After doing family history research for my own pleasure for 30 odd years, after being made redundant from a job I'd loved in 2018 and feeling all at sea, I realised I was in the very fortunate position of being able to have the time to turn a passion into a small business and get myself formally qualified in the subject too. It's been a pleasant surprise how much work I got by word of mouth, I'm also doing some cleaning work and it's been quite hard sometimes to motivate myself to study when I'm feeling the strong pull of doing the paid research for people, which is my biggest passion.
I'm working my way through the correspondence course with the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies and a few weeks ago I sat my first exam via Zoom, it wasn't compulsory but I had nothing to lose, it was the first time I'd done a formal exam for quite a few years, and here's the certificate.
Just for interest, and to help keep me on task, I'm keeping a record here of the lectures as I work through them and my marks on the assignments.
Assignments Marks
Lecture 1 31st July 2020 Introduction A A-
Lecture 2 30th August 2020 Family Records A A
Lecture 3 3rd October 2020 General Registration B+ A A A
Lecture 4 25th October 2020 Census B A- A- B-
Lecture 5 10th February 2021 Parish Records C+ B+ B+
Lecture 6 27th January 2021 Parish Chest B B- A-
Lecture 7 31st January 2021 Wills & Probate B+ B+ A
Lecture 8 28th June 2021 Palaeography B A-
Lecture 9 3rd June 2021 Military A B+ B+ A-
Lecture 10 21st Oct 2021 Education & Occupations B+ B+ B+ A
Lecture 11 3rd Dec 2021 Nonconformity B- B- A A
Lecture 12 5th Feb 2022 Names A- A B+ B+
Lecture 13 5th April 2022 Migration B+ A- B+
Lecture 14 26th Sep 2022 Census substitutes A B A-
Lecture 15 18th Feb 2023 Miscellany B+ B+ A-
Lecture 16 14th July 2023 Quarter sessions A A- A
Lecture 17 16th Jan 2024 Manorial records B+ B+ B B+
Lecture 18 4th Mar 2024 Title deeds A- A A
Lecture 19 Maps
Lecture 20 Heraldry
Lecture 21 Scotland & Wales
Lecture 22 Irish & others
Lecture 23 Legal records
Lecture 24 Ecclesiastical records