Understanding 19th Century Surveyors in Bampton
Richard Spurrett descended from two generations of itinerant travellers, and in his younger years covered a lot of ground across the Lambourne downs and through to London. He was born in Woodstock in Oxfordshire. His mother died in childbirth in 1790 in Putney, when he was just nine years old. He married and had a…
Tracing Ancestral Migration: A Personal Journey
Migration is such an emotive and contentious topic these days, but for millennia people have moved in search of work, or better opportunities for their families, and to evade persecution. Over the last 500 years, my family did the same: moving to find work in the industrial north of England after the enclosure of agricultural…
Geoffrey (Jack) Spurrett 1934-2021
At the age of 87 years and one day, my father passed away earlier this year. Writing and doing the eulogy was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. There was an incredible turn-out for the funeral and a few people asked me to share what I said. In one sense, it seems…
Stalking Strangers
Sometimes it is surprising just what can be found on-line, and at other times its pretty frustrating what cannot. For example, try to find a living person of voting age and its pretty easy to find most people’s address from the electoral roll (available on subscription from Find My Past, 192.com, etc.) But try to find their…
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About Me
As a satellite engineer, most of my working life is spent on technology for the future. However, my understanding of the very technology I work on, and the world I work in, is driven by historical developments. Further, my understanding of the political systems and social environment that unpins my fundamental beliefs is based on my interpretations of current and historical events. Exploring my family history has enabled me to extend my understand of things I was never interested in at school. In later life, I realise how important history is, and how many lessons we can learn about future outcomes by better understanding historical events. For example, climate change was a huge factor in the 1600s (the ‘little ice-age’) which set off a chain of global crises. How much more can we learn if historians are present in the current debate? With recent technology developments we can reach back on an archaeological timescale to understand our geographic origin, for nearly all of us are descended from migrants. My interest extends far beyond the names on an ancestral chart and I hope to capture that on this website.
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SPURRETT Family History 