This is the index page for the period 1880-1889 in Whitstable. It connects to events in this period in the History, People and Genealogy sections. A single page or group of pages might inform you about that specific topic but by viewing all of the pages we hope that you come away with the feeling that you were actually there at the time, that you can relate to these people and understand what life and work was like for them. Then, when you visit the town, you can see for yourself these places as they are today and cast your mind back to the pictures we painted of the way it was then for our townspeople.

1880	Britain's first telephone directory was published. It listed just 255 telephone users.
1880	Britain annexed the Boer Transvaal (South African Republic) in 1877 and it became a British colony. In December, the Boers declared they would retake the Transvaal and hostilities began.
1881	On February 27, the Boers defeated the British at the Battle of Majuba Hill. The British troops were severely damaged. The battle ended the war. A peace was negotiated and the Transvaal was granted independence in August.
1882	The capital of Sudan, Khartoum, was besieged by Mahdists (followers of the Muslim leader Mahdi). British General Charles Gordon led a combined British and Egyptian force in Khartoum and held the attackers at bay for ten months. The Mahdists eventually broke through the defence and took Khartoum. Gordon was killed in the attack.
1882	The Irish Chief Secretary, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and the Undersecretary, Thomas Burke, were killed in Phoenix Park, Dublin. They were hacked to death by a group of extreme nationalists called the Invincibles on May 6.
1887	Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee took place on June 20 and 21. Victoria was rarely seen in public following the death of her husband Albert in 1861 and her personal appearance for the jubilee drew a large crowd. The nation joined the celebrations. A procession in London on June 21 was spectacular both in pageantry and the number of people who attended.
1888	Terror spread in London as a murderer attacked prostitutes in the slum area of Whitechapel in the East End. At least six women were killed and brutally mutilated in a manner that suggested some knowledge of anatomy. The murderer's identity remains unknown. He gained his nickname from notes sent to the police and press claiming to be from the murderer and signed "Jack the Ripper".
1888	Britain established the British East Africa Company to oversee the administration of British colonies in East Africa.
1888	British photographer William Friese-Greene invented the moving picture camera. He first used it to filmed scenes at Hyde Park Corner, London.

Beach Alley 4th April 1881. We follow the census enumerator through Beach Alley, in the heart of Whitstable, as he collects the facts we can now look-up today. How accurate was his work and that of the subsequent transcribers ? We get misled by and correct the errors as we discover them.

The Oyster Gedcom. Following on from what we discovered in Beach Alley we take the first steps in building the Family History file that we hope will build into a resource for all those searching for their Whitstable ancestors. Follow our research as we spread our net.

Local News in the Whitstable Times, April 1881. We wanted to know what people in the town were reading about on Census day so we went to the Whitstable Library and looked at the copy of the local paper that came out that weekend. It didn't help us that the motor drive on the microfilm machine wasn't working and that someone had rewound the film the wrong way round the spool. Eventually we got it spooled correctly and by hand-winding arrived at the issue we were after. We made notes about three news stories, a couple of adverts, and some time-tables.

After transcribing these notes into an initial web page we researched the items and surprised ourselves on how much these simple reports told us about the people and the town at that time.

Whitstable born people on ships during the 1881 census. So, you're looking for someone in this census in Whitstable and they're not on it. Have they died or moved away? More likely they were at sea on one of many boats or ships based at Whitstable. If their ship was in a port in the UK, or arrived within a few days after the census date then they might be on this page. We have collected the details of all such mariners that were born in the town. Together with the names of their ships and the ports they were at we discover just how far afield these men sailed.

Whitstable born people in the local Workhouse during the 1881 census. Another 32 people who should have been in Whitstable at that time but were in the Workhouse at Herne. You didn't know about looking for them there, did you?

The Canterbury and Vicinity Directory, published in 1889 gives us an insight into what was what and who was who in the town in this year. The Commercial Directory is particularly interesting, some people holding many positions within the town.

As we re-discover more about this period in the town's history and about the people who lived in it we will add to this collection. Hopefully, if you have anything to add you will let us know. In trying to recreate these times the picture will never be complete, but if we leave it too late the stories from this period that have been passed down through the generations might be lost forever.