Researching my Roots

During some recent family history research I discovered the existence of a couple of old books written by keen historians which were of particular interest to me.  I looked them up online and was pleased to find a good quality second hand copy of each of them for sale via Abe Books. One is a slim book full of photographs and information about the villages of Thorn and Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire, where my great grandparents lived, and the other is a history of the Kent Cyclist Battalion to which their son-in-law, my grandfather, belonged.

The books arrived a few days ago and I have had great fun reading through them both and finding out new facts about my paternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother’s parents. This photo shows both books, and the picture of the chap with the luxuriant facial hair that I've superimposed at the bottom right is my great, great grandfather, who was gamekeeper on the Houghton Hall estate in Houghton Regis. He died in 1893 at the age of 73 so I reckon the photo was taken in about 1890. The photo has been scanned from the book.