We report on the biggest genealogy event of the year

More than 13,000 family historians flocked to this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live event at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre last month. Once again they enjoyed a packed and lively mix of workshops from the Society of Genealogists, advice from experts of all kinds, and a huge exhibition with hundreds of stalls.

Discover Your Ancestors was there, of course, and our stall was kept busy throughout the three days of the show, with hundreds of people snapping up our latest print edition, Issue 5, which is also now out in newsagents, and many signing up to our monthly Periodical. Many visitors also took the opportunity to meet two of the authors of our new range of books, Celia Heritage and Laura Berry.

Andrew Chapman, the editor, said about the show: “I’m exceptionally pleased with the interest the public showed in the Discover Your Ancestors Periodical and the really good feedback on the latest Bookazine.” You can see Andrew revealing what you can find in the bookazine in this video interview he did with Nick Thorne, for The Nosey Genealogist blog .

There was big news, too, from one of the main exhibitors at the show, TheGenealogist.co.uk, which launched four unique record sets.

First was the release of 900,000 new Essex parish records transcripts, bringing the site’s total coverage for that county to over 2.5 million individuals, spanning the period from 1512 to 2005. Second, more than 158,000 more Worcestershire parish records were added, bringing Worcestershire’s coverage to over 2 million individuals.

The site also released colour tithe maps for two more counties in its fast-growing and unique online collections. These were for Surrey, in partnership with Surrey Heritage Centre, and Westmorland, in partnership with The National Archives. Many more will be published in the forthcoming months.

These releases bring the addition of wonderfully detailed colour tithe maps to complement the online collection of tithe schedules and greyscale maps that have already been so well received by family historians researching where their ancestors lived.

The site also ran a lecture theatre with dozens of talks for packed audiences eager to learn how to get past their research brick walls, and explore records such as the tithe maps in more detail. Here’s to next year’s show, which is to be held at the same venue, from 6.8 April.

IWM marks Battle of Jutland centenary

31 May 2016 marks the centenary of the Battle of Jutland, in which more than 8000 British and German men lost their lives at sea. The battle lasted just 36 hours but its impact on World War One was highly significant.

The First World War Centenary Partnership, led by Imperial War Museums (IWM), is presenting a series of exhibitions, events and concerts throughout May and June to commemorate the Jutland centenary.

Among the events, the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, in partnership with IWM, will open a new major exhibition 36 Hours: Jutland 1916, The Battle that won the War (opens 19 May 2016, £10 adults, £5 children). The display will feature objects including guns from British and German ships, battle ensigns stained with smoke and will tell the stories of the men and women involved in the battle. HMS Caroline, the last surviving ship from the Battle of Jutland, currently moored in Belfast, will also open to visitors. For further details visit www.1914.org .

Red Cross releases 24,000 index cards

The British Red Cross is celebrating the completion of an online archive of more than 244,000 personnel index cards, which provide a new picture of their work on the home front and overseas.

Countless volunteers also performed more mundane, but essential tasks such as cooking, cleaning and sewing. One of the most curious roles assigned to hundreds of people as part of the war effort was that of sphagnum moss collector, who collected moss as a dressing for wounds.

Mike Adamson, Chief Executive of the British Red Cross said: “At a time when there were unprecedented numbers of casualties returning from the First World War battlefields, the 90,000 people who served as VADs are famous for having formed the backbone of military nursing, both on the home front and overseas.

“But behind the scenes, many thousands of people were contributing in whatever way they could. A century later, we are paying tribute to their humanitarian service by opening up access to their index cards. By digitising these records we are making them instantaneously accessible for the first time, as well as preserving them for years to come.”

The collection of index cards, which is now more than 100 years old, includes VADs’ names and details such as where they worked |and what tasks they did and is now available to search for free at vad.redcross.org.uk by relatives of VADs and historians alike.

The archive was created in partnership with the Centre for Historical Record at Kingston University London over a period of more than two years. A team of 800 history buff volunteers from as far away as the Czech Republic and Canada, as well as schoolchildren in the UK, have helped to transcribe the cards.

Dr Sue Hawkins, Senior Lecturer in History at Kingston University London said: “People don’t talk much about volunteers who weren’t nurses during the First World War, but the sheer scale of it is amazing.”