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

Drilling down in the Northampton Land Tax Records discovers the home of an Eminent Geologist

7th December 2023

Thompson was the county’s leading geologist, a curator of fossils at Northampton Museum and had prospected for oil in Peru, Angola, Brazil, as well as in the Caribbean. A founder member of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society he had been the first Principal of Northampton College of Science and Technology, and inspired Walter Crick to study science. Crick, a Northampton shoe manufacturer, would jointly publish an article with Charles Darwin in the latter’s last publication thirteen days before his death in 1882.

Rolls of Honour Reveal Unsung Heroes of the Rolling Sea

10th November 2023

During both World Wars, the Merchant Navy was called upon in a time of need. Merchant seamen were the vital crew who ensured the United Kingdom remained supplied with essential raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, and sustenance, thus enabling the nation to sustain itself through the trials of war. Their contribution was pivotal, with their valiant efforts supporting the country's defence.

Up before the Justices of the Peace

26th October 2023

The Quarter Session Registers are a treasure trove of historical information that provide insight into the judicial and administrative activities of English counties over several centuries. These records offer a unique window into the social, economic, and legal aspects of the past.

Found in the Welsh Tithe Records: The Cottage Built in One Night

12th October 2023

It was a time of dire poverty in rural West Wales, leading to unrest amongst the farmers and workers when Thomas Rees, also known as Twm Carnabwth, came to the front leading the first Rebecca Riot in an attack on a toll gate in 1839.

Bernard Shaw’s house and an explorer’s family pile in Hertfordshire

29th September 2023

In this dive into the Hertfordshire IR58 land tax records we have been able to find two very different properties, just a short walk from each other. Their records demonstrate the treasure trove of information that can be revealed as a result of the visit made by the land tax surveyor from the 1910s.

Searching for ancestors in the Laois parish records

15th September 2023

Laois takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom once ruled by a tribe of this name. In its past it has also been known as County Leix and as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. As the Irish diaspora has spread out across the globe, especially during the Great Famine of 1845–49 which devastated the county, many people will be able to trace their roots back to this part of Ireland.

An Ancestor Bar None

24th August 2023

Helena Bonham Carter is an award-winning actress of film and TV fame who belongs to a prominent British family. Her paternal grandparents were Sir Maurice Bonham Carter, a Liberal MP and Violet, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury, a life peer in her own right and the daughter of H.H Asquith the Prime Minister. Her paternal great-grandfather, Henry Bonham Carter, was a cousin of Florence Nightingale, as we discover in this article.

The cycling champion who built a car empire

9th August 2023

The City of Oxford is primarily associated in most minds with its university. To those of us old enough to remember when British marques dominated motoring in this country, it was also inextricably linked to a make of car in a similar way that Ford was to Dagenham and Vauxhall was to Luton.

Setting history straight – Discovering the truth about a WW1 Aviator, Businessman and Playboy

27th July 2023

A glance at the March 26, 1915 edition has an intriguing subheading of "Accident to Jewish Aviator." It is in the section titled 'The War' and comes after the names of some men who had been Killed in Action in the Neuve Chapelle Battle and others who had been wounded in the same action. Just ahead of the names of men who featured under "Some Recent Promotions", we are able to read three lines that can't help but draw us in.

Lesley Manville

24th July 2023

Actress Lesley Manville CBE is a big hitter of British film and TV, having been nominated as best actress in both the BAFTAs and the Oscars. She doesn’t feel she particularly knows her roots, however: ‘Through understanding where I’ve come from, I’m hoping to understand myself more,’ she says in her episode of Who Do You Think You Are?.

Chris Ramsay

17th July 2023

'I don't think there's going to be any money or royalty in my past,' observes stand-up comedian and TV presenter Chris Ramsay at the start of his episode in the 2023 series of Who Do You Think You Are?, 'I think it's just going to be tough.' Chris also presents a hugely successful podcast with his wife Rosie and has also been a star of Strictly Come Dancing. He says he feels he has a charmed and lucky life and wonders if his ancestors were so fortunate. There are certainly some adventures to be discovered!

Under the “Red Duster” and the White Ensign

13th July 2023

As a seagoing nation many of our ancestors served on ships that plied the world either in trade or in the defence of this island kingdom’s interests. Some of our forebears will have served for a part of their time at sea under the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, before continuing under the Red Ensign of a commercial shipping line.

Dev Griffin

11th July 2023

Born to an Irish mum and a Jamaican dad, DJ Dev Griffin grew up feeling he didn’t fit in with either community. He hopes discovering more about his ancestors will help him strengthen his own sense of identity and belonging.

Emily Atack

4th July 2023

Entertainment ‘is a family business’, says Emily Atack, comic actress and star of her eponymous show as well as The Inbetweeners and ‘Keith Lemon’ sketch shows, ‘There was never any other route for me.’ It soon becomes clear that she certainly isn’t kidding about this! It’s not surprising therefore that entertainment is at the core of her journey in the genealogy show: ‘I would love to know more about the history of where all the talents came from,’ says Emily.

A Child Actress who Managed The Prince of Wales’s Royal Theatre

30th June 2023

Did your ancestors become famous and have a piece written about them in a Who's Who or a dictionary of biography? Many people did as the subjects for these profiles often climbed up from humble beginnings. That being the case, finding their entry in one of the books that provide the basis of TheGenealogist’s Occupational Records can immediately fill in gaps with tantalising facts about the person.

Xand and Chris van Tulleken

27th June 2023

You and I probably know them simply as ‘Dr Xand’ and ‘Dr Chris’ – the van Tulleken brothers who are both doctors and both TV presenters, and who have done much to bring an understanding of the world of medicine to the public, children and adults alike.

Kevin Clifton

19th June 2023

‘Grimsby feels like the strongest part of me,’ says Kevin Clifton as his episode of Who Do You Think You Are? opens in the 2023 series. He then jokes about the unlikelihood about any of his family coming from the other side of the world. In fact, it will turn out that both are true!

Bear Grylls

9th June 2023

Action man Bear Grylls prizes a sense of duty as well as a spirit of adventure, and there’s plenty of both to be found in his family tree…

A veritable Bounty of information found in the occupational records

8th June 2023

The latest additions to TheGenealogist’s ever expanding resources for family historians, are useful for revealing names, dates and information about ancestors that belonged to that level of society that ranged from Freemen of various towns and cities, Liverymen, Aldermen and members of organisations such as the Masons and Oddfellows. Also in this classification are a number of book records for people classed as being Worthies including volumes covering London and two for Cornwall. Gathered together under the Guilds, Societies and People of Note section of TheGenealogist’s Occupational Records, this diverse collection can spark some fascinating research clues.

Claire Foy

5th June 2023

Award-winning Actress Claire Foy stars in the next episode of Who Do You Think You Are? broadcast on 8 June 2023 - Claire discovers the drama in her family tree

Andrew Lloyd Webber

30th May 2023

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

18th May 2023

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

16th May 2023

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

3rd May 2023

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!

20th April 2023

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

4th April 2023

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

22nd March 2023

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

9th March 2023

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

24th February 2023

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

8th February 2023

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!

27th January 2023

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

13th January 2023

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)