Host Andrew welcomes Chelsea Football Club’s Official Historian, author, and (of course) genealogist, Rick Glanvill to Series Six, and hears how Rick got hooked on researching family and football histories. He also hears about Rick’s efforts with DNA, and how sports memorabilia can contribute to family history research.

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The Life Story – William Urmston Searle Glanville Richards

Rick has chosen to tell the life story of his 3rd Cousin, 3x Removed – William Urmston Searle Glanville Richards – who was what we’d perhaps describe as an ‘antiquarian’. However, this history fan was rather creative and persuasive with his research findings, and his legacy has thrown some of even our most reputable record sources into questionable territory.

Whilst Rick’s discovery of William’s work appears to be impressive, it took him a while to realise that actually, cracks were beginning to appear. William was training as a cleric and seems to have been researching family trees as a means of making money.

However, he ended up in prison for defacing documents in the British Library. Further still, with this seed of error planted into original records, the legacy has spread, with documents in the Bodleian Library at Oxford also having been tampered with. You could see this as a kind of a disreputable online tree of its time, that has embedded itself into the heart of many subsequent publications.

The Brick Wall – Ellen Taylor/Linsell

Rick is looking for the parents of his 3x Great Grandmother, Ellen Taylor/Linsell, and it’s through this ancestor that Rick has seen some estimated West African DNA results and matches. Who was she?

Whilst it’s believed that she was born in Marylebone, London, circa 1846, and died in January 1890 aged “42 years”, her origins are proving to be elusive.

Tantalisingly a cousin, Harriet Copping is named, but placing her in the same tree as Ellen has also been hard.

• Was Ellen/Eleanor actually her first name?
• Was Taylor a married name before she met Henry Linsell?

If you think you have a clue or research idea that can help Rick, then you can contact him on his Twitter/X profile @RickGlanvill or the email address he gives out in the episode. Alternatively, you can head over to our contact form and we’ll send your message on to him.

In the meantime, whilst Rick isn’t entirely convinced by Andrew’s offer of help, will it get him closer to his goal?

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Resources

A list of resources and websites mentioned in this episode

• https://archive.org – Internet Archive: Digital Library of free and borrowable books
• www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk – Bodleian Libraries
• www.bl.uk – British Library
• www.chelseafc.com/en/stadium-tours-and-museum – Chelsea Football Club Museum
• Records of the Anglo-Norman House of Glanville from A.D. 1050 to 1880 (William Urmston Searle Glanville-Richards, 1882, Mitchell & Hughes)
• www.sog.org.uk – Society of Genealogists

Episode Credits

• Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
• Rick Glanvill – Guest
• John Spike – Sándor Petőfi