Resources for researching the British prisoner-of-war experience in Napoleon’s France include prison registers, the recipients of relief issued by Lloyd’s Committee in 1812, and numerous published memoirs of individual prisoners. But there is also a wealth of other documentation about prisoners held in archives, as well as a small amount online. This talk will cover the resources for researching these prisoners that are held in British and French archives and online.

Anne Morddel lives in France, where she researches and writes about archives. She holds a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of California at Berkeley and has worked in libraries and archives around the world. The author of several books on genealogical research in French archives, she has been writing ‘The French Genealogy Blog’ for the last 15 years. Her most recent book is American Merchant Seamen of the Early Nineteenth Century: a Researcher's Guide, and she is currently working on the American seamen who were prisoners of Napoleon.

All are welcome to come to Downing College, Cambridge, September 8-9 for this third Conference organised by AGRA.

The theme of the conference - navigating your family history - encompasses a broad spectrum of topics from migration, emigration and military research, to navigating your way round local and national archives and the records they hold.

Anne joins an exciting programme of speakers at the conference on Saturday 9 September:

• Dr Helen Doe MA, PhD, FRHistS (Keynote speaker) Helen specialises in maritime business history, particularly in the nineteenth century. She has published extensively and her latest book is SS Great Britain: Brunel's Ship, her Voyages, Passengers and Crew. She is a Fellow of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Vice Chairman of the British Commission for Maritime History.
• Richard Atkinson Richard's genealogical research began with a cardboard box of old letters tied together with pink legal tape, and culminated in his 2021 book  "Mr Atkinson's Rum Contract: The Story of a Tangled Inheritance". His talk will follow his journey in researching his ancestor who was a major contractor and purveyor of provisions to the British army during the American War of Independence. His research uncovered family members had been wealthy merchants and sugar planters in Jamaica, and there were few aspects of the slave trade in which they had not been involved.
• Maggie Gaffney (AGRA Associate & IHGS tutor) A fourth-generation New Zealander Maggie lives in Wellington and has traced her ancestors back to Ireland, England and Scotland. Since moving back to New Zealand, Maggie has been involved with the Irish and Scottish Interest Groups of the NZ Society of Genealogists. Her current obsessions are combining DNA analysis with genealogical research, and transcribing two 19th century shipboard diaries as part of a One Place Study on the clipper ship Mermaid.
• Dr Lesley Trotter (AGRA Associate) - Where’s Cousin Jack? The talk will give a brief overview of scale and nature of migration/emigration from Cornwall. This will include outlining the likely destinations for the Cornish at different times, examining the range and types of sources available for locating migrants and telling their stories. Lesley will highlight less well-known databases and locally held collections, name-rich publications and sources, as well as remittance records.

Saturday will also include a themed panel discussion.

There will be a preconference dinner on Friday 8 September - the after-dinner speaker will be Dr Sam Willis (academic, author and broadcaster - e.g. The Silk Road, BBC).

Read all about the Conference here: https://www.agra.org.uk/conference/ - go to the Registration page for the prices and booking link.

There are separate options for Day Delegates (Saturday 9 Sept), the conference dinner (Friday 8 Sep), and overnight accommodation in Downing College, as well as an all-inclusive package price. Until the end of April, there is an early-bird discount on the package.

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Illustration of Napoleon from painting "Napoleon's Return from Elba", by Charles Auguste Guillaume Steuben, 1818. Wikimedia Commons.