My Marsden family has a long history in Yorkshire from the first record I have located in 1753 at Middlesmoor near Pateley Bridge although I believe that earlier generations probably came across the border from Lancashire. The family remained in the county almost without break for the next 2 centuries. I was born in Leeds, third of three sons of Arthur and Betty Marsden, but spent much of my early childhood in Salford and Southport, Lancashire as my father followed his engineering career. His work eventually brought us back to the Leeds area in 1955.
I was educated at Leeds Grammar School and subsequently read for an electrical engineering degree at Leeds University from where I took up a post with the (then) General Post Office (later British Telecom). This required a move to London where I remained until 1989 during which time I worked for London Electricity Board (now London Electricity) and finally the Trustee Savings Bank (now Lloyds TSB). In 1989 my wife and I moved to Cheshire. I retired in 1997 in order to concentrate on genealogical activities.
I began to research my family history in the 1980s and like many others soon found the activity addictive. I was lucky to be living close to the Society of Genealogists and soon joined and took advantage of their magnificent library. I was also conveniently placed for all of the major London record repositories - genealogist's heaven!
My interest broadened as I began to make contact with other researchers and I increasingly found myself concentrating on researching Marsden families other than my own. This gradually developed into a one name study. My first contact with a one name newsletter was when I subscribed to Malcolm Adamson's excellent, though sadly now discontinued, "The Adamson Project" and I immediately saw the potential of a newsletter to bring widely scattered researchers into greater contact. Since I had been involved with computers more or less since their first appearance, I did not find the mechanics of producing a newsletter particularly daunting. The content and presentation, however, were a different matter but I hope that I produced something which looks and reads well. Marsden Family History News was been well received but I was eventually, like Malcolm, forced to discontinue publication owing to pressures on my time.
I had been a member of the
Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society for some years but in 1997 I started work in their library as a volunteer. My involvement with M&LFHS developed into periods of service as General Secretary and later Treasurer. During this time the Society developed from a world of printed and microform sources to CD and internet-based resources. My involvement included the publication of a considerable number of CDs and more recently online pay-to-view data publication.Like most family historians, I had learnt my skills through trial and error, a
Society of Genealogists beginners' course and a lot of reading. I felt, however, that I needed a more rigorous training. There being very little by way of advanced training in genealogy available in the Manchester Area, I decided to invest in the Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies (IHGS) correspondence course. This provided the challenge I was looking for and I was pleased to pass, the IHGS Part II examination in June of 1997.My genealogical interests continue and in addition to running the Marsden one name study and continuing to be very involved in the activities of the Manchester & Lancashire FHS, I am also involved in occasional lecturing, writing and (even more occasionally) some research of my own.
[Modified 11 April 2008]