IHGS Festive Quiz December 2024 - The Answers!
Thank you to all who joined in and congratulations to Judith Hoskins for her winning entry.
Many thanks to Master Quiz Setter Chris Broom for all his wonderful quizzes and challenges this year.
The Answers
1. After the celebration of Christmas was restored by Charles II in 1660, in which year did 25 December again become a public holiday in Scotland? (1 point)
1958
2. You could have bought your Christmas sprouts from William Robson, aged 51, who was living alone in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1911. But what was his exact address? (1 point)
17, Mistletoe Road
3. This ‘doubly festive’ child, aged 2¼, was aboard the vessel ‘Georgic’ in July 1948, arriving into Southampton, with his mother Pam and brothers, Peter and Jeremy. What was his full name, as recorded at the time, and at which University did he subsequently read French and English? (2 points)
Robin Michael Christmas, Durham University.
4. What was the name of the property in which Walter Harris, born 26 September 1889, was living in 1939? With which regiment was he stated to be serving on 11 December 1914? (2 points)
Ivy Cottage, 2nd Lieutenant, Middlesex Regiment.
5. In which year are turkeys believed to have been first introduced to Britain and by whom? (2 points)
1526; Yorkshire trader William Strickland.
6. Which seasonal dessert proved fatal for two members of the East family of Stratford, East London in May 1892 and what the cause of their untimely deaths? (2 points)
Plum pudding. Poisoned by arsenic, mistaken for flour.
7. What does the motto ‘Stare super vias antiquas’ mean and by which armiger, of Camberwell, Surrey, was the motto used in conjunction with the coat ‘Or, three fusils in fess Azure, a baton Gules’? (2 points)
To Stand upon the Old Ways; Charles Frederick Angell.
8. What was the name of the child baptised at All Souls, Eastbourne, East Sussex on 24 March 1892 and what was the slightly unusual occupation of her brother Frederick, as later recorded on the 1911 Census? (2 points).
Ivy HOLLY; ‘A golf club maker’.
9. Described as a ‘Wholesale Confectioner’ in a National Probate Calendar entry dated 10 April 1869, with which festive tradition is the deceased, Thomas Smith, famously associated? (1 point)
Christmas Cracker
10. Who was the first British Monarch to broadcast a Christmas message and in which year? (2 points)
George V in 1932.
11. How many yuletide mischief makers were living at 13, Old Gravel Lane, St. George in the East on 2 April 1911? Where was the head of the family born and which school was his ‘lupine’ son attending in November 1904. (3 points)
Nine; Russian; Lower Chapman Street School.
12. Sir Charles Monck, 6th Baronet, and his family did what on Christmas Day, 1817? What was Sir Charles’ surname at birth? (2 points)
Moved into their new home; the recently completed Belsay Hall; his surname was MIDDLETON.
13. By which alias was Edward Colston Purnell, who died on 17 October 1893, known? (1 point)
Eddie Reindeer
14. According to British tradition, what should be eaten on each of the twelve days of Christmas to bring good luck for the year ahead? (1 point)
Mince pies.
15. With which family name are the arms ‘Gules, a chevron between three owls Or’ associated and how do the arms depicted in the Harleian Society’s Volume 17 (Visitation of London 1633-4) differ? (2 points)
Sleigh; the chevron is Argent and embattled.
16. The will of John SNOW, was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 4 November 1776. What was his profession and where specifically did he express his desire to be buried? (2 points)
Accountant; Bristol College.
17. With a name suggesting that he may not have received a full complement of gifts on Christmas morning, this young chap, baptised on 16 April 1899, later married Maud Jane Noden at the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey. What was his name and what was his occupation at the time of their marriage? (2 points)
Arthur Stocking; Railway Porter
18. With more than enough strength to prepare the Christmas turkey with a traditional filling, this aptly named individual was baptised at Pleasley, Derbyshire on 28 March 1649. What were the more common names of his parents? (1 point)
John and Mary Stuffin.
19. Far away from Mount Crumpit, what breed of dog was owned by this ‘festive grump’ (and victim of mis-transcription?) on 31 March 1898? (1 point)
Collie.
20. We all know that ‘Good King Wenceslas once looked out on the feast of Stephen’, but how is the feast of Stephen known more widely? (1 point)
Boxing Day
