Family History Articles

Military research online


Published on 13 Sep 2013 13:59 : 2124 views

Chris Paton brings you the best resources to trace your military ancestors.


Find Your Firemen Forebears


Published on 13 Aug 2013 11:48 : 865 views

Tracing ancestors who worked in the fire briga ...


Online Marriage Records


Published on 9 Jul 2013 16:26 : 3828 views

Chris Paton investigates the best resources


The Parish Chest


Published on 17 Jun 2013 11:56 : 2764 views

Chris Paton looks beyond the parish registers The Church of England was an intensely bureaucratic establishment. Quite apart from the ecclesiastical hierarchy of priests, deacons and bishops, each parish had its own officers handling a variety of responsibilities. The most important establishment was the vestry, essentially the church's council, which dealt with many different types of day to day business. Often chaired by the minister, it worked in conjunction with the local justice of the peace on a range of issues, and in many cases the minutes have survived for centuries.


The Poor Law


Published on 13 May 2013 15:26 : 2667 views

Michelle Higgs investigates poor relief before and after 1834


What secrets our ancestors' autograph books might reveal


Published on 15 Apr 2013 11:28 : 887 views

Ruth A Symes asks what secrets our ancestors' autograph books might reveal


Romany Collections at Leeds and Liverpool


Published on 14 Mar 2013 13:44 : 968 views

Rachel Bellerby looks at two outstanding research centres


Destination Unknown


Published on 14 Jan 2013 15:06 : 1623 views

Emma Jolly looks at the records of wartime evacuees. Operation Pied Piper was the government’s codename for the evacuation of millions during the Second World War. Such amass movement of people was unknown in British history and its impact lingers in survivors today. Whilst many vulnerable people were moved, the majority were children, packaged with brown labels. They were given spare clothing, fruit, and perhaps chocolate for their journey – destination unknown. Although some children were evacuated overseas (notably Canada), this article focuses on children who were evacuated from and to homes in England.


Pity the Poor Lodger


Published on 16 Oct 2012 14:53 : 3287 views

Ruth A Symes considers the strangers who lived amongst our kin. Whilst researching your ancestors on the 19th-century censuses, you may occasionally have been surprised to find that some of them shared their homes with people who were not kin. Conversely, you may have discovered that one or more of your ancestors spent time out of the family home living in with another family in a different part of the British Isles.


Emma Jolly explains how to use records of the Asia, Pacific & Africa Collections (APAC) in London to learn more about ancestors who lived in south Asia. The British Empire affected the lives of our ancestors in England, the UK and across the world. India was the Imperial "Jewel in the Crown", and central to trade and military strategy. From the late 17th century to 1948, sizeable records were created which documented the lives of UK and Irish citizens, plus other Europeans and Asians, living and working in and around India. Most of these documents are held in London, in the APAC Reading Room of the British Library.