News & Articles 2019

New Searchable War Memorials
20th December 2019

We have just released over 12,000 records from 138 War Memorials. This means that there is now a total of over 580,000 War Memorial Records that are fully searchable in TheGenealogist's Military Collection with photographs centred on their inscription. These memorials can give researchers an insight into the education, rank, regiment and occupation of an ancestor.

The War Memorial records will allow the family history researcher to discover additional War Memorials from England and Canada, fully searchable records which are transcribed from images of the tributes, colour images of the memorial centred on their name and a variety of memorials in honour of the war dead from various conflicts.

This new release covers memorials that are not all set in stone or cast in iron. There is the WW1 memorial volume book held in Darlington Central Library for Pease and Partners of Darlington. This firm owned mines, quarries and other works all over County Durham and Teesside.

You can read more about this release in our latest article - Using War Memorials to research ancestors from the First World War.

Bedfordshire Colour Tithe Maps Released
27th November 2019

We have just released a collection of Colour Tithe Maps for Bedfordshire to join the previously published greyscale maps in our National Tithe Records collection.

This release of attractive colour digitised maps will provide you with highly detailed plans sourced from The National Archives (TNA). We have linked these to the appropriate apportionment books that provide researchers with the details of the plots, their owners and their occupiers at the time that the survey was taken in Victorian times. These make the maps easier to understand as the streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, houses and trees are often highlighted in different colours.

These tagged colour maps join the previously released apportionment record books, national greyscale maps and colour maps for Warwickshire, Rutland, Huntingdonshire, Buckinghamshire, City of York, Middlesex, Northumberland, Surrey, Westmorland, and the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire. The National Tithe Records collection gives the family history researcher the ability to search by name and keyword (for example parish or county) to look for property holdings from large estate owners to occupiers of small plots such as a homestead, or a cottage.

To find out more, you can read Nick Thorne's article, where he discovers the cousins who bought a village.

Lloyd George Domesday records for the Borough of Hackney
12th November 2019

We have just released maps and field books for the Borough of Hackney into our property ownership and occupancy record set, The Lloyd George Domesday Survey. These records make use of our powerful new Map Explorer™ to access the maps and residential data, so you are able to see the district as it was in that period. Because these large scale maps include plots for the exact properties and are married to various georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps on the Map Explorer™, by using the opacity controls you can see how the land has changed.

This release includes the following areas: Clapton, Dalston, Hackney, Homerton, Hornsey South, Hoxton, Kingsland, Moorfields, South Hackney, Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington and West Hackney.

Colour Tithe Maps for Warwickshire
24th October 2019

We have just released additional sets of Colour Tithe Maps to join the previously available greyscale maps in our National Tithe Records collection. This release for Warwickshire is of high-resolution colour digitised maps which will provide the family historian with highly detailed maps sourced from both The National Archives as well as the Warwick County Record Office.

Researchers searching for owners or occupiers of Warwickshire land surveyed in the 19th century for the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, now have a choice of plans linked to the fully searchable apportionment schedules. Subscribers to our Diamond membership can select to view The National Archives' grayscale maps, The National Archives' colour maps, or the Warwickshire Record Office colour maps when using the Tithe & Landowner records for this county. The Warwickshire Record Office maps are, in many cases, less faded and more vibrant in their colours, having had less wear and tear than the alternatives.

North Buckinghamshire added to Lloyd George Domesday Records
11th October 2019

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

We have just released the North Buckinghamshire maps and field books into our land and occupiers record set, The Lloyd George Domesday Survey. This unique online resource allows researchers to discover where an ancestor lived in the 1910-1915 period from various London districts and now, for the first time, North Buckinghamshire.

These records make use of TheGenealogist's powerful new Map Explorer™ to access the maps and residential data, giving those who want to investigate where their ancestors lived in the period before the First World War some powerful new features to use.

The Lloyd George Domesday Survey records are sourced from The National Archives and are being digitised by TheGenealogist so that it is possible to precisely locate where an ancestor lived on large scale hand annotated maps. These plans include plots for the exact properties and are married to various georeferenced historic map overlays and modern base maps on the Map Explorer™ which allows the researcher to thoroughly investigate the area in which an ancestor lived.

New Regimental Histories
27th September 2019

We have just released a set of 50 Regiments' Records & Histories to join our ever-growing military records collection bringing the total coverage to over 70 different regiments.

Researchers can use the collection to follow an ancestor’s regiment, discovering the battles they took part in and trace their movements. You can also find ancestors who were mentioned in the war movement diaries or listed in the appendices of men and officers of the regiment.

This release covers records from the 17th century in the earliest incidence, for The Honourable Artillery Company 1611-1682, through to the late 1920s for The King's Royal Rifle Corps Chronicle, 1927. There are also a large number of Regimental Histories that cover the First World War which can reveal some fascinating details for family historians tracing their ancestors in World War I.

Find out more in Nick Thorne's Latest Article.

New School and College Registers
12th September 2019

We have just released a diverse batch of school and college records to join our ever growing education collection.

Researchers can use this new data to find ancestors who attended or taught at a variety of Educational establishments between the 1830s and 1930s. Also listed are the names of those who held high office in the institutions, such as the patrons, deans, visitors, professors and masters in the case of universities and colleges. Whereas schools tended to list their principals and governors.

Use these records to add colour to a family story and glean important information from the biographical details to use in further research.

These new records are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

New Lloyd George Domesday Survey Records for the Tower Hamlets area
30th August 2019

We have just released the Lloyd George Domesday Survey records for Tower Hamlets which cover land owners and occupiers in 1910-1915 with over 91,500 individuals recorded. These now join the previously released data books and their detailed associated maps for other parts of London, bringing the total number to nearly half a million individuals within this record set.

This new release is the latest phase of TheGenealogist's extensive ongoing project to digitise over 94,500 Field Books, each having hundreds of pages, and linking them to large scale IR121 annotated OS maps which are now viewable in TheGenealogist's powerful Map Explorer tool.

The records, which are sourced from The National Archives, were originally compiled by the Valuation Office in a period that stretched from 1910-1915 in response to Lloyd George's government passing the People's Budget 1909/1910.

Complementing the maps on TheGenealogist's Map Explorer are the accompanying Field Books which provide detailed information relative to the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent.

These new records are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

New Charles Booth Poverty Maps Added to Map Explorer
15th August 2019

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

Our innovative Map Explorer, which allows researchers to trace an ancestor's property and then view the changing environment over time, now boasts another powerful new feature. While previously researchers were able to view the georeferenced Lloyd George Domesday Survey Data Layer of maps and also see the sites of UK War Memorials, cemeteries and churchyards from across the country, TheGenealogist has now added the fascinating Booth Poverty Maps of London 1898-1899 to this useful resource.

• Use the new Charles Booth Maps to reveal London streets classified by income and class
• Research neighbourhoods where different classes of people lived close to each other
• Use the opacity slider to view various modern day maps as a base layer to see the area today

There were seven classifications detailed on Booth Maps ranging from the lowest to the wealthy. The streets were coloured as follows:

• Black - 'Lowest classes. Vicious, semi-criminal.'
• Dark Blue - 'Very poor, casual. Chronic want.'
• Light Blue - 'Poor. 18s to 21s a week for a moderate family.'
• Purple - 'Mixed. Some comfortable others poor.'
• Pink - 'Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings.'
• Red - 'Middle class. Well to do.'
• Yellow - 'Upper-middle and upper classes. Wealthy.'

Our powerful Map Explorer has been developed to view these georeferenced historic maps overlaid on top of modern background maps including those from Ordnance Survey and Bing Street maps, as well as a satellite view. With the Map Explorer you can search for an ancestor's property, discovering its site, even if the road has changed or is no longer there.

These maps were featured in Kate Winslet's Who Do You Think You Are, find out more here.

60,000 Headstones Added
2nd August 2019

New Searchable Headstones

We have just released nearly 60,000 new individuals on Headstones from another 61 churchyards and cemeteries. This means that there are now a total of over 174,500 individuals that are fully searchable in our Headstone collection which has examples from across England, Scotland and Wales as well as Jersey in the Channel Islands, Cyprus and India.

Read our article about the Headstone Project to find out more.

New War Memorials Added
19th July 2019

This week we have released over 75,000 additional War Memorial records. These fully searchable records are transcribed from images of the tributes put up to honour the war dead from various conflicts including the Boer War, the First World War and World War II. This latest release from TheGenealogist covers war memorials from many parts of the UK, as well as some further afield monuments in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Read our press release to find out more.

Half a Million Parish Records Released
4th July 2019

This week we have released over half a million new parish records for Norfolk. In addition to containing the uniquely transcribed records of Baptism, Marriages and Burials with images for over 250 parishes, these records also include some fascinating Bastardy bonds, Examinations, Warrants and Orders. With this release, family historians will be able to find the details of ancestors baptised, married and buried as well as those that had children born out of wedlock in this East Anglian county.

The new data will allow you to discover:

• Over half a million individuals in records
• Names of parents of the illegitimate children
• Images also reveal the names of people standing guarantor for the father
• The baptism, marriages and burials of ancestors in Norfolk

These fully searchable records are transcribed from the original records and linked to the images from the Norfolk Record Office.

These new records are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

New Records of Victorian Convicts
14th June 2019

This week we have released over 100,000 individuals, allowing you to find the details of ancestors that had broken the law and were incarcerated in the harsh conditions of early Victorian convict prisons - including some that were only children!

The new data will allow you to discover:

• Over 100,000 individuals in records covering the years 1838 to 1875
• Registers of prisoners inside Millbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville prisons
• Each prisoner's age on conviction
• The marital status and whether the prisoner can read or write
• The convict's former trade
• When and where they were convicted, their crime, sentence, where and whence received, previous offences, when removed and to where

These fully searchable records are from the HO24 Home Office: Prison Registers and Returns 1838-1875 for Millbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville.

To find out more, read Nick Thorne's article "Criminal records can reveal ancestors locked up in convict prisons".

New Islington Lloyd George Domesday Survey records
31st May 2019

This week we have released Islington Lloyd George Domesday Survey records. These cover land owners and occupiers in 1910-1915 with over 70,000 individuals recorded, joining the previously released data books and their associated maps for other parts of London. For family historians looking for ancestors' homes just before the First World War in the Islington area of London this record set is invaluable.

This new release covers records made of property ownership and occupation in Barnsbury, Canonbury, Charterhouse, Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Glasshouse Yard, Highbury East, Highbury West, Lower Holloway, Myddelton, Old Street, Pentonville, Saint Mary, Saint Peter, Saint Sepulchre, Thornhill, Upper Holloway, Upper Holloway East and Upper Holloway West.

Use these records to:

• Find ancestors who owned or occupied property in the Islington area of London
• See the outlines of their houses on large scale maps from the time
• Fade between historic and modern maps to see how the environment has changed
• Check details of properties in the neighbourhood, by clicking the red pins
• Locate an address from your research down to a specific house on the map
• Search by name, parish and street to uncover ancestors' property in 1910-1915

Complementing the maps on TheGenealogist's Map Explorer are the accompanying Field Books which provide detailed information relative to the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent.

This new release is the latest stage of our vast ongoing project to digitise over 94,500 Field Books, each having hundreds of pages, and linking them to large scale IR121 annotated OS maps which are now viewable with our powerful Map Explorer tool.

New Nautical Apprenticeship Records
17th May 2019

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

We have expanded our occupational records with over 300,000 records of Masters and Apprentices included in a nautical set of apprenticeship records. These BT 150 records from The National Archives comprise of an index that had been compiled by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and its predecessor. It consists of apprentices indentured in the Merchant Navy between 1824-1910.

The books have now been transcribed and include colour images of the original registers to add a fascinating resource to their broad range of records which can be used to build an ancestor's story.

You can read more about these records and some of the more interesting people within them in our latest article "Merchant Seamen apprentices to Captains of the Cutty Sark".

New Prison Records
26th April 2019

We are expanding our Criminal Records collection with the release of over 146,000 individuals who were listed in prison records. Sourced from the PRIS 10 & PRIS 11 collections held at The National Archives, these documents contain records from 1697 to 1862 and reveal those jailed for debt or bankruptcy.

These records will give family historians details of those imprisoned in the Debtors prisons including the King's Bench Prison, Fleet, Marshalsea and Queen's Prisons. These contain commitment and discharge records, giving details of names of the debtor, creditor and attorney, along with the amount of debt.

Read Nick Thorne's Article "Little Dorrit, Dickens and Dad's Debts" to find out more.

Introducing Map Explorer
28th March 2019

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

Our latest innovation helps you find an ancestor's property and watch the landscape change over time. Our team has georeferenced the Lloyd George Maps for Greater London which are available now, with further exciting developments planned for the coming months.

The powerful Map Explorer has been developed to view these georeferenced historic maps laid on top of modern background maps including those from Ordnance Survey and Bing Street maps, as well as a satellite view, letting you see where your ancestor's house is today.

To complement the launch of the new Map Explorer, we have also released historic Ordnance Survey maps covering England, Scotland and Wales between the 1890s and 1960s. These have been georeferenced, allowing you to see how the landscape changed over time.

• The Map Explorer displays maps for different historical periods up to the modern day
• Maps are fully searchable by county, parish, street and even postcode
• Zoom in to show the individual properties as they were at the time
• Use the transparency slider to reveal a modern street map underneath
• Change the modern base map displayed to more clearly understand what the area looks like today
• Georeferenced pins link to the records for each property
• Display county or parish boundaries

To find out more and to see a short video introducing this innovative new tool, visit TheGenealogist.co.uk/maps.

New Kensington & Chelsea 1910 Lloyd George Domesday Records with Maps
22nd February 2019

We are releasing the field books and detailed annotated maps for Kensington and Chelsea as the next part of the exciting record set, The Lloyd George Domesday Survey - a resource that can be used to find where an ancestor lived in 1910. The newly added records contain 49,608 individuals who owned or occupied property in this upmarket part of London.

This release covers the areas of:

• Brompton
• Chelsea East
• Chelsea West
• Holland Park
• Notting Hill East
• Notting Hill West
• South Kensington

You can find out more about these records by reading Nick Thorne's article where he finds authors and actors within the records.

New Second World War Casualty Lists Released
11th February 2019

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

TheGenealogist has added to its Military Records collection with the release of more than 1 million entries for people recorded in the Second World War Casualty Lists. Sourced from collection WO 417 held at The National Archives, these documents contain records from the war years of 1939 to 1945 and list casualties sustained by the British Army during the Second World War. There are volumes for Officers and Nurses, with separate volumes for Other Ranks. The Casualty Lists were compiled from daily lists that had been prepared by the War Office Casualty Section and cover the various expeditionary forces deployed in different locations across Europe, Africa and Asia as well as for personnel at home.

WW2 Casualty Records will give family history researchers details of ancestors' names and regiments as well as ranks and service numbers for those recorded. The World War 2 casualty lists contain more detail than their WW1 counterparts and often list the date of the casualty (as well as the list date), plus other information such as the unit a soldier had been serving in at the time.

Included in these lists are those who had been unaccounted for by the military, were dangerously ill or injured, were captured as a Prisoner of War or died. The records include troops who had been serving in a number of places across the world, but also cover personnel who had lost their lives, were injured at home or were serving at an overseas station outside the theatres of war. Updates and corrections appear in the records as new information was received by the War Office.

To find out more about this release, you can read Nick Thorne's article, where he discovers Motor racing aces executed by the Nazis.

New Prisoner Records Added
24th January 2019

We have added to our Court and Criminal Records collection with the release of almost 700,000 entries for prisoners. Sourced from the HO 8 Registers held by The National Archives, these documents contain records from the years 1821 to 1876. This expands our criminal record collection to over 2.3 million individuals.

These Prison Registers give family history researchers details of ancestors who were imprisoned in a number of convict prisons from Broadmoor to the Warrior Convict Hulk. The records reveal the names of prisoners, offences the prisoner had been convicted for, the date of their trial and where they were tried.

Use the quarterly prison registers to:

• Find ancestors guilty of crimes ranging from theft, highway robbery and libel to murder
• Discover the sentences received
• See the age of a prisoner
• Find out where they were sentenced and to which prison they were sent

You can find out more about this release in Nick Thorne's Article "HO 8 historic prisoner records reveal a child poisoner and a criminal lunatic detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure".

New Headstone Records Added
11th January 2019

We've also added 20,000 individuals to our Headstones Collection from the UKIndexer Project where volunteers help their fellow genealogists by indexing and/or photographing the monumental inscriptions in churchyards and cemeteries.

• Discover dates of ancestors' baptisms
• Glean names of parents of those baptised in Worcestershire
• Headstones give dates and name details of those buried and sometimes familiar relationships
• Memorials can reveal information not recorded elsewhere for ancestors

New Worcestershire Baptism Records Added
10th January 2019

We have added over 144,000 individuals to our Parish Record Transcripts for Worcestershire in partnership with Malvern Family History Society. This expands our coverage and brings the total to over 2 million individuals for Worcestershire.

This new release covers the following:

• Beoley 1538-1652
• Birtsmorton 1539-1753
• Clent 1562-1729
• Clent 1729-1753
• Cradley nr Ledbury 1560-1670
• Ripple 1568-1702
• Severn Stoke 1538-1610
• Severn Stoke 1610/11-1753
• Tenbury Wells 1700-1753
• Upper Arley 1651-1753
• Upton on Severn 1546-1627
• Upton on Severn 1627-1673
• Upton on Severn 1671-1753
• White Ladies Aston 1558-1753
• Whittington in Norton 1709-1753
• Wolverley 1653-1696
• Worcester All Saints 1560-1639
• Worcester All Saints 1639-1679
• Worcester All Saints 1678-1731
• Worcester All Saints 1732-1753
• Worcester St Albans 1630-1726
• Worcester St Albans 1727-1753
• Worcester St Clements 1694-1730
• Worcester St Clements 1730-1753
• Worcester St Helen 1538-1623/4
• Worcester St Helen 1624-1699/1700
• Worcester St Helen 1700-1753
• Worcester St John of Bedwardine 1539-1753
• Worcester St Martin (London Road) 1745-1753
• Worcester St Michael 1546-1727/8
• Worcester St Michael 1728-1753
• Worcester St Nicholas 1564-1592/3
• Worcester St Nicholas 1593-1615/6
• Worcester St Nicholas 1694-1753
• Worcester St Peter the Great 1686-1753
• Worcester St Swithun 1538-1603/4
• Worcester St Swithun 1604-1657/8
• Worcester St Swithun 1653-1753
• Wribbenhall 1723-1753
• Wyre Piddle 1716-1753