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A John Antoine with spouse Mary baptised Sophia Antoine in Jamaica All Parishes 1847. According to Ancestry but there's no original document in the collection. Looks to be microfilm.

London Gazette Tues Sept 11 - Sat Sept 23 1797

Thank you! That appears to be the ship and there is a report of the action in which she was taken by the British in 1797.

I hit a brick wall. Jean Antoine was born in France before 1780. He was my 2nd great grandfather. Oct 1798 Portsmouth Hampshire. There is a record of a Jean Antoine being held as a prisoner of war in Portsmouth. He was captured in 1797 on board a French privateer called 'Le Cerf Volant’...

Currently opening is Friday - Sunday, 11am – 4pm. Things can only get better, we hope. In 1989-1991 I lived in Davey Road, so was able to get to know Aston Hall and its grounds very well. A beautiful and atmospheric building.

Excellent! Be good to find evidence that Birmingham was notorious for coining before and after 1650 as in the Wikipedia account of William Chaloner. I didn't know about him. Newton's work at the mint has been getting attention. I'm guessing "Birmingham Groat" means a counterfeit one. Popular...

A readable transcription of The Trial of William Booth and his Associates which was published after his execution. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Trial,_at_Large,_of_William_Booth_and_his_Associates And an account of his execution...

Essential reading in our house! Older editions can be read in the British Newspaper Archive: 1884-1896, 1898-1909, 1911-1931. Harry Harrison had a Black Country dialect poem in the 1960s -1970s.

Heather Shore at Leeds Beckett looks at policing and coining. https://crimeinthecommunity.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/i-am-now-in-the-service-of-the-mint-police-coiners-and-utterers-in-the-nineteenth-century-old-bailey/

The Barber Institute has a fine coin collection. They may know someone who could discuss the possibilities. BMAG also has a coin collection, but I think there's no access until at least October. William Booth is infamous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Booth_(forger) You probably know...

Lyn, 'Slow Horses' is based at Slough House, the idea being that agents who screw up are sent there until they resign. It is self- deprecating bit like Brummie humour. But I imagine that a lot of hard work continues to be done in Birmingham to protect us. Just not glamorous. Derek

Lyn, the conversion to flats was apparently in 2011, so before then and after the time it was workshops? Ever read Mick Herron's 'Slow Horses' ! Derek

Viceroy House in Water Street, Jewellery Quarter was apparently used by MI5 formerly as offices. https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/19/birmingham-flat-in-former-mi5-office-goes-on-sale-for-950000-16134100/

Lyn, this appears to be a darker print of a picture which was taken Summer 1961 and reprinted in 2 Feb 2022 Black Country Bugle. The accompanying text says the shops were demolished shortly after the photo. I have Press Reader, I think it is free if this link doesn't load. Hardware shops are...

I'm afraid that lots of photos on older threads are missing. I gather the site was hacked some time ago. There's nothing you can do, unless you have a photo either digitally or physically.

That sounds about right. Sandwell MBC was created on 1 April 1974. Galton Bridge dates from 1829 and I think the valley was constructed artificially. But no-one called it Galton Valley until the 1970s. I confess that I have little sense of Sandwell as a physical place - unlike say Smethwick...

'Real Ale' is promised too! https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/fresh-hope-woodman-licence-application-29648468

The Woodman is being restored and will reopen as a pub in September! Good news for once.

Rosie, I'm pleased that the Shakespeare Garden has been restored. Mom was a keen gardener and we always looked in there. I don't know if the many poisonous plants in Shakespeare survived modern health and safety! What about the Lightwoods Park bandstand? I must go and visit the Woods this...

Richard, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (the father) -- 'On 24 March 1841 Brunel was knighted by the young Queen Victoria. This was at the suggestion of Prince Albert who had shown keen interest in the progress of the [Thames] tunnel.' Wikipedia. Albert was keenly interested in Engineering, but he...