Research resources
If you’re new to family history, you’ll find our high-speed guide to getting started with the key records in the UK in Bon voyage.
As your research progresses, check out the many ways to push it further still that we’ve explored so far:
– Learn about the different types of family tree chart for displaying your Research in Start your family tree.
– Using historic newspapers for your Research in Explore old newspapers
– Find living relatives through electoral rolls and phone books. Find living relitives
– How DNA tests can help family Historians in Genetic genealogy.
– Kim Fleet offers advice on investigating where our forebears lived in Following in their footsteps.
– A brief survey of the history of maps and different types available digitally Make the most of maps.
– Find valuable genealogical information in family heirlooms Learn from family treasures.
– How to track down tithe records, more than 11 million of which have been released online. In Track down tithe records and Following the plot
– All about an app which means you can always have your family tree with you here.
– Family historians have much to gain from tax records, says Simon Fowler in Value added tax.
– The history of parish records – and where to find them.
– Simon Fowler explains how to find records which aren’t yet online, and visiting archives in Back to paper.
– Using online tools to make connections between birth, marriage and death records in Joining the dots.
– A useful and eclectic collection of name-based records from The National Archives in the UK Lucky dip.
– Kirsty Gray looks at what school records can reveal in School records.
– Jill Morris explains the pleasures and uses of researching local history Know your plate.
– A free online image library bringing places, events and past trades to life in Picturing the past.
– What wills reveal about your ancestors’ wealth in A wealth of wills.
– How you can join a major new volunteer project.
– Parish settlement orders explored.
– 500,000 more parish records go online.
– Records of bankruptcy and insolvency.
– Jenny Jones explains the history and advantages of ‘Dade registers’.
– Jill Morris enters the secret world of the freemasons.
– Records of freemen and burgesses.
– 18th and 19th century poll books revealed.
– Mediaeval visitations investigated.
– Melvyn Jones highlights the treasures in the archives of our great landed estates. here, and here.
– Jill Morris looks at using old telephone directories for research.

And don’t forget our ‘break the brick walls’ series by Jenny Jones in the Periodical, with advice on how to track down elusive ancestors in census records, civil birth records, marriage certificates, death records, wills before 1858, wills after 1858, parish birth records, parish marriage records, parish burial records, apprenticeship records, tracing illegitimate ancestors, and finding occupational records .

Around Britain
We have travelled around the country’s past in search of local traditions, events and resources. Here are our articles on London:
– Explore the growth since Stuart times of Britain’s capital city here.
– Heather Tweed describes a peculiar corner of Victorian London history: a woman at war with cabmen in The cabmans nemesis.
– Stephen Halliday discusses the mixed opinions of the early users of London’s underground railway in The public fumes.
– Nell Darby describes the lost fishing communities of West London in Lost way of life.
– Jenny Jones looks at the history clandestine marriage, particularly at London’s Fleet Prison in Secret Liaisons.
– Old pictures of London’s East End markets .

And our ‘Places in Focus’ series in the Periodical has so far covered these areas of England and Wales:
Essex, Birmingham, Dorset , Manchester , Herefordshire, Leeds , Lancashire , Cardiff, Kent , Sheffield , County Durham, Southampton , Lincolnshire, Northampton, Wiltshire, Newcastle, Staffordshire, Norwich, Sussex, Cambridge, Derbyshire , York .

Other features on England:
– Rachel Bellerby wrote on typical trades and customs in Yorkshire
– Helen Angove covered the rich heritage of Cornwall .
– Lancashire dialect and the Cotton Famine.
– The hop pickers of SE England.
– The history of witchcraft in Essex.
And if you’re exploring roots in Scotland, have a look at these articles:
– Chris Paton gives an overview of Scots history and research resources here
– First-hand accounts of the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries.
– Chris Paton explains how to trace Scots caught up in the Clearances in Forced from home.
– Jackie McLean tracks down records of poverty in Glasgow.
– DNA research into Bannockburn.
And these on Wales:
– Bruce Durie introduces the Welsh people, their language and culture here.
– Beryl Evans explores the important distinction of ‘church’ and ‘chapel’ in Wales.

And specifically on Ireland (including Northern Ireland):
– Chris Paton introduces the history of Ireland and the key challenges of Irish genealogy.
– Nicola Morris discusses key online resources for your Irish research.
– Chris Paton explores Northern Ireland’s history and how to research your roots there.
– A slice of Dublin history revealed .

On more general regional themes:
– Jill Morris investigates the many regional nicknames for people.
– Jill Morris explains the pleasures and uses of researching local history.
–What is a one-place study? Janet Few explains.

Birth, Marriage & Death
These vital events and the records they left are crucial to every family historian. Here’s how we have explored them so far:

Birth
– Luke Mouland looks at birth practice and customs in the 18th and 19th centuries in Joys and sorrows.
– Sara Read on the experience of childbirth for early modern women .

Marriage
– Anthony Adolph explores marriage traditions in A hitch in time.
– Rebecca Probert discusses the issue of ‘living in sin’ before marriage.
– Legal expert Rebecca Probert explores the law on bigamy.
– Jenny Jones details the various types of marriage record beyond standard registers which can help researchers in The bonds that last.
– Jenny Jones looks at the history of clandestine marriage, particularly at London’s Fleet Prison in Secret liaisons.
Susie Douglas explores regular and irregular Borders marriages .

Death:
– Neil Hallows looks at life expectancy and funerary customs in The mourning after.
– How gravestones can be a valuable aid to your research.
– Paul Matthews explores the terms to be found on death certificates.
– Paul Matthews explores how typhus ravaged many of our ancestors’ lives in The family killer.
– Kirsty Gray investigates epitaphs.
– The hidden treasures of gravestones:Nick Thorne explains.

Names
What’s in a name? Our experts know:
– Dr Graeme Davis explains the main categories of surname in What is in a name.
– How to research your surname and its distribution online inThe plot thickens .

Social History
Our strong focus on social history – what people’s lives were really like in the past – has been a key ingredient in Discover Your Ancestors. Here is a diverse range of articles under this general umbrella:
– Liza Picard gives an overview of the transformative Victorian period in The best of times the worst of time.
– Juliet Kemp considers the defining influence of money in our ancestors’ lives in Divided by money.
– Tom Campbell on how the ‘cult of celebrity’ is nothing new in where there’s fame there money.
– Nell Darby explores the roots of the modern world in the 17th and 18th centuries in Age of revolution.
– Suzanne Reid looks at how Victorian values gave way to consumer culture in the 20th century in A century of change.
– Neil Hallows investigates the history of Victorian educational reform in Old school education.
– Simon Webb explains the English and Welsh school system between the world wars in The best days of our lives.
– Grace Evans introduces the fashions of the Regency era.
– Trevor Yorke discusses the relationship between social trends and architecture in Regency times.
– Mairead Mahon explores the heritage of cookery books going back to the Middle Ages in An appetite for history.
– Sharon Brookshaw describes the realities of child labour in past times in Suffer the little children.
– James Moore & Paul Nero evoke a visit to a Tudor drinking establishment in A ruff crowd.
– Nell Darby tells the story of the suffragettes in Voting for action.
– Mairead Mahon looks into the history of department stores in Something for every one.
– Jill Eddison delves into the history of pirates before the 16th century in Scourge of the seas.
– Lucy Adlington explores women’s fashion at the dawn of WW1 in Ladies with many layers.
– Ruth Symes reveals how even something like facial hair can reveal details of your ancestor’s life and times in Hair hunting.
– 1850s winter party games unearthed from the Illustrated London News in Party like its 1853.
– The context of 19th century railway accidents.
– Take a shopping trip in Victorian times.
– The diaries of a Victorian school.
– Ruth Symes on the secrets of the ancestral bed
– How did people sleep in the workhouse?
– The history and etiquette of calling cards.
– Paul Matthews looks at the many mind-altering drugs our ancestors might have fallen prey to.
– Ruth Symes on the history of mirrors.
– Margaret Powling shows how housekeeping books can illuminate social history.
– The development of public parks.
– The long history of state-backed gambling.
– Phil Wood samples the variety of drinking establishments in Georgian times.
– Kate Tyte reveals that the festive season in workhouses and asylums wasn’t all bad.
– Nell Darby looks back at the people’s relationship with Parliament, now 750 years old.
– Jayne Shrimpton explores the social history of perfume .

There’s also costume and imagery expert Jayne Shrimpton’s fascinating ‘History in the Details’ series, looking at specific types of dress, accessories or personal styles over history. So far the series has covered: aprons, canes and sticks, sunglasses, straw boaters, blazers, cloaks and mantles, shawls, scarves and mufflers, muffs and raincoats.

Around the world
Although we focus particularly on the United Kingdom, we’re well aware that genealogy is a global subject. Many of us have ancestors who have fled one land for another and set up new branches of the family. On the general theme of emigration and immigration, see our articles on these subjects:
– Anthony Adolph surveys the history of emigration and immigration over the centuries in Ancestors on the move.
– Using ships’ passenger lists for your research inFollow your migrant forebears.
– How the Huguenots left their mark on the world in The original refugees.
– The history and archives of transatlantic ship the SS Great Britain in Grande Dame of the seas.
– Karen Foy on the many ways we can learn about our migrant ancestors .

And we have had numerous articles on history and research around the English-speaking world:

Australia & New Zealand:
– Shauna Hicks provides an introduction to Australian history and genealogy.
– Lynne Cobine explores the different waves of European settlement in New Zealand .

Canada:
– First-hand accounts of the British Home Children and Their New Life in Canada.
– First-hand accounts of the hopes and lives of early Welsh emigrants to Canada.
– Emma Jolly explains how to trace British Home Children in both Britain and Canada in Far from home .

USA:
– Linda Jonas explains the process of becoming a citizen of the USA through naturalisation and denization in Brave new world.
– First-hand accounts reveal harsh reality for mid-1800s Irish emigrants to the USA.
– Explore San Francisco in the late 19th century .

Elsewhere:
– Anthony Adolph explores the history of Cyprus through the family of former Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis in Aphrodite and the dragon.
– Corinna Meiß shows how people can begin to trace roots in Germany.
– Guy Grannum presents a beginner’s guide to tracing Caribbean roots.
– Were they in India?: A useful research avenue to explore.
– From Company to the Raj: Jill Morris explores British India.

Mental & Physical Health
We take for granted the advances of modern hygiene and medicine – but for our ancestors treatment was often a life-threatening business itself. In these features we look at everything from medicine to mental health:
– Sara Read looks at some examples of how medical case notes can illuminate ancestors’ lives in The age of purges.
– Sharon Brookshaw explains what a trip to the dentist might have been like in the past in Extracting some painful history.
– Sue Wilkes explores the history of vaccination and the records it has left in Thinking outside the pox.
– Records of mental illness go digital.
– Helen Angove tells the sad story of people with cognitive disabilities who were sent to the workhouse .

Religion
Religion has caused plenty of strife in the past, but also left plenty of records for family historians:
– Luke Mouland delves into the history of Nonconformism in Preaching to the people.
– Track down Nonconformist registers online.
– Beryl Evans explores the important distinction of ‘church’ and ‘chapel’ in Wales.

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