Who Do You Think You Are?

Wnen I first launched this magazine in 2007 I remember talking to a Who Do You Think You Are? genealogist who still did all of her trees on paper. I suspect those days are long gone, and that almost all of you will have some form of electronic tree.

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On page 16 Chris reveals lots of reasons why online family trees are useful. We also review his latest book Sharing Your Family History Online this month on page 83. Simon is an expert in maritime genealogy with many books to his name. He shares his

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

Members of the public are invited to take part in the second series of BBC Two’s DNA Family Secrets. The programme, presented by Stacey Dooley, follows people who want to answer life-changing questions through the power of DNA, from tracing lost rela

TheGenealogist (thegenealogist.co.uk) has added the 1939 Register to its collections. The register was taken on 29 September 1939 to compile a record of the civilian population of the UK at the start of the Second World War, and is the most recent an

Email [email protected] Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 4ST I want to say a big thank you for the ‘Record Masterclass’ in the February issue. Even though I’ve not yet had the chance to pursue furt

The National Library of Wales (NLW) has launched a free online collection on Google Arts and Culture. It is the first Welsh cultural organisation to share digitised content on the platform. There are currently 190 items on display, available to view

Family history site Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has created a new database of 32,000 Royal Air Force personnel who were mentioned in dispatches during the Second World War. The records are transcribed from the London Gazette (thegazette. co.uk), an

Email [email protected] to feature your upcoming event here w devonfhs.org.uk Upcoming talks from the society include ‘Parish Rates for Family Historians 1500–1650’ (8 May) and ‘The 1924 Torquay Pageant’ (14 May). Free. w bit.ly/ihgs

THE Genealogy Show returns with this online event w thegenealogyshowlive.com THE Genealogy Show planned to follow its launch event in 2019 with one in 2020, but had to cancel it because of Covid-19. This year’s show is going ahead online, and featur

The Covid-19 Archives Fund has awarded 25 UK archives grants of up to £50,000. The fund, which is run by The National Archives, is intended to help archives secure physical and ‘born-digital’ records that are at risk of being dispersed or lost. The b

Renovation work in a historic townhouse in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, has revealed some astonishing secrets. The builders discovered the former servants’ quarters of the Grade II-listed 18 Northumberland Place hidden behind an unused door. The qu

w fachrs.com The Family and Community Historical Research Society (FACHRS) was not able to hold its 2020 conference because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it has been rescheduled for 2021 with all of the same speakers giving their talks online. The

Ancestry allows you to host multiple family trees, which can be made public or private. Work on an Ancestry tree can be synchronised to that on your home computer via the Family Tree Maker software package, and to mobile devices through the company’s

You can build multiple trees on Findmypast with different privacy settings, and the website has created a helpful beginners’ guide for members Findmypast’s ‘Build Your Family Tree’ tool is available from the homepage, with a handy user guide availa

Many online hosted projects aim to create a single family tree through collaboration. One thing to be aware of with such projects is that users may need to sign up to various rules and cede some ‘sovereignty’ over the ‘territory’ that was previously

MyHeritage’s ‘Family Tree Builder’ can be accessed for free with a Basic subscription, but its limit of 250 individuals is lifted when taking out a paid subscription. The program can also be installed on a home computer via myheritage.com/family-tree

TheGenealogist’s ‘TreeView’ application is a more traditional tree builder, which can be viewed on its site, or via treeview.co.uk. The free version is limited with just current view and full tree printing. Other functions such as mapping, merging an

Coventry-based Daimler makes the first cars in Britain, at a time when horse-drawn vehicles are the most popular form of transport. The speed limit is just 12 mph. The Coventry car industry really takes off. Most cars are hand-built by craftsmen unt

Damien Kimberley, the local studies officer at Coventry Archives (coventrycollections.org), reports that surviving employee records for the city’s car industry are limited, thanks to the Luftwaffe’s bombs. He suggests family historians look to other

a Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Jordan Well, Coventry CV1 5QP t 024 7623 7583 e [email protected] w coventrycollections.org Coventry Archives holds company magazines, photographs, marketing material and oral history recordings. a Millenn

Gunfire had broken out around Holy Trinity Cathedral in Shanghai. It was 1925, and oppressed workers had risen up to shake an angry fist at the Chinese establishment. Two British craftsmen inside the cathedral kept their heads down and carried on wor

w cumbria.gov.uk/archives/ archivecentres/cac.asp The staff at Carlisle Archive Centre were extremely helpful. Your relation’s local archive may also hold records that contain invaluable information, many of which won’t be digitised. w familysearch.

Please email your questions or family photographs to the following address: [email protected] If selected, your query will be answered on these pages. Please note that we receive a large volume of correspondence each month, and cannot r

My grandfather George Dehayen took this photo of his wife Georgina with him when he went to war. My great great uncle was an official naval artist in Weymouth during the Second World War. My great great grandmother Mary Wilson, aged 16 in 1925. Ge

If published you will receive Vivid-Pix Restore Image Improvement Software worth $49.99. To see how Vivid-Pix Restore can transform your photos and documents visit vivid-pix.com for a free trial. Email our art editor on [email protected]

w salmonbothy.org/family-history The bothy’s volunteers are researching an incident in Portsoy in 1828 involving a team of salmon fishermen. They are keen to trace relatives of these individuals: James Morison (born c1810), Alexander Hector, Alexande

w ancestry.co.uk/cs/uk/criminal Ancestry’s police records detail promotions, disciplinary actions, injuries and even give physical descriptions. w www.btphg.org.uk This website is packed with information and useful resources, including honours and m

The Open University’s website open.ac.uk has long been a very useful source of information for my writing. It used to hold a massive archival listing of every aspect of police work from the past. But today, under the guidance of Dr Rosalind Crone, it

a 80 Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PE t 020 7821 3050 e [email protected] w bit.ly/rhs-lindley-library The Lindley Library is usually open 10am–5pm on weekdays, although note that archival material can only be consulted in the research r

Take your research further a Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU t 01970 632800 e [email protected] w library.wales NLW is home to a wealth of material about the country’s history, and as well as tithe maps its impressive digital offering includes new

This five-volume report was created for a Royal Commission on Labour. A digitised version is freely available from HathiTrust at bit.ly/hathi-ag-labs. This book provides a well-rounded picture of farming life, and is worth tracking down. Ian’s compre

a University of Reading, Redlands Road, Reading, Berkshire RG1 5EX t 0118 378 8660 w merl.reading.ac.uk The museum turns 70 this year. Its archives host several online databases, and there is a guide to using them at bit.ly/merl-archives. Records in

Finding information about your relations who worked as agricultural labourers begins with the basic genealogical records. Search online census returns and the 1939 Register to identify locations and family information. Find your ancestors in as many

Upload your tree to other family history sites to get more hints I keep my main family history research on one website, but every now and again I export a new GEDCOM file and upload it to other sites. It’s a great way to come across other living re

A Royal Marine’s career records often don’t spell out the military engagements in which he was involved. Instead, they list the ships served on and the places to which a man was deployed. However, you can use this information to investigate whether h

Tom Cobb was born in Canning Town in Essex in 1882. As a teenager, he worked in a London household as a footman but it wasn’t the role he really wanted. As soon as he turned 18, he applied to join the Royal Marines in London. He was successful and st

w bit.ly/tna-marines-1842-1925 The records can be downloaded in full, and are searchable by name and dates of combat. RMA and RMLI records are filed together. w bit.ly/tna-marine-officers Royal Marines officers are included with Royal Navy officers.

Pen & Sword, 2008 This guide explains the history and structure of the Royal Marines, conditions of service, and sources to help research an ancestor. w cwgc.org/find-records/ find-war-dead Find marines who died in either world war. Choosing ‘Navy’

Finding a successful entrepreneur in the family can be very exciting. It becomes all the more enthralling if your ancestor grew up in humble circumstances. How was social mobility possible for working-class people in Victorian times? Jeremy Cripps fr

1 TRADE DIRECTORIES Tradespeople or professionals may be listed in Pigot’s or Kelly’s Directories. Search for free at the University of Leicester’s website specialcollections.le.ac.uk. 2 NEWSPAPERS Old newspaper adverts can reveal clues, while the

• Keep a log of the questions you seek to answer. Note your findings and your thoughts. • Make a timeline. It may be essential to work out the sequence of events. • It’s easy to get carried away, so regularly step back and digest what you’ve discov

Shire Publications, 2011 Brand looks back at a thousand years of royal weddings in Britain. Carlton Books, 2011 This journey through bridal history has a particular focus on bridal gowns. a Cromwell Road, Knightsbridge, London SW7 2RL t 020 7942 2

Couples who decided to tie the knot during the Second World War often didn’t have the luxury of long engagements culminating in lavish ceremonies. Weddings were arranged at short notice, dependent on a soldier’s leave, and often the wedding announcem

Construction of Norwich Cathedral begins. Bishop Walter de Suffield founds the Great Hospital in Norfolk for priests, scholars and sick paupers. Theologian Julian of Norwich is born. Her Revelations of Divine Love is the earliest surviving book in

CURSON This habitational name comes from Notre-Dame-de-Courson, a former commune in Normandy, north-west France. DACK Dack was a nickname for a person who had a gait like a duck when they walked. EKE This surname derives from the Old Norse word for a

w digitalarchive.2ndair.org.uk This archive documents the wartime experiences of the US Army’s 2nd Air Division in its ‘home from home’ of Norfolk. w bit.ly/norfolk-pics Explore more than 25,000 images from the county’s past. w historic-maps. nor

Jarrold and Sons is a firm synonymous with Norwich. Established in Woodbridge in the neighbouring county of Suffolk in 1770, the business moved to Cockey Lane (now London Street), Norwich, in 1823 and set up as a printer, bookseller and stationer, wh

Florence Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 in Florence, Italy, then lived in her family homes in Hampshire and Derbyshire. She rejected the conventional path of marriage and childbearing, and devoted herself to study and public service. In 1840 she

Index and images for England and Wales, index-only for Scotland. Occupation indexed only for Scotland. Index shared with Findmypast for England and Wales. Occupations not indexed. Index and good images for England and Wales, index-only for Scotland.

The official report is available at bit.ly/arch-1861-census. w bit.ly/histpop-scot-census Histpop provides access to population reports for Britain and Ireland for 1801–1937. The National Archives, 2008 This is a useful guide. HMSO for the Public

“I had tugged the thread and I could not resist following it to the end,” writes author and columnist Ferdinand Mount about his hunt for the true identity of the woman he knew as his Aunt Munca – someone who turned out to have an obsession for obscur

How did you come to write the book? The first book in the series was Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th Century: Hannah’s Story, and I initially wrote that because there was nothing written down about those women. However, Hannah’s Story was

myheritage.com/ deep-nostalgia Free MyHeritage’s latest photo tool drew headlines when it launched in February. Deep Nostalgia uses artificial intelligence to bring the faces in photographs back to life, including smiling, blinking and moving th

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) contains more than 600,000 biographies of influential men and women in British history, and can be accessed online for free with most local library memberships. We found a wealth of information about

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

CHRISTOPHER JEPSON lives in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, and has been researching his tree since 2011 Memorial Avenue in the town of Easington, County Durham, in northeast England looks like any other peaceful, verdant street. However, each of its