Tracing Your First World War Ancestors – Second Edition

Simon Fowler • £14.99
pen-and-sword.co.uk

This guide offers a simple, yet comprehensive, guide to researching the men and women from Britain - and its dominions and colonies – who took part in the First World War either at the front or at home.

It is an accessible, up-to-date and expert introduction to get you on your way and to answer those questions you might come across during your researches.

In a straightforward, easy-to-follow style the book introduces readers to the multitude of sources they can use to explore the history of the First World War for themselves. In a series of short, instructive chapters the book takes the reader through the process of researching ancestors who served during the First World War providing short cuts and background information as required.

The book covers the key sources, including the National Archives and the many online sites that researchers can turn to. It also covers records of casualties, munitions workers, conscientious objectors and service personnel from the British Dominions.

Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 20th Century

Margaret Hedley • £14.99
thehistorypress.co.uk

Life in the early 20th-century coalmining communities changed very little for the women who dedicated their lives to their miner husbands. The women’s working days were much longer than the miners, who typically worked an eight-hour shift. Their living conditions were poor and lack of investment by the coal owners greatly challenged their homemaking skills as they faced life without many basics, such as clean water and sewerage systems. Health services were slow to develop and women’s health was only just beginning to be of some importance to the medical profession.

Coal-miner wives in the 20th century also had to cope with demands put upon their families by the First World War, which highlighted the importance of solidarity, a feature of mining communities that had proved itself to be at the heart of colliery village life.

This follow-up book to the popular Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th Century continues with the story of Hannah’s daughter as she negotiates homemaking in the most challenging of conditions.

The British Census

Simon Smith • £8.99
shirebooks.co.uk

The 21 censuses that have been conducted in Britain since 1801, have provided an invaluable insight into Britain’s social, political and economic history over the past 200 years. From their original purpose to assess how many men were fit for military duty in the Napoleonic wars, to being a necessary tool for determining government policy, the 10-yearly census return is a fascinating snapshot of the state of the population on a particular moment in each decade. The growth of Britain’s cities; the movement of population away from the countryside; the variety of people’s occupations; and what religious beliefs they hold are all contained within the census reports. With the imminent publication of the 1921 census results, this will prove a useful introduction.