Test your knowledge of notable dates, UK counties, historical figures and more in this family history quiz created by genealogist and Family Tree regular Dave Annal.
Round One: sorted!
1️⃣ Where do you think you are?
Put the following English towns in order from north to south.
- Chester
- Gloucester
- Leicester
- Manchester
- Rochester
- Worcester
Answer – north to south:
Manchester → Chester → Leicester → Worcester → Gloucester → Rochester
2️⃣ Read all about it!
Match each novel to its year of publication.
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
- Middlemarch – George Eliot
- North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
- 1813
- 1847
- 1855
- 1861
- 1871
- 1891
Answers:
- Pride and Prejudice – 1813
- Jane Eyre – 1847
- North and South – 1855
- Great Expectations – 1861
- Middlemarch – 1871
- Tess of the D’Urbervilles – 1891
3️⃣ Let battle commence!
Match each British battle to the year it took place.
- Albuera
- Bosworth
- Culloden
- Flodden
- Marston Moor
- Waterloo
- 1485
- 1513
- 1644
- 1746
- 1811
- 1815
Answers:
- Bosworth – 1485
- Flodden – 1513
- Marston Moor – 1644
- Culloden – 1746
- Albuera – 1811
- Waterloo – 1815
4️⃣ For what it’s worth
Match each historic coin to its value.
- Angel
- Crown
- Farthing
- Florin
- Guinea
- Tanner
- Quarter of a penny
- Six pence
- Two shillings
- Five shillings
- Six shillings and eight pence
- Twenty-one shillings
Answers:
- Farthing – Quarter of a penny
- Tanner – Six pence
- Florin – Two shillings
- Crown – Five shillings
- Angel – Six shillings and eight pence
- Guinea – Twenty-one shillings
5️⃣ The letter of the law
Match each Act of Parliament to the year it was passed.
- Metropolitan Police Bill
- The Great Reform Act
- Poor Law Amendment Act
- Births & Deaths Registration Act
- Court of Probate Act
- Elementary Education Act
- 1829
- 1832
- 1834
- 1836
- 1857
- 1870
Answers:
- Metropolitan Police Bill – 1829
- The Great Reform Act – 1832
- Poor Law Amendment Act – 1834
- Births & Deaths Registration Act – 1836
- Court of Probate Act – 1857
- Elementary Education Act – 1870
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Round Two: the shape of things…
6️⃣ Counties from their outlines
How many of these old English/Welsh counties (c.1920) can you identify from their outlines?
Answers:
a) Cheshire
b) Cardiganshire
c) Rutland
d) Berkshire
e) Kent
Round Three: hatched, matched and dispatched…
7️⃣ Who do you think you are?
Can you identify the individual from the key pieces of information provided?
a) Born: Manchester; Married: Salford; Died: Hampstead
- Emily Davidson
- Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
- Emmeline Pankhurst
b) Father: Randolph; Mother: Jeanette; Spouse: Clementine
- Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
- William Makepeace Thackeray
- Gilbert Keith ‘G.K.’ Chesterton
c) Born: 1809; Married: 1839; Died: 1882
- Charles Darwin
- Charles Dickens
- Lewis Carroll
Answers:
- a) Emmeline Pankhurst
- b) Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
- c) Charles Darwin
Round Four: the odd one out…
8️⃣ The odd one out
In each line, one of these is not what the others are. Which one?
a) not a census year?
- 1841
- 1871
- 1921
- 1941
- 1971
b) not a county town?
- Bedford
- Buckingham
- Durham
- Leicester
- Northampton
c) not a civil registration district?
- St Asaph
- St Davids
- St Luke
- St Olave
- St Thomas
d) not a City of London parish?
- All Hallows Barking
- Christchurch Newgate Street
- St Giles without Cripplegate
- St Mary Colechurch
- St Peter Mancroft
e) not an ecclesiastical probate court?
- Court of the Dean & Chapter of York
- Court of the King’s Bench
- Consistory Court of Lichfield
- Court of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford
- Archdeaconry Court of Huntingdon (Hitchin Division)
Answers:
- a) 1941 – there was no UK census that year.
- b) Buckingham; the county town of Buckinghamshire is Aylesbury
- c) St Davids – not a civil registration district.
- d) St Peter Mancroft – a parish church in Norwich, not the City of London.
- e) Court of the King’s Bench – a common law court, not an ecclesiastical probate court.
Round Five: what does that mean?
9️⃣ What does that mean?
Can you work out what these five abbreviations or contractions mean?
(Hint: context is vital!)
a) An occupation from the 1841 Census
b) The description of a testator from a 1766 will
c) An extract from a 1762 burial register
d) An occupation from the 1881 Census for Nottingham
e) Part of the place of birth on an 1884 birth certificate
Answers:
- a) F. S. = Female Servant
- b) Senr: = Senior
- c) M. = Man (Note that there are also entries for W[oman] and C[hild])
- d) FWK = Frame Work Knitter
- e) R.S.D. = Rural Sanitary District
About the author
Experienced lecturer and author David Annal has been involved in the family history world for more than 40 years and is a former principal family history specialist at The National Archives.
In 2019 he was awarded a Fellowship of the Society of Genealogists and in 2022 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
David now runs his own family history research business, Lifelines Research, and has a YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@lifelinesresearch .