R.I.P Brian Pears

[JenB]

Sadly Brian Pears died at the end of February.

Brian was very well-known as a local historian here in the North-East. The extent of his researches is touched on here https://brianpearsblog.wordpress.com/

He maintained the Rootsweb Northumbria list for many years, and tolerated no messing about at all!

He also looked after the Northumberland pages on Genuki to a very high standard. Indeed the Towns and Parishes section was held up to other volunteers as a prime example of what can be achieved http://www.genuki.org.uk/org/helpus  final paragraph.

Local historians in the North-East owe him a great debt of gratitude.

[BumbleB]

Whilst I don't, personally, have any connections with Northumberland, it is always sad to lose those people who have done so much for their particular area.     Commiserations to his family.

[jon541]

Brian, I never met you, I never even personally corresponded with you ... but like most researching North Eastern ancestors, I owe you a large debt of thanks for your detailled and fastidious work over the years.  GenUKI continues to be an essential resource and it's only necessary to look at the comparative sketchiness of the pages for some other counties to realise the amount of work that must have gone into creating and maintaining the Northumberland and Durham pages.

Thank you so much and condolences and best wishes to your family.

[c-side]

He'd been very poorly for some time which is why genuki have been looking for someone to maintain the Northumberland site.  Big shoes to fill whoever takes it on.

Christine

[Tickettyboo]

Very sorry to read this news. I had a few email exchanges with Brian and really appreciated all the work he did for the benefit of others.

R.I.P. Brian

Boo

[Mr. Tibbs]

Thank you, Jen.  I hadn't heard of Brian's death, a real stalwart and a great miss for all his contributions over the years.
Pat

[Ruskie]

That's sad news. 

 I'm sure I have him to thank for many of the records I found relating to my Northumbrian ancestors.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Jen
I've had time to read the links now, very interesting to put a face and a history to a person's name that one has known for so long.  Thanks so much.
Pat

[WolfieSmith]

Brian helped a lot of people to research their family history.
The link to "Smith Family Memorabilia" half way down his website page is the story of my uncle George, killed in Germany a month before the end of WW2.

Alan.