. In addition to the standard proof of identify and residency, I had to read a 27 page file on document handling and answer multiple choice questions at the end of each page. It was after noon by the time all this preliminary stuff was completed. Hot chocolate and carbs relieve stress.

After another security check I gained access to the Reading Room and the first volume of Colonial Papers for the year 1625 - 1628. I was very excited then I realized that these handwritten documents were just about impossible to read. My eyes wouldn't focus, the style of English was unusual and the spelling irregular. Most disappointing of all was the fact that there was little specifically relating to Barbados or the first voyage to the island. I did find the Grant of the Islands of the West Indies to the Earl of Carlisle by James 1. I never imagined that I would ever touch that document.

What I did discover using the computers at the Archives is that in the 1881 census the name Dash occurs in England but not in Ireland or Scotland. Most of the Dashes were located then, as they are now, in the South West of England. There were 571 person with that name; Swindon and Truro were the towns with the most Dashes.

Having failed miserably in my mission, I am relying on the power of the Internet and the principle of six degrees of separation to yield the answer to these questions - where did Humphry Dash come from? When did he arrive in Barbados?

*O\ - Sign of a sleuth.
The illustration is the work of Tall Chris, Flickr site.