English Ancestry

Great start to the new series of Who Do You think You Are.

BBC One - Who Do You Think You Are?, Series 23, Zoe Ball From Scotland to Cornwall, Zoe Ball is inspired by her ancestors’ resilience.

So, a little more on the 1926 Irish census that has just been made available online.
The Irish free state was established in 1922. It comprised 26 of the Irish counties. The other 6 counties became Northern Ireland and remained as part of the U.K. The census covers the Irish free state, or Eire, but not the 6 counties of Northern Ireland. So, if you are looking for Irish ancestors, it's really useful to know which part of Ireland they were living in. If you can't find your ancestors in the 1926 Irish Free state Census, it could be that they were living in Northern Ireland. Although a census was taken in 1921 for England and Wales, it didn't cover any part of Ireland. A census was taken in 1926 to cover Northern Ireland but I believe none of the census returns documents have sadly survived.

The 1926 Irish census is now available online. This is the first census of the Irish free state. So potentially huge discoveries to be made if you have Irish ancestors.

Great news : the 1921 census for England and Wales will be available on Ancestry in just a few days time. On January 7th, the census returns for 38 million people will be searchable on Ancestry. The 1921 census was taken on 19th June 1921 and shows exactly where your ancestors were on that day, as well as many other details about them.As well as showing their occupation, the 1921 census also asked for the name of a person's employer - the first census to include this information.

New developments for 2024 include the digitization of Ministry of Defense records from WW2. The first tranche of them is planned to be available on Ancestry some time in 2024.

A very happy Christmas to all family historians! Hope you will make new discoveries in 2024.

To mark Remembrance Day this weekend, some sites are offering free access, amongst them Fold 3, the site that holds military records.

Just completed research on a Smith family, and had a few thoughts about tackling a family history for surnames that are very numerous. Searching by address can bring up some useful leads and looking for someone in the same family with an unusual feature - an unusual first name, or occupation, for example -can also really help.

Family secrets in Guernsey.

Former electrician reveals 66-year-old bunker secret to family Keith Tostevin, who was given a secret job as an electrician in 1957, revealed it on his 80th birthday.

For viewers based in the UK, a new series of Who Do You Think You Are begins tonight, 1/6, on BBC1 at 9pm. First episode features Andrew Lloyd Webber.