News & Articles 2023

New Records for Removal of Graves and Tombstones
19th May 2023

We have added copies of records from certain local authorities and the Church Commissioners that relate to the removal of graves and tombstones in burial grounds to our Headstone Collection. These records from The National Archives cover former cemeteries from all over England and Wales. A number contain a plan of the original place of burial while some will reveal the place of reinterment also.

If your ancestor was buried in one of the burial grounds to have been recorded in this release then, despite the headstone no longer standing, you will be able to discover details about your ancestor recorded on their tombstone at the time it had been originally erected.

New Hertfordshire Records & Maps
4th May 2023

This week also sees the release of over 33,000 Lloyd George Domesday Survey records for the Hitchen area of Hertfordshire where we find the occupation and ownership records of people from across the social strata. These link through to highly detailed contemporary maps to show exactly where your ancestor lived. You can then see how the area changed over time with TheGenealogist’s powerful MapExplorer.

These newly released records include the childhood home of the King’s beloved grandmother, click here to find out more in this week's featured article.

New War Memorials Released
3rd May 2023

We have added over 56,924 new individuals to our War Memorial collection, bringing the total number of fully searchable War Memorial Records to over 665,000. This release includes images from war memorials of a variety of shapes and sizes and have been fully transcribed. Covering the war dead from various conflicts including the Boer War, the First World War and World War II, an ancestor’s inclusion on a memorial can be profoundly moving to find, especially as so many of the war dead will have no actual grave for us to visit.

See the census in greater detail than ever before
21st April 2023

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

Subscribers will now have access to the highest resolution and quality census images for England and Wales ever seen online with vastly improved readability revealing even faint writing in pencil.

Building on the success of our previously upgraded 1891 census images release, we have now significantly improved the image quality of all our 1851,1861 and 1871 census record images as well.

Replacing the old bitonal images with high-resolution greyscale census images reveals the details in the census columns or margins and where previously shadows or pencil marks could render an image unreadable. This is a great step forward in clarity and readability - writing appears sharper on the new images and you can zoom in to reveal what would otherwise be illegible words on other sites.

You can find out more about this release in this week's featured article, Murder in the Margin.

Find your Infamous Ancestors
5th April 2023

Over 56,000 individuals and 20,802 further aliases from The Police Gazette have been released today, covering the years 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1931. These are now available to Diamond subscribers in the Court and Criminal Records Collection.

Searchable by keywords such as name, alias and offence, these records provide an effective resource for discovering descriptions of our wayward ancestors. Sometimes known to researchers by its historic name of Hue and Cry, these records are part of the MEPO 6 criminal records that also include Habitual Criminals Registers and Miscellaneous Papers.

A search through our criminal records reveals a female gang leader known as The Queen of the Forty Thieves, a notorious all-female crime syndicate operating out of the slums of south London. Their deftness in avoiding being caught is legendary - click here to find out more in this week's article.

Mapping the UK 1871 Census
10th March 2023

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

The 1871 Census for England, Scotland and Wales has, for the first time, been georeferenced on TheGenealogist. This is the process of linking a record to a geographical spot and means you can now see where a household stood with links to detailed maps on the powerful Map Explorer™. This is set to make investigating the places where ancestors lived in this year even more interesting for family and house historians.

Viewing a household record from the 1871 census on TheGenealogist will now show a map pinpointing its location to either house, street or parish level. Clicking through from this preview map opens the powerful Map Explorer™ with its georeferenced modern and historical maps. This then enables subscribers to explore their ancestors' area in much greater detail than on other census sites.

You can find out more about this release in this week's featured article, Putting 1871 on the map.

More than 355 Square Miles of additional Lloyd George Domesday Records Released
24th February 2023

We have just released over 134,000 new Lloyd George Domesday land tax records. This latest addition covers more than 355 square miles of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, including areas around Watford, St Albans, and Hemel Hempstead, and extending up to Luton, Dunstable, and Toddington.

These records are an essential resource for family historians and researchers looking to uncover information about their ancestors' properties and landholdings. The newly released records include detailed maps, field books, and accompanying notebooks that provide an invaluable insight into the lives and homes of our ancestors.

Whether you're a seasoned genealogist or just starting your family history journey, these records are an exciting addition to our already extensive collection of historical documents. So, delve into these fascinating records and discover the stories of your ancestors and their properties today!

New 1939 Register Records Revealed
10th February 2023

We have just added over 342,500 new records to the 1939 Register for England and Wales, opening previously closed records. Researchers can now see all people born in 1922 opened under the 100 year rule along with those who have passed away since the last release.

Our version of the 1939 Register is matched to our powerful mapping tool Map Explorer™, so that researchers can see more accurately where their ancestor's house was situated on maps down to house, street or parish level, giving more detail than ever before. With its SmartSearch family historians can discover even more from the records in the 1939 Register not just where their ancestors were living as the Second World War began in Britain, but potential birth and death records. You can discover more about this in this week's article.

New 1831 Irish Tithe Defaulters and Irish Parish Registers
13th January 2023

Today we have released 371,400 Kildare Catholic Parish Registers covering baptisms, marriages and burials, which will be a welcome resource for those family historians wanting to research their Irish ancestry from this eastern part of Ireland.

Also released at this time are more than 29,000 individuals recorded as Irish Tithe Defaulters. These records from 1831 can be a useful stand-in for the 1831 Irish census which was almost completely destroyed in 1922.

Tithes were levied on all occupiers of agricultural land, no matter what their religion was and the Roman Catholic population of Ireland particularly resented paying these tithes to the Church of Ireland (the Established Church) on top of often supporting their own priests. Refusal to pay the tithes came to a head in the years 1831 to 1832, beginning what is known as the 'Tithe War' in Ireland. You can discover more about this in this week's article.