Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Who Do You Think You Are?

There's nothing like the start of a new year to inspire me to look ahead at what the future holds, so join us on page 14 as we reveal some of the genealogical treats coming in 2025. No surprise, I suppose, that Ancestry will be launching its own version of the 1921 census for England and Wales now that Findmypast has lost its exclusivity, but that's just one of dozens of record releases to look forward to. We've been reporting on the National Burial Grounds Survey for years, so I'm delighted to see that the project plans to launch its first tranche of records in 2025. There's plenty on the horizon, and the growth in artificial intelligence means that records and transcriptions will start coming online faster and faster. One…

JONATHAN SCOTT Every year our ‘Best Websites’ writer contacts dozens of organisations to ask what their online plans are for the future. Turn to page 14 to see what Jonathan uncovered. PHIL TOMASELLI Our military expert, Phil, said he struggled to fit everything into his guide to REME records on page 28. There's so much to say now that WW2 service records are coming online. DR EVELYN LORD Author of many books including The Great Plague: When Death Came to Cambridge in 1665, historian Evelyn explores London's experience of the plague for us on page 52.…

1 ABERDEEN CITY AND ABERDEENSHIRE ARCHIVES w aberdeencity.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/aberdeen-city-and-aberdeenshire-archives The team are currently moving collections out of Old Aberdeen House on Dunbar Street to reopen at the Town House address on Broad Street in the spring. Plans are afoot for a new archive building in the future. 2 NORTHUMBERLAND ARCHIVES w https://northumberlandarchives.com/manorial-project/ Staff are finishing off a National Lottery Heritage Fund project to from across the county. They are currently working on mounting the transcripts together with digitised scans. 3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND w nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-proni-historical-maps-viewer An additional dataset of to the Historical Maps viewer available on PRONI's website, joining new online research guides such as ‘Ulster & Slavery’ and a ‘Guide to Sports Records’. 4 WEST YORKSHIRE ARCHIVE SERVICE w wyjs.org.uk/archive-service/ Tithe maps and apportionments for Bradford and Leeds…

The recent release on Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) of service records of ‘other rank’ soldiers who served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) Corps during the Second World War marks an important step in making public the records of servicemen and servicewomen. Previously only a few smaller units had been digitised (see below). The REME records, running from 1942 (the year that the corps was created) to 1959 (the year that conscription ended, apart from men who had to defer for apprenticeships etc) contain the records of 133,366 ‘other ranks’. Some records go back to the 1920s when the soldier enlisted into a different branch of the Army but transferred to the REME after long service. Anyone enlisting before October 1942 will have details of previous service in, for example,…

I am always asked about my favourite resources when I run my annual course on Welsh ancestry for the Society of Genealogists (sog.org.uk). The National Library of Wales (library.wales) is top of my list of recommendations for a variety of reasons, but mainly for the sheer breadth of what's on offer. This free site is unparalleled for Welsh research. Pre-1858 wills have been digitised, with the five dioceses of Wales searchable by name and parish. The collection of historic journals also can be a source of unexpected resources. The Crime and Punishments database is a record of petty crimes – did your ancestor receive a fine for the crime of sedition, allowing dissenting worshippers to meet in his barn? Marriage bonds and pre-1817 affidavits offer another way of identifying maiden…

Q I can't find where my 8x grandfather Robert Akester (or Akister) was born and who his parents were. The earliest record I've found of him is of his marriage to Elizabeth Waff of Stepney in 1756 at Holy Trinity Church, Kingston upon Hull, when he was 23. There is a possible link to a Robert Akister in North Newbald (13 miles from Hull), who married in 1737. Can you help? Antony Akester A You should keep an open mind about the spelling of Akester. I've found 10 alternatives in Yorkshire registers, including Acaster, Achister and Ackaster. Looking at Yorkshire parish registers on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk), Akester does not appear at Holy Trinity until Robert's marriage. Around the same time, it first occurs a couple of miles away, in the registers…

Q I think this is my great great uncle, James Sainsbury Mould. If this is a Bedfordshire Regiment uniform then it should be him. The photo is signed on the back “brother Jim”. Samantha Mullins A This is indeed a proud soldier of the Bedfordshire Regiment wearing “full dress” – scarlet tunic, dark blue trousers and swagger cane – in a photograph that was probably taken in 1905/1906. Given the date, the regiment and “brother Jim”, this has to be your great great uncle. James was born in 1886, so he probably enlisted when he was 18 in 1904 and, because the Broderick cap wasn't worn after 1907, the photo was taken before then. I can't see an obvious family link to the Sainsburys who started the shopping chain, although…

As your family tree begins to grow, it can be hard keeping track of who needs what research. Thankfully, Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) is on the case. It's recently unveiled a new tool that allows you to direct its attention to prioritise finding hints for up to 10 named relations in your tree, rather than its usual scattergun approach. The new feature is an extension of MyTreeTags, which finally rolled out to all users at the end of October. As the name suggests, it allows you to apply a series of both standard and custom-made tags to the people in your tree, which can be used to organise your time more efficiently. If your tree is open to public view, then those tags attached to deceased relatives can be viewed by anyone…

ARCHIVES THE LONDON ARCHIVES a 40 Northampton Road, London ECIR 0HB t 020 7332 3820 e ask@tla.libanswers.com w thelondonarchives.org TLA has the parish registers for the City of London and the old counties of London and Middlesex, but not Westminster. Those for south of Oxford Street are in the Westminster Archives (tinyurl.com/west-arch). Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) is the best online source of London parish registers. WELLCOME COLLECTION a 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE t 020 7611 2222 e info@wellcomecollection.org w wellcomecollection.org The collection includes books, images, medical records, and London bills of mortality. Some material can be seen at tinyurl.com/wellcome-plague. BOOKS A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe E Nutt, 1722 This fictional account from the author of Robinson Crusoe (1719) is based on London's bills of mortality and survivors’…

APPRENTICE RECORDS w tinyurl.com/wrs-digital Free volumes from Wiltshire Record Society's site include Wiltshire Apprentices and Their Masters, 1710–60, Two Sixteenth-Century Taxation Lists, 1545 and 1576 and Gleanings from Wiltshire Parish Registers. DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/wilts-com The site Wiltshire Community History has information about local parishes. The digitised books include directories from 1880 and 1915. MAPS w kypwest.org.uk Wiltshire is included in the project Know Your Place – West of England. You can explore historic maps, or select information layers to find tithe awards, postcards, photos and drawings. WAR DIARIES w tinyurl.com/ward-diaries The website of The Rifles Berkshire And Wiltshire Museum has searchable War Diaries from the world wars. PARISH REGISTERS w freereg.org.uk Wiltshire's coverage here is fairly modest compared with some counties, but includes 61,798 baptisms, 35,161 burials and 81,684 marriages.…

Our ancestors flocked to the music halls in the 19th and early 20th centuries to enjoy songs, comedy and more. Some of the most popular acts were female and male drag performers. Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, at The Hive in Worcester, has a unique collection belonging to Vesta Tilley, one of the biggest male impersonators of the day. Vicky Fletcher, archivist and community project officer at the service, tells us more about one of the items – a scrapbook Vesta kept recording her career. Vesta was as huge as any of our modern pop stars until her retirement WHO WAS VESTA TILLEY? Vesta Tilley was born Matilda Alice Powles in Worcester in 1864. Her father William worked at Royal Worcester Porcelain, but he was also a performer and encouraged…

CRIME Kate Summerscale Bloomsbury, 320 pages, £22 In her previous books Kate Summerscale has uncovered forgotten yet fascinating stories from British history. Here she turns her attention to a more famous subject – the serial killer John Reginald Christie. In 1953, six women's bodies were found at Christie's former flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, West London. In 1949 Beryl Evans, another resident of 10 Rillington Place, and her baby daughter Geraldine had been murdered, and Beryl's husband Timothy was hanged for the crimes. At Christie's trial, the key question became: was he also responsible for these murders? Although Christie's story is well known, Summerscale puts the case in a new light. She has sifted meticulously through the records, and vividly brings to life all those involved – particularly the…

Do you remember the Bisto Kids? These TV and print adverts ran for years, and featured children tantalised by the aroma of gravy and sighing “Ah, Bisto”. The product is familiar to many, but who invented it and why? Anthony Patterson can answer these questions, because one of his relations helped to create Bisto. “The story begins when I discovered that my Patterson family owned an earthenware business on Tyneside,” Anthony explains. “Through researching their lives, five years ago I met relatives I was unaware of before. One of them, my cousin Julia, explained that a relation of ours invented Bisto. This came as a surprise, because no one in the family had mentioned it before. George was a born inventor, receiving a number of patents during his career “Piqued…

You would think with the surname Williams that I was awash with Welsh forebears, but that's not the case. However, even if your ancestors didn't hail from Wales, it's worth visiting the lead site in our ‘Best Websites’ article this month (page 35). Wales has long been a popular holiday destination, and in the late 19th and early 20th century newspapers for tourist hotspots would list guesthouse visitors. I have found family in these lists and also discovered that my grandfather, as a child, fell off a rock while on holiday in Tenby. I love Tenby, and it's great to know that past generations have stayed there too.…

Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST 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 and share your thoughts with us. STAR LETTER BATHS FOR BOYS I have just read Alan Crosby's column headlined “The Joys of Bath Night” in the December issue, which has reminded me of the brief history I have written of the Hollington Boys Club (the Dulwich College Mission). The club was founded in the last years of the 19th century in a forgotten and neglected district west of Camberwell Road in South London, where welfare as such was virtually non-existent. Houses were badly lit, if at all, sanitation was poor, and people lived in…

My aunt died in early September. She was my mum's younger sister, 96 years old, and she had lived in Germany and then Canada since she married in 1954. Auntie Betty was a wonderful person, and we all loved her dearly, even though we rarely saw her. Her story touches on all sorts of key themes in family history, and I thought about her frequently. Until a couple of years ago, when like so many people at that advanced age she succumbed to memory loss and dementia, Betty and I would enjoy long and hilarious phone calls, updating each other with family happenings. She met her husband, to whom she was married for almost 70 years, at a family ‘do’ in Manchester in 1952. It was to celebrate the engagement…

Tennis, boxing, dog sledding, Kim Thompson's relatives have excelled at them all – and had the trophies to prove it. As well as making names for themselves, they pushed the boundaries in their chosen sports, with one now celebrated with a day named after her while another revolutionised the way that tennis is played. However, before Kim could uncover these incredible achievements, there was a very and the eventual solution was so bizarre, you'd think it was fiction. “I first started researching my family history back in 2009,” says Kim. “I joined my older sister and my uncle in their research on our paternal line. Mum's side had always been a bit of a mystery. She was brought up not to ask questions.” Kim managed to fill Chamberlain, but struggled…

BOOK Craftsmen of the Army: The Story of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Volume I Brian Bishop Kennett and JA Tatman Leo Cooper, 1970 This book tells the story of the REME during the Second World War, but is hard to find now because of its age – try your local library. MUSEUM REME MUSEUM a Calne Road, Lyneham, Chippenham SN15 4XX t 01249 894869 e enquiries@rememuseum.org.uk w rememuseum.org.uk The wide-ranging collections at the REME Museum in Wiltshire include operational and campaign reports, tracer cards, unit histories, corps magazines and personal papers. Staff provide a paid research service, and some of its photos can be searched and purchased at rememuseum.photos. WEBSITES DISCOVERY w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk You can find some REME recommendations for medals by searching TNA's catalogue for the keyword…

ARCHIVES WALES w archives.wales Here are details of cross-archive projects. You can search catalogues of Welsh institutions via the Archives Hub (archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/). ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES OF WALES w fhswales.org.uk This site includes links to each member group. FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-wales-collection This is the landing page for Welsh baptism, banns, marriage and burial records. FLINTSHIRE WAR MEMORIALS w flintshirewarmemorials.com Search the names carved in memorial stones. NORTH WALES BMD w northwalesbmd.org.uk/index.php This website has been online since 2003. PEOPLE'S COLLECTION WALES w peoplescollection.wales Explore a free collection of photos, documents, and audio and video recordings. THEGENEALOGIST w thegenealogist.co.uk/welsh-parish-records/ The website's Welsh parish records page uses WDYTYA? star Ruth Jones as a case study. WELSH COAL MINES w welshcoalmines.co.uk This site includes historical biographies. WELSH MARINERS w welshmariners.org.uk Find details…

BOOK Coastguard! An Official History of HM Coastguard William Webb HM Stationery Office, 1976 This detailed description of the Coastguard's history runs from its earliest days through to the second half of the 20th century. MUSEUM NATIONAL EMERGENCY SERVICES MUSEUM a The Old Police/Fire Station, West Bar, Sheffield S3 8PT t 0114 249 1999 e info@visitnesm.org.uk w visitnesm.org.uk This museum includes an exhibition about the history of the Coastguard tracing its evolving role. WEBSITE HM COASTGUARD w hmcoastguard.uk/history The website of the modern Coastguard includes an illustrated timeline.…

Q The 1939 Register lists my great grandfather, Arthur Jones (born 14 May 1874), living in Leigh, Lancashire. The 1911 census gives his place of birth as “S. Wales” with “Merthyr” added later. Arthur married twice. His first marriage certificate has William as his father's name, but on the second it's Arthur. DNA analysis shows that Arthur fathered an illegitimate child in 1896. I can't find him before then. Helen Pearson A I found the birth of an Arthur Jones recorded in the Merthyr Tydfil registration district in the June quarter of 1874 (volume 11a, page 557), mother's maiden surname (MMS) Bevan. Although the 1911 census suggests the Arthur was born in Merthyr Tydfil, the 1921 census on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) gives his birthplace as “Pontypridd, Wales”. There were no Pontypridd…

Louisa Chace, my great great grandmother, was born in 1850 at the General Lying-In Hospital in Lambeth, South London. She grew up with her grandparents Richard and Mary Chace in Bermondsey and Islington, with no obvious mother mentioned on the census returns. By the time she was an adolescent she appeared to have lost her entire immediate family. At the age of 17, Louisa gave birth to a son, my great grandfather John May. She wasn't married to John's father Henry May at the time, but they wed a year later in 1869. Henry was killed in a tragic accident just three months after they married. While working as a carpenter on a building site in Hornsey, North London, he was shot through the heart by Henry Tucker, his brother-in-law…

ELENA A HAND MADE LIFE MiriaM Gold Jonathan Cape, 200 pages, £25 This graphic memoir tells the life story of the author's grandmother. Elena was a Ukrainian Jew who came to Britain as a refugee before the Second World War, and found herself living in a boarding school in London for German Jewish children. Her childhood ambition to study medicine saw her in 1936 study for six months in a cold room in the school's basement to sit the London Matriculation Examination and pass it in the highest group. A subsequent change in her circumstances saw her train, graduate and work as a radiographer. The resultant savings from her wages paid for her successful medical-school studies to become a doctor. Elena's story gives the reader motivation to confront their circumstances and…

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PICK OF THE MONTH Begin your research with this course STAGE 1 FAMILY HISTORY SKILLS COURSE WITH EXPERT TUTORS Starts 11 January w tinyurl.com/sog-stage-1 This 12-week course from the Society of Genealogists, delivered over Zoom, promises to teach you everything you need to know about beginning your family history research, and equip you with the correct techniques right at the start of your journey into the hobby. A range of tutors will cover basic record sets including civil registration records, census returns, parish records, old newspapers, electoral records, wills, army and Merchant Navy records, records of the poor and nonconformist records, and explain the sleuthing skills you need so that you can explore your roots further. There will also be the opportunity to put your questions to the experts during…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly affecting all our lives, and our favourite hobby is no exception. Indeed, it feels like we're at a tipping point when it comes to family history. Traditional transcription projects, where arduous legwork is carried out by volunteers, have been slowly disappearing. As machines get better at indexing and reading old handwriting, increasingly volunteers are being called upon to check and improve the data they harvest, rather than compile it from scratch. And machines that can read handwriting begin to do away with the need for an index in the first place. FamilySearch's Full Text Search tool allows you to search collections that haven't been indexed, simply by reading the writing on the image. As is always the case with our annual preview, old friends like…

BOXREC w boxrec.com/en BoxRec has up-to-date details of both amateur and professional boxers and approximately three million bouts dating from the introduction of the Queensberry Rules in the 1860s. Kim found her grandfather Bert listed here. BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk If you have a sporting ancestor, scour the online newspaper archives for reports on their performance, matches and competition (or even medal) wins. You may be able to trace the trajectory of their career, or find a profile or obituary packed with fascinating details that you won't find anywhere else. WIMBLEDON w wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/history.html The official website for the famous Tennis Championships has an interesting section on the history of the competition back to 1877 when the first one was held. It provided Kim with useful context for Blanche's wins.…

ANCESTRY w ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62682/ This unmissable collection was among the first tranche of British Army service records from the Second World War that were added to the website in October 2024. IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS w iwm.org.uk/collections IWM holds photographs, individuals’ private papers, and items of equipment relating to the REME, most of which can only be viewed in person. You can search its collections here. REME MUSEUM w rememuseum.org.uk/Blogs/museum-blog The blog of the REME Museum has scores of entries about its history and equipment, as well as a biography of the corps’ first director Major General Sir Eric Bertram Rowcroft.…

As their name suggests, coastguards have long existed to manage the safety of Britain's shores. Before the formal establishment of His Majesty's Coastguard in 1822, this role had been carried out by various other services that had overlapping functions. They included the Preventive Service (or Water Guard), Riding Officers (Land Guard), Revenue Cruisers, and elements of the Royal Navy. These earlier services were primarily concerned with the control of smuggling and ensuring that customs dues were paid, but they also had a safety role – for example, spotting and assisting with coastal shipwrecks. Unfortunately, these services sometimes suffered from a poor reputation because of incompetence or corruption. COASTGUARD HIERARCHY Elements of the earlier services were combined to create the Coastguard, with a force of about 3,000 men. ‘Rank and file’…

Q Can you help me date this photograph? I believe that it's my wife's great great grandfather, William Sinclair, and family. William died in February 1865, aged 48, and lived in Otley, Yorkshire. The other people in the photo are likely to be his wife, Elizabeth, and children: Sarah Jane (born 1839), Hannah (born 1840), Jonathan (born 1842), Catherine (born 1852) and John William (born 1855). Andrew Howard A This professional studio group portrait is a carte de visite (CDV): a card-mounted photograph that measures approximately 2½ x 4 inches. CDVs became fashionable in Britain in 1860, and dominated Victorian portrait photography. The card mounts remained this standard size but printing styles and reverse designs changed, the back of your particular mount being typical of the mid-1860s to mid-1870s. Consulting…

Monck was the second son of an impoverished Devonshire landowner. He was a professional instrumental in bringing about Charles II's Restoration. For his part in this he was rewarded with the dukedom of Albermarle. He married Anne Clarges, a farrier's daughter. Once plague had been identified in London, Charles II and his court moved to Oxford. Monck volunteered to remain in the capital and set up an office in the St James Park Cockpit – previously a theatre – to make sure that the Plague Orders worked, and organise poor relief for those in need. He did this in cooperation with the lord mayor of London, with the mayor taking care of the city parishes and Monck the ‘out parishes’ and the west. He stayed in the city until November…

ARCHIVES & LIBRARIES WILTSHIRE AND SWINDON HISTORY CENTRE a Cocklebury Road, Chippenham SN15 3QN t 01249 705500 e archives@wiltshire.gov.uk w wshc.org.uk The centre is home to registers and parish-chest material, plus records relating to courts, schools, hospitals and businesses. Staff offer a paid research service (from £36 an hour) for family, local or house history. Thanks to a partnership with Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), you can search through more than 6.8 million names in parish and probate material. The local-studies collection consists of books, images, documents and maps, directories, newspapers on microfilm, ephemera and audiovisual material. HISTORIC ENGLAND ARCHIVE a The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon SN2 2EH t 01793 414600 e archive@historicengland.org.uk w historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/ The archive looks after more than 12 million photos, drawings and reports. You can explore much…

PODCAST WW1: NOT SO QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT! battleguide.co.uk/nsq This podcast from military historians Dan Hill and Dr Spencer Jones reveals the untold stories and surprising truths of the First World War. The topics the pair have covered in recent episodes include the cavalry, the Battle of Cambrai, the food eaten in the trenches, and battlefield mapping. Free. WATCH YOUNG ADULTS STUDY youngadultsstudy.co.uk/short-films Research psychologists based at the University of Sussex have investigated the experiences of young people who were conceived using donated sperm or eggs. They have now produced three informative short films – one for donor-conceived individuals, another for the parents of donor-conceived children, and a third that reveals the perspectives of donor-conceived young adults towards commercial DNA testing. Free. WEBSITE UNLOCKING OUR SOUND HERITAGE – HIGHLIGHTS…