Who Do You Think You Are?

As we wait in eager anticipation for the release of the 1921 census, it was interesting hearing from Alex Cox on page 17 about the work done on the documents themselves and the information we will discover. I was slightly worried to find out about th

My tip this month is inspired by a letter that a reader has sent in. Mandy Janes (page 7) was researching her husband’s family when she noticed a familiar name in the street of one of his ancestors. Exploring the connection helped explain how a coupl

Jonathan is the author of A Dictionary of Family History and writes our monthly ‘Best Websites’ and ‘Around Britain’ articles. On page 27 he looks at the year ahead for genealogists. Brodie is a senior lecturer at the University of London, and leads

I was adopted and did not discover my birth mother until I was 28. My birth father has been identified following an AncestryDNA test just this year. I am now 72. As far as I am aware the two sides of my birth family were quite separate, one living in

Editor Sarah Williams Production editor Seth Burgess Staff writer Rosemary Collins Art editor Robbie Bennie Contributor Claire Vaughan Ad manager Adrian Miles 0117 300 8145 Ad sales executives Andy Williams 0117 300 8803, Tony Robinson 0117 300

a The Postal Museum, London t 0300 030 0700 w postalmuseum.org/ wish-you-were-here This exhibition explores the history and future of the British postcard, with themes including romance, First World War correspondence, the great British seaside, post

a Weston Gallery, University of Nottingham w lakesidearts.org.uk/exhibitions/event/5477/ beyond-the-mayflower.html In 1620 the Mayflower sailed across the Atlantic, carrying 102 passengers to America. Among the passengers was a group of religious se

w www.scottishindexes.com Speakers at the next virtual conference from Scottish Indexes include Audrey Collins on researching a Second World War ancestor, Chris Paton on civil records from Scotland, Wiebke McGhee on burgh and local-authority records

A University of Edinburgh project is appealing for individuals with at least two Traveller grandparents to take part in DNA testing. Traveller Genes (www.ed.ac.uk/travellergenes), which is supported by the Traveller community, aims to understand how

Family history website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has added ‘UK, Military Records of Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages and Burials, 1813–1957’. The collection contains 38,417 baptism, confirmation, marriage banns, marriage and burial records for UK s

The winners of the 2021 Community Archives and Heritage Group awards have been announced. The Leavesden Hospital History Association (leavesdenhospital.org) won the overall ‘Best Community Archive and Heritage Group’ award. It also triumphed in the

Family history website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has added a collection of records of removed tombstones. ‘UK, Records of the Removal of Graves and Tombstones, 1601–1980’, at ancestry.co.uk/ search/collections/61802, consists of 164,858 records and d

A new online database commemorates 31,384 Irish soldiers who died in the First World War. The free Irish Great War Dead Archive (irelandsgreatwardead.ie) was launched by Tipperary Studies on Remembrance Day. It brings together 20 years of work by mil

Almost 20,000 pension records of Victorian and Edwardian Post Office employees can now be searched online for free. The records were transcribed by volunteers for the research project Addressing Health (addressinghealth.org.uk). This includes reader

The 1921 census of England and Wales will be available to everyone from 8am on 6 January 2022. Researchers will be able to both search and view individual records from the census digitally for free if they visit TNA in Kew – the original paper record

Curtis George Ashdown stepped forward to be knighted by George V at Buckingham Palace on 12 October 1920. He was born the son of a plumber in Deptford, Kent, with no connections or capital, so how did he manage such a meteoric rise? Curtis is the f

w thegazette.co.uk Royal appointments and the results of local elections were published in the London Gazette. Graham found details of his ancestor’s knighthood via its free online archive. w theshipslist.com Discover records of sailings, shipwrecks

To mark the centenary of both the First World War and the creation of the Royal Air Force, the RAF Museum has digitised some of its collections. Our Storyvault website (rafmuseumstoryvault. org.uk) includes casualty cards from the First World War int

w crossandcockade.com The website of the First World War Aviation Historical Society is a useful resource for researching the war in the air. w fleetairarm.com Find out more about the Royal Navy’s specialist museum near Yeovil in Somerset. The Natio

w tinyurl.com/ address-authority Read 12 short articles by historians and literary scholars about petitioning across Europe. w london.sharonhoward. org/llpp This digital history project created by Sharon Howard explores about 10,000 petitions from v

On 18 August 2021 the Bank of Scotland’s polymer £50 note entered circulation, bearing a portrait of Flora Clift Stevenson, a background illustration of Edinburgh’s Randolph Crescent, and the quotation “What Miss Stevenson did not know about educatio

w findmypast.co.uk The site has transcripts of school registers and other records from Lanarkshire, and images of Edinburgh Academy’s registers (1824–1914). w oldscottish.com Search an index of School Leaving Certificates (1908–1924) containing abou

It’s worth tracking down this very useful book. Paterson’s account is wide-ranging and stimulating. a Scotland Street, Glasgow, G5 8QB t 0141 287 0500 e museums@glasgowlife. org.uk w tinyurl.com/scot-strt The museum holds artefacts revealing the hi

The document gives Agnes’ date of birth and that of her baptism, which took place when she was exactly a month old. Only the father’s surname is given, and it’s incorrectly spelled “Edmundsen”. This kind of phonetic misspelling often occurred in the

• Never stop looking. Search again, refresh, renew, rethink. • Always consider alternative spellings. Many names were written phonetically. • Never discard anything as irrelevant. If it’s written down somewhere, then it must have been written for a

Born in Somerset on 17 March 1873, Margaret Bondfield started work as a pupil-teacher when she was only 13, before moving on to work as a draper’s assistant in Brighton. She was a fierce advocate for the working class. She served as female secretary

David Dale is born in Stewarton. He finds great success in the cotton industry, and founds two model communities at Catrine and New Lanark. Robert Burns’ Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect is published by Kilmarnock printer and bookseller John W

Written from the perspective of those who lived, worked and played in Greater London, this book uncovers the hardships and stresses of the age, and the strains that manifested in the General Strike of 1926. s McDonald’s book covers new technologies

w tinyurl.com/ayr-roots-ndb Although Ayrshire Roots is not currently fully functioning, the website is still home to useful lists and information, such as a surname database. w tinyurl.com/arch-in-ayr Titles available through the Internet Archive i

This name means fields with ridges and ferns. This surname is widespread across Scotland, especially Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Aberdeen. You can learn more about the origins of Dunlops, Dunlaps and other variants at clandunlop.com. This locational na

The whisky brand Johnnie Walker originated in Kilmarnock in the 19th century, and the spirit was bottled, packaged and distilled here until 2012, when owners Diageo closed the plant in Hill Street. Documents from the firm’s history are on display in

a Margaret McMillan Tower, Prince’s Way, Bradford BD1 1NN t 0113 535 0152 e bradford@wyjs.org.uk w tinyurl.com/wyas-bradford The Bradford archive office is currently operating a restricted service because of Covid-19, and is open on Mondays and Tuesd

In this series, which began in June 2021, Andrew Martin interviews fellow genealogists about their trees. Each guest (including Nathan Dylan Goodwin, the author of the book featured in this month’s ‘Reader Review’) shares an ancestor who they find in

NATHAN DYLAN GOODWIN , independently published, 258 pages, £8.99 For those who don’t know family historian and prolific author Nathan Dylan Goodwin’s character Morton Farrier, let me introduce you – he’s a forensic genealogist, and although The Fou

What made you want to write this book? I kind of failed my father. He wanted me to read his diary about the last days of the war, when he was a 17 year old being sent to the Eastern Front, and I failed him. Then when he was dying he gave it to me ag

The website FamilySearch (familysearch. org) contains billions of genealogical records from around the world, all of them free to access – you just need to create an account. Its collection of civil records of births, marriages and deaths in Jamaica

Share your family hero with us and they could appear in the magazine! Each month we’ll award our favourite a year’s Pro subscription to findmypast.co.uk worth £159.99. Please write to us at the address on page 6 or email wdytyaeditorial@ immediate

MARTIN COLDICOTT is a Citizens Advice volunteer and retired civil servant who lives in Somerset On Christmas night 1951 the cargo ship Flying Enterprise was en route from Hamburg to the USA, and heading for a storm. There were 10 passengers on board