English Genealogical Congress, 1975

Abstract

From 26th to 30th August, 1975, there was held at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, the first-ever congress of English genealogists, a gathering attended by about 180 amateur and professional genealogists. During the conference there were many lectures and seminars, given by eminent genealogists, archivists, and historians, as well as special visits and exhibitions. One special display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, showed the pedigrees of six very different families, along with the original documents and old records used in compiling the family trees. One of these was that of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Edward Heath, whose family was on poor relief from their parish in Devon for several generations during the 18th century, and whose Elizabethan ancestor, Richard Heathe, was tried by the manor court for illegally brewing ale for sale. The Patron of the Congress was the Rt. Hon. Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, and its President Mr. G.D. Squibb, Norfolk Herald Extraordinary of Arms. It owed its origins to an idea which came to Miss Stella Colwell, a freelance genealogist at the College of Arms.