Featured Articles

Read about our newest Record Set releases and how they could help further your research, get inspired by our historical articles which show how famous ancestors such as Florence Nightingale, the Brontë sisters or Charles Darwin can be traced online, or enjoy fascinating discoveries about well-known celebrities in our Who Do You Think You Are section.

2023 Articles

Andrew Lloyd Webber

In his episode of Who Do You Think You Are? - the first of series 20, broadcast on 1 June 2023 - the composer is keen to find out the origins of this musical tendency. ‘The thing I would most like to discover,’ he says, ‘is where on earth my love of musical theatre came from.’

A not so final resting place

Finding our elusive ancestors requires us to look in a great variety of records to help us build their life stories. This is especially so when the record collection is inconveniently missing or destroyed and thus we need to find some alternative records as a substitute that will enable us to find the information that we require.

The nation’s favourite genealogy TV show returns to our screens

The nation’s favourite genealogy TV show is returning to our screens very soon, with the eight episodes of series 20 of Who Do You Think You Are? due to be broadcast from early June.

The Queen Mother’s childhood home and a Victoria Cross hero's untimely end

In this month, when Charles III is crowned King, we have come across a royal connection to a house featured in the new release of IR58 land tax records at TheGenealogist. In our royal example for the coronation, here we are able to note the record taken of the Hertfordshire childhood home of the King’s beloved grandmother and former Queen Consort, Elizabeth.

Murder in the margin!

As family historians we usually search census records to look for useful information such as where a person was on census night, as well as the names of the other members of their household. Using TheGenealogist for our research between 1871 to 1911 comes with an added benefit in that we can see the location of the property linked up to useful georeferenced maps in the Map Explorer™ tool.

The Queens of the Forties

In the 19th and early 20th century a notorious all-female crime syndicate known as the Forty Thieves operated out of the slums of south London specialising in shoplifting and bringing fear to the streets. This gang was remarkable not only for being made up of females but also for the length of time that it was in operation.

Tracing a House in the Monmouthshire tithes to modern day

As Tithe records included people from all social levels, we can use these records to see how an ancestor's locality had appeared in this era. As an example of this, we are going to look at a house in Monmouth called, The Hendre. Situated in Rockfield, in the civil parish of Llangattock-Vibon-Avel and some 4 miles north-west of the town of Monmouth, it was built in the eighteenth century as a shooting box before being vastly expanded by the family that owned it in three stages during the nineteenth century.

Putting 1871 on the map

Once we have found our ancestors recorded in the 1871 census, it is interesting to put their lives into context by thinking about what was happening in the UK this year. Queen Victoria was on the throne and it was in March of that year that she opened the Royal Albert Hall in London. The month before, on the 10th February, the Great Gale of 1871 had hit the North of England wrecking twenty-eight ships and causing over fifty fatalities including the six crew of the Bridlington life-boat.

The “Seeds” of the Ryder Cup in Land Tax Records for Hertfordshire

A look at some recently released land tax records for Hertfordshire discovered the home and other property of a seedsman whose name lives on today in the world of golf on both sides of the Atlantic. Every two years the men's golf teams from Europe and the United States play each other at venues that alternate between courses in the United States and Europe for a cup that bears the name of a businessman from Hertfordshire. The original 17 inches tall gold trophy, of which a replica is awarded today to the winners, was sponsored by the St Albans based seed merchant, Samuel Ryder and first presented in 1927.

The "Count" and the Contessa found in the 1939 Register

The famous actor Sir Christopher Lee, made his name often playing the villain in a career in film spanning more than 60 years. To some he was Count Dracula, appearing in the role in seven Hammer Horror movies and ultimately taking the part of Dracula nine times. To others he will be remembered for portraying the bad guy Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). In real life he was actually related to Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, the two being step-first cousins.

RAF records reveal parties, crashes, and even flying saucers!

It is fascinating what can be found in the records known as RAF Operations Record Books (ORBs) and released online by TheGenealogist. They not only deal with the wartime functions of air force squadrons, but they also extend into the 1950s and 60s. Thus, for those of us with relatives who had served after the war, we can make use of the entries in these official daily journals to discover about our RAF ancestors and what happened on a daily basis in their unit or squadron.

Can't Pay or Won't Pay – The Tithe Defaulters

Irish records can be problematic for family historians when they are found to be missing or destroyed. The 1831 Irish census is an example in case, almost completely destroyed in 1922. Researchers therefore have to turn to a set of records that can act as a substitute source. A useful stand-in for this missing census is the 1831 Tithe Defaulters database now online at TheGenealogist.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Every year the popular BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? brings us a host of new and exciting stories. We have taken a look at each celebrity as they journey into their family history, and you can read about their discoveries in our articles.

Series 20 (2023)

Series 19 (2022)

Series 18 (2021)

Series 17 (2020)

Series 16 (2019)

Series 15 (2018)

Series 14 (2017)

Series 13 (2016)

Series 12 (2015)

Series 11 (2014)

Series 10 (2013)

Series 9 (2012)

Series 8 (2011)

Series 7 (2010)