RJ1611
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rfj1611.bsky.social
RJ1611
@rfj1611.bsky.social
270 followers 150 following 840 posts
Genealogist & family historian, studying with the IHGS | 17th century & British/English Civil Wars researcher | Biographer of ECW painter William Dobson | currently cataloguing 1640s British portraits | Loves Jack Russells, tea and peanut butter
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rfj1611.bsky.social
It isn't only #BBCNews that struggles with poor or absent proof-reading.

This gem is from the #Guardian. 😄
Excerpt from a Guardian Online news article about a drunk raccoon. "In Toronto, Canada, raccoons have become so numerous that a popular t-shit boasting "Toronto v Everybody" has now been widely supplanted by one that now reads "Raccoons v Toronto".
December 3, 2025 at 2:11 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
The who, Beeb? 🤨

What's even more embarrassing for the inept editor who has clearly forgotten Will and Kate's not-so-recent royal promotion, is that the accompanying article correctly identifies them as the Prince and Princess of Wales...

#BBC #BBCFail
A picture of William Prince of Wales meeting Paddington Bear on a visit to the promotion of the new Paddington play. The caption reads "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Paddington Bear".
November 30, 2025 at 11:02 AM
rfj1611.bsky.social
A li'l timeline cleanse to hopefully make you smile!

Introducing Susy. 9mths, mad as a fish, currently in Spaniel adolescence so not listening or responding, destroying everything in sight & making us wonder WTH we were thinking.

But she's loving, hilarious & still just a baby. We'll get there! 😁🐕
A young black and white female Springer Spaniel sits on the back of a red leather sofa, posing for the camera. Most of her is white and spotty but her ears are black, and the black also covers her eyes, leaving a thin white stripe between and down to her spotty nose. She wears a red collar with metal dog tag.
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
I'm curious, what software do others use when working out tentative trees?

There are a lot of tree-builders, but I've found nothing to beat Genopro for letting you create from scratch. It's brilliant for adding notes, & workings out, and the page expands the more you add. 💙

#genealogy
November 23, 2025 at 8:33 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
So sick of seeing this #Cloudflare page everywhere when trying to access websites lately.

Gave up trying to use Music Magpie because the fecking thing just wouldn't verify (on any browser). Close to quitting #Waterstones too for same reason.

The amount of faff just to view a site now is insane.
A Cloudflare verification page that shows when trying to open Music Mapgie (and lots of other sites). "Verifying" is just spinning and not loading.
November 22, 2025 at 3:45 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Nope, still have mine! 😍
A 7th generation (2012) Ipod Nano on a beige carpet. Attached are black earpods.
November 21, 2025 at 1:54 AM
rfj1611.bsky.social
This is why I love #AnimalCrossing. 😆

#Nintendo #games
A screenshot from the Nintendo game Animal Crossing. A girl character with shoulder length brown hair stands with her back to us on a wide wooden step in a shop. The walls are cream coloured bricks, and there is a window to her left. In front of her, also facing away, is a female wolf character in a white long-sleeved top. She is standing on the next step up, looking at a toilet on display on a blue floor in front of her. A speech bubble on the screen says "A squat toilet....But would I use this? Well, my heart says I'll regret it if they sell out."
November 13, 2025 at 11:26 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
New books! 🤤 Thank you employee reward voucher scheme!
Four brand new paperback books laid out on the cardboard Waterstones box they came in. They are The Wager, by David Grann; Mistresses, by Linda Porter; Mudlarking, by Lara Maiklem, and In the Shadow of St Paul's Cathedral, by Margaret Willes.
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
For the love of God, #BBC, PROOFREAD!!!!! 🙈
A screenshot from a BBC Live page about the train stabbing attack. "He says there is a "major step-up programme to increase visibility and officers' numbers at major hubs", which includes extending officers' shits and taking them off non-important duties."
November 3, 2025 at 6:38 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Pondering this gentleman by Dobson, as I frequently do, and puzzling his identity.

Often described as a naval officer, because of the symbolism behind him representing travel or the maritime world, & the paper in his hand assumed to be a naval officer's orders.

He's also been wrongly named as
Portrait of an unknown man by William Dobson (courtesy of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Half length looking to his left, in a salmon/pink doublet with salmon/pink ribbons down the front, and a white collar and white cuffs. His left hand is covered by a blue sash, but you can see beneath he is holding a piece of paper. In his right he holds the end of an upright sword. He has sandy/light brown hair.
November 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
"The assault was of a very trumpery character".

Nope. No idea. Anyone? 😄

#genealogy #history
From a 19th century Wellington, Shropshire, newspaper. "WELLINGTON PETTY SESSIONS, Monday - Before the Hon. R.C. Herbert, the Rev. H Burton, and W.B. Lloyd, Esq. - Assaults: A little girl, named Isabella Millington, charged two young women, named Emma Carter and Emma Howles, with assaulting her at Dawley, on the 26th Dec. the assault was of a very trumpery character...."
October 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Make that following 175.9k...minus one. 🙄

Getting a lot of these 'I'm following everyone on Bluesky' followers atm.

Has a new batch of spam bots hatched today?
Screenshot from my Followers list, describing an account with 55k followers, 175.9k following, and 18k posts.
October 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
I always enjoy visiting National Maritime Museum Greenwich, but there's one thing that always bugs the crap out of me. The lighting.

Specifically, the ceiling spotlights that make it almost impossible to see paintings on upper walls.

I could only see 2 of the 4 "Flagmen" properly this time. 😒
A gallery view at the National Maritime Museum Queen's House in Greenwich. There is a polished wooden floor and a doorway to the right. On the far wall is dark wallpaper, with a tall white window panel in the middle, surrounded by four portraits. The bottom two paintings are easy to view but the top two are partly obscured by badly placed ceiling spotlights that cover most of the canvas with bright focussed light. The faces of the sitters are hard to see.
October 17, 2025 at 11:28 AM
rfj1611.bsky.social
All aboard the Good Shipp "Blottinge". #slgh

#Ancestry #SHGTSS #genealogy
Screenshot of a 17th century mariner's will, stating he served aboard the 'good Shippe Blessinge'.
October 11, 2025 at 10:59 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
And so it starts.

THIS is why so many are opposed to digital IDs: creeping #surveillance of every part of our lives, all from one handy access point and likely freely available to any interested party.

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.😠

#DigitalId #Labour #BritCard
From the Daily Telegraph 10th Oct 2025. "ID CARDS COULD LEAD TO £600M TAX GRAB. Digital identity cards could pave the way for a £600m Treasury tax grab. HM Revenue & Customs is seeking to automatically fill in sections of tax returns using digital identification in an effort to secure unpaid revenue and prevent "error," by the public. A document published by the tax authority in July said it was "interested in exploring further how digital identification models backed by data and technology improvements can benefit the tax and custom system."
October 8, 2025 at 8:05 AM
rfj1611.bsky.social
🙄

#ancestry #genealogy
Screenshot from Ancestry showing someone has 'corrected' the Residence given on a 17th century will from 'London, England' to 'London England'.
October 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Not good enough, #Nivea. You can't have a mission statement all about ethics and being cruelty-free if you openly admit that if it's not legal somewhere to avoid animal testing, you may still do it. Either you're 100% #crueltyfree & stand by that, or you're not.

Another for my no-buy list. 😠
A screenshot from Nivea's mission statement that says: Naturally, at Nivea we have complied with these bans [on pharma animal testing] and we have long since actively avoided animal testing worldwide, wherever it has been legal to do so."
October 4, 2025 at 12:29 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
My Rocky, 12th January 2023, aged 15. 😪
October 1, 2025 at 4:15 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
It's a great birthday when I get to enjoy the day with a #WilliamDobson portrait! 🥰 Even better that at Queen's House #Greenwich I can also catch up with the most gorgeous man on canvas, Admiral Sir John Harman as well. ❤️ Two in one!

Thank you #NMM! #HappyBirthdayMe #17thCentury #EarlyModern
A portrait by Peter Lely of Admiral Sir John Harman, a famed naval commander who served in the Dutch Wars of the 1660s/1670s under King Charles II. Harman stands half turned away to his right, with his left hand pointing off canvas. He has long dark curled hair and looks back at us over his left shoulder. He wears a gold striped "Barbary" coat, a red sash, white cuffs and collar. It is one of Lely's "Flagmen of Lowestoft" series of portraits. Portrait of an unknown Royalist by William Dobson (c.1643/44). Facing the viewer but looking away to his left, he had long dark blond hair and a small beard and wears a salmon coloured shirt/doublet with salmon ribbons down the front, a white collar and white cuffs. A blue sash covers his left arm, and in his left hand is a piece of paper (a letter? Commission?) In his right hand he holds the grip of a sword. The portrait has has a gold frame.
September 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
It's embarrassing how the royals and dignitaries are crawling up his expansive rear end. 🤢

Fortunately the ordinary people have other ideas....!
September 17, 2025 at 11:40 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Welcome to Britain! 🤣

#protest #class
Photo of a woman at a Trump protest in London on 17th September 2035, holding up a sign that says "PISS OFF YOU NASTY ORANGE LUMP".
September 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Unfortunately I only have one version of the image, which is a screenshot of an original photo emailed via a friend of a friend...😄

Longer excerpt attached!
A longer excerpt from the previously attached English Civil War letter.
September 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Any ideas? I've been looking at this since last night but it's not swimming into focus! 🤔

It's a 17thC letter from a soldier during the #EnglishCivilWar.

The rest of the line reads:

"...duringe the time that his Regiment was [????] at
the seidge of Glouster...."

#Earlymodern #palaeography
Screenshot of a hard to read, hand-written word from a 17th century soldier's letter.
September 12, 2025 at 9:10 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
😩

#genealogy #earlymodern #palaeography
A screenshot of part of a 1640s will, almost completely unreadable because the ink has run and smudged.
September 8, 2025 at 7:44 PM
rfj1611.bsky.social
Oh, come ON, #BBC. 🙄

Apart from the wince-inducing typo, summer only ended a few days ago, so announcing this as the 'first engagement since summer' is a bit stupid.

What has happened to journalism at the BBC? 5 year olds could do a better job than their so-called 'journalists'.
A screenshot from BBC News website. It shows the Prince and Princess of Wales standing together, with the headline "William and Kate visit museum in fist engagement since summer."
September 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM