Who Do You Think You Are?

Although the new series of WDYTYA? was announced after we had sent our last issue to press, those who subscribe to our weekly email newsletter will have been some of the first to hear about it (sign up via our website if you haven’t already). Jodie W

We were delighted when our free iOS app was updated to allow family historians to search our back issues easily. However, we understand that not everyone can use the app, so we have put a basic index up on our website. Visit whodoyouthinkyouaremagazi

Debbie is well known on the family history circuit for her talks on DNA. She has also written a lot on the subject, and on page 19 shares her advice for getting more from an Ancestry test. Jayne has consulted on previous series of WDYTYA? but this i

Editor Sarah Williams Production editor Seth Burgess Staff writer Rosemary Collins Art editor Robbie Bennie Contributor Claire Vaughan Ad manager Sam Jones 0117 300 8145 Ad sales executives Andy Williams 0117 300 8803, Tony Robinson 0117 300 88

Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society is appealing for volunteers to help photograph and transcribe every gravestone in the two counties. The society began its Graveyard Photographic Project in February and volunteers have already photographed

Family history website findmypast. co.uk has introduced a private messaging feature similar to those offered by other genealogy subscription services. The feature enables subscribers who receive a tree-to-tree hint to privately message the owner of t

The Leigh Chronicle and Weekly District Advertiser reported a mishap during a service at St Leonard’s Church, Newark. The gaslights were lowered for part of the service, but when the time came for them to be raised again, they were turned off altoget

Proposals to close London’s Guildhall Library to the public and merge its services with those of the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) have been halted by the City of London Corporation. At a meeting on 21 September the Corporation’s Culture, Herit

Free website familysearch.org has launched a new database of Mayflower records to mark the 400th anniversary of the ship’s departure from Plymouth to America on 16 September. The database, developed with the New England Historic Genealogical Society

AncestryDNA (ancestry.co.uk/ dna) updated its customers’ test results with new ethnicity estimates on 11 September. Instead of two DNA populations for the whole of the UK and Ireland, the company now has four: England & Northwestern Europe, Ireland,

e [email protected] w bit.ly/devonfhs-events This month’s talks from Devon Family History Society cover subjects including ‘Researching a West Devon Parish’ and ‘Exeter Cathedral Yard Fire and Exeter’s Ancient Buildings’. Free. e registrar

The Family History Federation is offering “a worldwide virtual event” for researchers e [email protected] w fhf-reallyuseful.com The Family History Federation is hosting a virtual show in November that will enable family historians fr

t 020 8876 3444 w bit.ly/rebeccagowers In this Microsoft Teams talk family history author Rebecca Gowers discusses her book The Scoundrel Harry Larkyns and his Pitiless Killing by the Photographer Eadweard Muybridge, which traces the life of her anc

We’ll be ‘live-tweeting’ during each episode of the series – follow @wdytyamagazine Keep up to date with the news at facebook.com/who doyouthinkyouaremagazine Our website whodoyouthink youaremagazine.com has full details of each episode Our fre

1 Start with a known cousin. Click ‘Shared Matches’ to identify a list of the matches you share with your cousin. If you match, for example, with a second cousin, then all of your shared matches will be related to you through your mutual great grandp

w ancestryacademy.com/ understanding-dna View presentations for tips and tricks on using your DNA results and understanding the science. w bit.ly/app-store-anc w bit.ly/play-store-anc Download the Ancestry app from Apple’s App Store or the Google Pla

w familyhistoryfederation.com/ societies-az w safhs.org.uk Regional family history societies can be invaluable. Many hold local records that members can access for free, and can give lots of advice on the local area. Find out more on the websites of

KATHERINE COBB is a member of AGRA based in Somerset SHAUNA HICKS is a genealogist, writer and speaker based in Australia EMMA JOLLY is a writer, historical researcher and member of AGRA DEBBIE KENNETT is the author of DNA and Social Networking J

Order post-1858 wills from probatesearch. service.gov.uk. Check the entry says “probate” and not ”administration” (which means no will). It is handy to attach records to online trees via a subscription website, but if you decide not to keep a subscri

Almost every town and village in Britain has war memorials commemorating the local men who were killed in the service of their country, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Many family and local historians have researched the stories behi

a The Village Hall, Hovingham, York YO62 4LF t 01653 628132 e [email protected] w ryedalefamilyhistory.org The group was established in 2005. All of its books containing information about those who are featured on local war memorials

One of the joys of French genealogical research is that so much of it is free. Each of the 100 or so departments in the country has its own departmental archives with its own, completely free-to-use website. Some have more records than others but all

w ancestry.co.uk/search/places/europe/france Ancestry has many French records, including records from Allier, Alpes-Maritimes, Alsace-Lorraine, Marne, Oise, Paris and Saone-et-Loire. w archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr The website of the national a

a General Offices, Steelworks Road, Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent NP23 6AA t 01495 353363 w gwentarchives.gov.uk Gwent Archives is currently closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic, but readers can view its catalogue on its website and ge

Pen & Sword, 2012 Learn how to explore the lives of forebears in the Merchant Navy at every stage of their careers. a Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AQ t 0151 478 4499 w bit.ly/mersey-maritime Find out about Merchant Navy seafaring and the port of

£40,000 The total spent on importing thread for the Buckinghamshire lace industry in 1780 1871 The year a bobbin was made to commemorate the hanging of William Bull for the murder of Sarah Marshall 10,000 Number of yards of lace among the stock of

a Orchard Side, Market Place, Olney, Buckinghamshire MK46 4AJ t 01234 711516 w cowperandnewtonmuseum .org.uk The museum is a great place to explore the market town’s history of lacemaking. There are lace walks around Olney, and a new lace gallery wil

Arima Publishing, 2006 Bartlett discusses the various villages in the East Midlands that were crucial to the development of bobbin lace. HH Armstrong, 1919 This history of the bobbin-lace industry is available for free from the Internet Archive (a

There are no specific records for lacemakers. They were dispersed across many towns and villages and surviving documents vary from place to place, but individuals may be found in Poor Law records and workhouse records, which can often be accessed thr

Theodore Veale from Dartmouth, a 23-year-old private in the Devonshire Regiment, was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) in September 1916 for rescuing a wounded officer at the Somme. The citation in the London Gazette reads: “As he could not carry the o

w thegazette.co.uk All awards of gallantry medals will be recorded in the London Gazette . Note that the search engine can be somewhat temperamental. w en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_awards_ and_decorations_of_the_United_Kingdom Detailed and informa

The National Archives, 2008 Spencer explains how to trace individuals and actions using record collections. Token Publishing, 2019 This describes all British and Empire medals with the medals and their ribbons illustrated in colour, together with

Unit War Diaries at The National Archives (some are digitised) provide insight into daily life on the Western Front; see bit.ly/ tna-wd . Also, regimental histories contain eyewitness accounts of action. Local newspapers often highlighted news, achi

What advice does Deborah have for her fellow family historians? • Get as much information as you can from elderly relations. • Visit lots of websites and keep a note of all of the information you find – and where you find it. • Even the coldest of

The mixed economy of care that existed before 1948 is illustrated by the career of Henry Richard Jones, grandfather of actor and writer Ruth Jones who appears in Who Do You Think You Are? on 2 November. In 1926, Henry was appointed secretary of the N

Cambridge University Press, 1996 Cherry offers a concise overview of healthcare before the NHS. Maurice Temple Smith, 1985 This study outlines the ways that people gained access to doctors. Doctors’ practices, friendly societies, voluntary hospita

The Battle of Hastings, which took place about seven miles north-west of Hastings, ends in a Norman victory. Lewes physician Richard Russell moves to Brighton. His enthusiasm for seawater bathing helps to promote the town as a seaside resort. Politic

w apps.eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureand tourism/localandfamilyhistory/tithemaps View digitised copies of tithe maps and apportionments for East Sussex as well as Brighton and Hove. w mhms.org.uk This community project provides access to 50,000 catalogu

Brighthelmstone was a fishing community when Dr Richard Russell, who advocated the health benefits of sea bathing, built a house for himself and his patients in the mid-18th century. This, coupled with royal patronage, helped fuel Brighton’s growth a

BONIFACE This surname appears across East and West Sussex in the 1881 census, particularly around Brighton and Eastbourne. BOTTING The patronymic from Bott is most common in south-east England. BURTENSHAW About 60 per cent of all of the Burtenshaws r

FIONA MCDONALD Pen & Sword, 312 pages, £18.99 This book provides a very detailed look at Britain in the 1920s, and I found it particularly useful for understanding what my ancestors’ lives would have been like during the period. It starts with a v

Rosemary Collins highlights three digital resources that caught our eye this month bit.ly/tna-untold-bob Free In this collaborative podcast, released to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Vicky Iglikowski-Broad from The Nationa

You have an incredible treasure trove of family recipes, photographs and drawings. How did you go from finding the collection to publishing it in your book? It all began with two beautiful watercolour albums, which were started by my 4x great grandm

From Monday 12 October, 9pm BBC One and BBC iPlayer Well, this is an unexpected but very welcome surprise. Earlier this year, with the coronavirus pandemic playing havoc with filming schedules, there were fears that we wouldn’t see any new episod

John Walter was born out of wedlock in 1894, the son of Elizabeth Clements. Elizabeth married in 1897, but we found John Walter living with his maternal grandmother Sophia Smith in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in 1901, rather than with Elizabeth. Census re

Victor Nutt remembers visiting his gran, Sarah Wilmot, in New Eltham, South-East London, and watching her cooking up mash for the chickens. He can also see his dad and grandad playing cribbage at the dining-room table. It’s a cosy picture of 1950s li

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