Origins of the Foundation The beginnings of what would become the Foundation's website were conceived in August 2000 by co-founder Joe Edwards. He saw the need for a reliable and comprehensive source of medieval genealogical data on the Internet. So many genealogical websites exist but almost all are wholly uncontrolled and give few or no references for their statements of 'fact'. It thus becomes almost impossible to distinguish reliable scholarly studies from speculative and amateurish guesswork. The proliferation of Internet access brings a great danger that flawed statements become accepted as historical fact. Also as a joint custodian of the genealogical papers of his late grandfather (Charles Evans, FSA, FSG), Joe saw it as his duty to make these researches, and his own researches, available to a wider public. The bulk of the Evans papers were concerned with the medieval period, on which Charles was a world renowned expert. The plan was somehow to make these papers available through the proposed website, however at that stage there was no intention of creating any organisation. Then in October 2000 he wrote to Lindsay Brook, a former colleague and close friend of Charles, to try to re-establish some of his grandfather's contacts for his own work. This turned out to be most fortuitous as Lindsay had, over the previous few years, been undertaking a substantial project started by Charles many years ago and indeed using many of Charles' notes: a complete revision of Turton's "The Plantagenet Ancestry". This work, when published in 1928, was the first of its kind and a vital part of any genealogist's collection. It had never been superseded as a whole in the subsequent 70 years, but much of the data had been corrected in the thousands of relevant articles and books published since 1928. Lindsay clearly recognised the enormity of the task, although he had already completed a huge amount of work on the revision. He was keen for Joe's assistance on the project, and an immediate friendship and collaboration was begun. After a couple of meetings, in November 2000 Lindsay suggested the concept of a charitable trust to incorporate and protect the substantial collections of Charles, himself, and Joe, and to undertake projects such as the Plantagenet Ancestry revision. A rough idea of the objectives of such an organisation was soon agreed and the project taken forward. Over the subsequent twelve months enormous amounts of work were done, both on the Plantagenet Ancestry and the Medieval Genealogical Registry, and on the setting up of what was eventually to be called the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. On the 3rd November 2001 at the Inaugural General Meeting a constitution was formally agreed for the Foundation. The founding trustees of the charity were, apart from Lindsay and Joe, Robin Evans (Charles' son), and Steven Edwards (Charles' son-in-law). It was unanimously agreed at the meeting that due to his enormous contribution in both resources and teaching, Charles Evans should be made a posthumous patron of the Foundation. Through communication with the Charity Commission for England and Wales over the subsequent three months, slight amendments were made to the constitution, which were ratified at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Foundation on the 20th January 2002. In addition to the four founder members, a fifth trustee, Giles Dickson, was unanimously co-opted. On the 1st February 2002 the Charity Commission issued us with formal registered charity status, number 1090387. The subsequent years have been a period of steady growth, building up the collections of the Foundation and encouraging Users and Members to contribute. The first issue of our biannual journal, 'Foundations', was published in January 2003, and a regular publishing schedule established. A major landmark was the tribute to our inspiration and patron, Charles Evans, through the publication of his "Complete Works" in book and CD formats to celebrate the centenary of his birth in 2003. Further information on our current activities can be found by browsing the website. |