Starting an introduction always seems to give me, what I call, ‘the squirms’. It’s the same feeling you get when you’re asked to go around the room to tell everyone your name and provide a ‘fun fact’ about yourself. I’m about 90% certain that everyone has one fact in the bank to repeat verbatim every time they’re asked. Well… I do anyway!
Either way, here goes.
I’m Harriet. I’m a lover of history, heritage, netball, mojitos, photography, true crime, and the Oxford comma. I have lived in Cumbria since I was born (except for a year spent abroad) and will talk endlessly with anyone who wants to listen about this glorious county. I have a little-bit-bonkers border collie who is just brilliant, and I volunteer for my local netball club and county netball association which fills about any spare moment I can find – but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Education
I, like many in a post-COVID environment, reassessed my priorities in life. This led to, in 2022, a return to university education after a six-year break. In October of the same year, I began my MA in History at Lancaster University, with my research during this time focusing on themes of gender and crime, and how they intersected in the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland.
My love of history and heritage began long before 2022, however. History was always one of the school subjects I found the most fascinating – that and Economics – which in large part was due to my teachers. I remember learning about the Tudors and the world wars (don’t we all!), nineteenth-century public health, and smatterings of prehistory. But there was always so much more to know, so much more to learn. Being a somewhat hard-headed type, I took it upon myself to understand where the gaps in my knowledge were (and there were many), research them, and find the topics I wanted to investigate further.
Personal Projects
Between the ages of about 15 to 16, I worked up my own family tree as part of my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award programme. Using the tools I had available to me at the time, I traced my paternal and maternal grandfathers’ lines back to the early 1800s. In the 15 years since then, I developed my genealogy skills and grew the tree to incorporate new lines and personalities.
I have also embarked on various research projects outside of genealogy such as property histories, community histories, and in-depth personal histories amongst others. I can’t explain why I so enjoy digging up the past – I might need a professional therapist for that! – but getting stuck into records, archives, newspapers, and myriad other resources is my bread and butter, and I am here to help everyone else to do the same.