William Douglas's Blog – September 2011 Archive (12)

Controversial New Zealand MP Sir Roger Douglas has delivered his farewell speech at Parliament.

It is the second time he has left but this time the 73-year-old, who first entered Parliament in 1969, says he is off for good.

Douglas changed the face of the New Zealand economy as the Finance Minister under David Lange's Labour Government in the 1980s. His brand of…

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The History of Parliament is a research project creating a comprehensive account of the parliamentary politics in England, then Britain, from their origins in the thirteenth century. Unparalleled in the comprehensiveness of its treatment, the History is generally regarded as one of the most ambitious, authoritative and well-researched projects in British history.

It consists of detailed studies of elections and electoral politics in each constituency, and of closely researched…

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New book published this month; click the image to order.

David Douglas is another of those unfortunate people who are remembered for…

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The clouds parted briefly to shine light on the newly unveiled statue of former Premier and 'father of Medicare', T.C. Douglas in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada, thanks to the generosity of an internationally renowned artist and the town that supported 'the Greatest Canadian' at the beginning of his political career.

Many dignitaries were in Weyburn on September 10 to…

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I was not familiar with StackExchange til I was asked to sign up for a Genealogy Q&A site.

I am not sure that yet another general site is a good thing - the further the questions are spread, the less chance they have of being answered.

But maybe I have that wrong.

The proposed Q&A site for genealogy enthusiasts, family historians, professional genealogists, "transitional" genealogists and serious amateurs is…

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A statue has been erected in Central Park, New York, to commemorate the life of  Frederick Douglass,  the famous African-American abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. 

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) escaped to New York as a young man from a slave owner and dedicated his whole life to the struggle against slavery. Though born a slave, Douglass learned to…

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The Canadiana Discovery Portal is a new source for Canada’s documentary heritage, providing access to a huge assortment of historical artifacts from across the country.

The Canadiana Discovery Portal is a free service that enables users to search across the valuable and…

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I was researching Douglas of Cunninghamhead (near Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland) whose daughter and heiress married a Cunningham, when I came across the following entries on Wikipedia (not all on the same page).

Warrix (now Warrick) Hill formed part of the demesne of the De Morvilles who forfeited their lands to Robert the Bruce. Sir James, son of Sir James Stewart of Bonkill, son of Alexander the High Steward of Scotland, obtained Peirstoun and…

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A HISTORIC aircraft used to scatter the ashes of Scotland's most prominent peer over his ancestral Haddington home has been gifted to the National Museum of Scotland.

The Bulldog military trainer was owned by the late Duke of Hamilton of Lennoxlove House, and was the first of its kind to be built in Scotland.

 Angus Douglas-Hamilton, who passed away…

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Less than eight months after she was almost killed on the job, Victoria police Const. Lane Douglas-Hunt has stunned family and friends by winning the gold medal in the "toughest competitor alive" event at the World Police & Fire Games in New York on Wednesday.

 

Douglas-Hunt gave new meaning to the name of the competition, which requires athletes to…

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Findmypast.co.uk has just published 1 million 20th century Merchant Navy Seamen records, the first time ever that these records have been made available online.



The records are index cards which the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman used between the two world wars to produce a centralised index of merchant seamen serving on British merchant navy vessels. They cover the period 1918-1941.



The merchant navy consists… Continue