Who Do You Think You Are?

Be aware of everyone recorded in a household on census night There are two examples this month of times where a non-family member recorded in a census return has proved to be a useful, or potentially useful, clue. On page 18 (pictured) you can see th

Debbie is a genetic genealogist and author of DNA and Social Networking. She shares the story of her hunt for her great grandparents using DNA tips we can all try on page 15. On page 20 genealogist and blogger Chris explains how family disasters can

Email [email protected] Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST STAR LETTER WIN an AncestryDNA test kit from ancestry.co.uk WORTH £79 The writer of our star letter wins an AncestryDNA test worth £79 – so drop us a line an

EDITORIAL Editor Sarah Williams Production editor Seth Burgess Features editor Rosemary Collins Art editor Robbie Bennie Contributor Sue Gent ADVERTISING SALES Advertising manager Rebecca Janyshiwskyj 0117 300 8547 Brand sales executive Kelly Warden

The details of civilians who were recommended for and awarded medals for bravery in the Second World War are now available to search for free online. The names are taken from the records of the Treasury Committee which decided on the recipients of ho

The Family History Federation's popular event returns The Really Useful Family History Show 17–18 November w fhf-reallyuseful.com The Family History Federation's annual virtual family history show is back this November. A packed programme includes mo

Family history website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has released the oldest available Ordnance Survey maps of the UK. Ordnance Survey began its first national survey of Britain in 1805. The production of the maps, known as the Old Series, lasted until 1

Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has uncovered Sir Michael Caine's family links to the First World War to coincide with the release of his new film, The Great Escaper. Released on 6 October, The Great Escaper stars Caine as Bernard Jordan, a real-life D

Kiplin Hall, near Richmond in North Yorkshire, is appealing for relations of the family who lived there to get in touch. The house was built in the 1620s by George Calvert (1580–1632), 1st Baron Baltimore, and has been owned by four related families

Tales of murder in the Middle Ages can now be searched online for free thanks to a research project from the University of Cambridge. Medieval Murder Maps (medievalmurdermap.co.uk), run by the university's Violence Research Centre, has published maps

The date of the earliest surviving book about British cheese, which has now been digitised by the University of Leeds (tinyurl.com/uni-leeds-cheese) People conceived by donation in the UK are now able to request information about their donor (tinyurl

English Heritage has warned that its school trips to historic sites are at risk because of the cost-of-living crisis. Research by the charity shows that school trips have declined by 28 per cent since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which

Clustering is easy to do at AncestryDNA using the coloured dots. Begin with your closest match. Click that person's profile, then choose ‘Add to group’ before selecting ‘Create custom group’. Choose a colour and give your new custom group a name. Thi

In order to work out our relationship with our DNA matches it's often necessary to build out their trees. I worked out all of the connections for my Harrises without needing to contact anyone. Matches with no trees or minimal trees can often be solve

What Are The Odds (WATO) is a free tool provided by genealogist and web developer Jonny Perl on his website DNA Painter. It allows you to deploy the power of multiple DNA matches to determine your most likely position in a known tree: dnapainter.com/

In 1921, Mary Thomson applied for relief in Glasgow because she was no longer supported by a daughter who had just married. In the notes at Glasgow City Archives (glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries/city-archives) Mary said that she had four children, and t

w bit.ly/anc-civ-div ‘England & Wales, Civil Divorce Records, 1858–1918’ includes papers from petitions for divorce, judicial separation and declarations of legitimacy. w tinyurl.com/barn-research Find out how to locate adoption papers for anyone who

Ask older members of the family to see if they have diaries and letters tucked away. Contact more distant relations too, because such items may be passed down through other branches of your tree. Gethin was able to cross-check events referenced in Ri

Bishop's Castle is a market town in south-west Shropshire close to the border with Wales. Its oldest pub is the Three Tuns (thethreetunsinn.co.uk) which was first recorded selling beer in 1642, although there is evidence that parts of the building ma

w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Newspapers often carried stories about pubs and their staff, and the British Newspaper Archive includes the 1874 issues of the weekly Licensed Victuallers’ Guardian. w historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list Many old a

Man Walks into a Pub, 2nd Edn Pete Brown Pan, 2010 Don't miss this entertaining history of the pub trade. Researching Brewery and Publican Ancestors, 2nd Edn Simon Fowler Family History Partnership, 2009 You can borrow Simon's book for free via the I

Our society was formed in 1919 as the London Edison Society, making it the senior recorded music society in the world. It grew out of now long-defunct societies, often started by enthusiasts meeting where they bought their records, especially phonogr

w arthurlloyd.co.uk This long-running mine of information covers the British music hall, pantomime and variety scene. w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Alongside national and local papers, BNA also has specialist titles such as The Stage and The Era. w

The Archives of the Valuation of Ireland 1830–1865 Frances McGee Four Courts Press, 2018 McGee was an archivist, as well as a former acting director of the National Archives of Ireland. w irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/revision-books.html Journalist, fa

Patrick Sellars was a sheep farmer from Elgin, Morayshire, who worked as a factor for the Marquess of Stafford (later the 1st Duke of Sutherland) during the most aggressive evictions on the Sutherland Estate. After taking a lease for Culmaily Farm in

The Clergy and the Clearances David Paton John Donald Publishers, 2006 Learn how the Kirk hindered and helped the expulsions. The Highland Clearances John Prebble Penguin, 1969 This classic can be borrowed for free from the Internet Archive at tinyur

w geneteka.genealodzy.pl/?lang=eng This free database contains more than 30 million entries based on parish registers from all over Poland. Scans of some of the original records are also included. w kresy-siberia.org This site contains a huge amount

Brothers Charles and Jeremiah Chubb move their lock-making business from Portsmouth to Wolverhampton. It becomes a major employer in the county for generations. The Prince of Wales’ (North Staffordshire) Regiment is formed on 1 July, when the 64th (2

w staffordshirebmd.org.uk Staffordshire BMD reaches back to the beginning of civil registration in 1837, and currently has some 2.3 million births, 1.5 million deaths and one million marriages. w tinyurl.com/north-staffs-coal This old but still funct

In 1824 glass merchant Robert Lucas Chance bought the British Crown Glass Company in Smethwick – then part of Staffordshire, but now within the West Midlands. His brother William, an iron merchant, invested in the firm in 1832 and became a partner. C

This locative name originated in a lost place called Beardsmoors in the hamlet of Farley, Staffordshire. Just over 1,000 Colcloughs were recorded in the county in the 1881 census. In 1881 Stoke-on-Trent had 145 Deavilles. Grocott is one of several re

findmypast.co.uk/page/podcast Free Family history website Findmypast has launched a new podcast presented by historian and broadcaster Prof Suzannah Lipscomb. In the first episode Lipscomb traces her own family history, while the second and third epi

Gathering up her voluminous skirts, luggage and teenage ward Matilda, Louisa Snelson stepped into a Māori canoe on the Manawatū River. It was 1871, and she was about to become the first known European woman to travel into the dense bush of the upper