July 2023

Family Tree UK

Get the know-how you need to explore your roots

Family Tree UK1 min read
Museums + Heritage Awards 2003 -winners Announced
The Awards, which are judged by an independent panel made up of the leading lights in the museum world, are open to all museums, galleries, archives, and cultural and heritage organisations, both digital and in-person. Entrants are from all areas of
Family Tree UK2 min read
What Made Them Move?
This summer sees the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury (June 1948). At once it’s an event from history – indeed we can study the passenger manifest online, page by page, line by line, reading the names of the 1,027 pas
Family Tree UK1 min read
Bletchley Park’s Shop Wins Prestigious Shop Of The Year Award
Bletchley Park’s shop was chosen as the overall winner from five finalists that were shortlisted in the category. This is the second time the shop has made it through to the final. Rebecca Foy, Director of Public Engagement at Bletchley Park commente
Family Tree UK1 min read
Sustainable Project of the Year Award: SS Great Britain & Food Museum
The Food Museum in Stowmarket was chosen for its campaign ‘Hedgerow’, which demonstrated sustainable thinking at its core. The joint winner, SS Great Britain Trust, based in Bristol, won for its ‘Voyage to Carbon Neutral’ project. In this environment
Family Tree UK1 min read
French Museum Capilalises On Gen Z’s Interest In World War I
In partnership with marketing agency Fred & Farid, a new poster campaign showcases the Historial's student-focused offerings, tapping into the visual and linguistic styles that resonate with Gen Z – people born from 1997 onwards. The campaign feature
Family Tree UK1 min read
New Genetic Study Illustrates Canada’s Unique Links To England And Ireland
The study, titled ‘Newfoundland and Labrador: A mosaic founder population of an Irish and British diaspora from 300 years ago’, has been published in the journal Communications Biology. Studies by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, base
Family Tree UK1 min readInternational Relations
Major Study Into Role Of WW2 Conscientious Objectors
In the first major study of WW2 conscientious objectors, Dr Linsey Robb will examine the reasons people applied for exemption from conscription and the contribution they went on to make to the war effort. Her research project, British Conscientious O
Family Tree UK1 min read
New Oxfordshire Centre Aims To Safeguard Rural Skills
An on-site community of craftspeople in individual workshops will run alongside a teaching hub that offers courses for professionals, beginners and hobbyists on crafts including lime plastering, stained glass and basket weaving. The Heritage and Rura
Family Tree UK1 min readAnthropology
Explore Reading Cemetery Records
Two cemeteries from Reading are now available to view on Deceased Online, with records dating from 1843 for Reading Old and Hemdean Road Cemeteries. The records comprise digital scans of the original burial or grave registers up to 1993, with compute
Family Tree UK1 min read
FindMyPast And National Trust Partnership
The project will use the 1921 Census as a springboard for its research, as well as drawing on other national census data, parish records, directories, military and migration records, electoral rolls, photographs and the British newspaper collection.
Family Tree UK1 min read
Land Survey Gives A Snapshot Of 19th-century Land Ownership
Known as the ‘Modern Domesday’, the Return of Owners of Land was the first comprehensive and complete picture of land ownership and distribution across England & Wales, Scotland, and Ireland since 1086. The information includes: • Name • Address (the
Family Tree UK10 min read
Immigration
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the arrival to the UK of the ‘Windrush generation’. In the aftermath of the Second World War, thousands of citizens from the Caribbean countries were recruited to positions within the newly created NHS, in publ
Family Tree UK7 min read
INTRODUCING The Six Hats Method (Discover Why You Need It)
Parchment, vellum, paper; handwriting from an elegant copperplate to an illegible scrawl: those captivating forays into archival records can unearth a wealth of genealogical treasures. Such historical evidence forms the bedrock of family history rese
Family Tree UK9 min read
94% EUROPEAN & 6% AFRICAN DNA TRACING MY AFRICAN ANCESTOR
Genetical genealogy has enabled millions of people worldwide to learn more about their ethnical roots and their family history. Some people feel these results – revealing sometimes relatively small percentages of an unexpected ethnic estimate – are f
Family Tree UK5 min read
All Aboard For The Dolphin Detour!
Ilove a magical mystery trip with someone else’s family. There’s less pressure and you can end up in some interesting places, so let’s see if we can tie our two Dolphin households together. First, back to those 1881 Censuses to jot down the key detai
Family Tree UK8 min read
INVESTIGATING CLANDESTINE Marriages
The law governing marriages in England and Wales has a long and complex history and as family historians we need to at least understand the basics behind it all. Before 1754, other than for a brief period in the 1650s, the process was largely governe
Family Tree UK2 min read
Who Were You?
I’ve always loved this photo of my granny. She was born in 1921 and looks a very young woman here, her early 20s most likely – do you agree? So this puts her slap bang in the timeframe of the Second World War. We have photos of her in her elegant WRN
Family Tree UK9 min read
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
Our ancestors lived to the background noise of horses’ hooves and waggon wheels, hammers and scythes, windmills and water mills. Then came steam trains, factory whistles, klaxons, deafening cloth mills, steel works. More melodic were the coaching pos
Family Tree UK4 min read
Researching The Fate Of The SS Baron Erskine
During World War II, Thomas Parker White was in the Merchant Navy transporting goods across the Atlantic, often travelling in convoys as protection against U-boat attacks. As a crew member, he was listed as a ‘donkey man’. This was ‘an individual res
Family Tree UK3 min read
Where Will Your Reading Take You?
The Yorkshire Coiners: the true story of the Cragg Vale by Steve Hartley In a remote West Yorkshire valley named Cragg Vale in the late 18th century, a gang of counterfeiters defaced coins of the realm and returned them to circulation, melting down
Family Tree UK6 min read
The Lost Gardeners Of Worsley
The history of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, is well known. The young gardeners marched into the Great War, many never to return, and the gardens declined into brambles until rediscovered by Sir Tim Smit over 30 years ago. Recently, I visite
Family Tree UK7 min read
Writing A Genealogy Article
There are many potential outlets for an article written about genealogy. Perhaps your family history society or local archives publishes a magazine, or you may have a story that’s suitable for a national commercial magazine such as Family Tree. Howev
Family Tree UK4 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
GENEALOGY GADGETS & APPS FOR ALL OCCASIONS!
A FAMILY TREE INTERVIEW WITH JOANNA HEATH: F T: How long have you published your blog? JOANNA: Since January 2014. FT: Tell us about your goals for your blog? JOANNA: My original goals were to tell the stories of my direct ancestors in an interest
Family Tree UK5 min read
Your DNA Workshop
Making DNA work FOR YOU MARK WRITES: Dear Karen I have been researching my family history for more than 25 years now and it has been, and continues to be, a fascinating pursuit. I have discovered many interesting (& some unpleasant) stories about my
Family Tree UK3 min readInternet & Web
QUICK & DIRTY TREES TASK OF THE MONTH
NO TREE? NO PROBLEM You checked, and they have no tree – now it’s time to put your deerstalker hat on, call Dr Watson and go detecting. My plan is to collect as much information as I can to build a quick and dirty tree. It’s ‘usually’ easier to find
Family Tree UK7 min read
Your Questions Answered
Q I would like help identifying the two soldiers believed to be my 2x great-uncles in these photographs. We know for certain that photo No.1 is Charles Napier born Lewisham in 1898, a sergeant in the 20th Battalion (Blackheath & Woolwich) County of L
Family Tree UK3 min read
SPOTLIGHT ON… The Airedale & Wharfedale Family History Society
The society came about in 2018 from a merger of The Wharfedale Family History Group (formed in 1980) and the Keighley Family History Society (formed in 1985). Having been close neighbours for many years, coming together seemed a natural and timely pr
Family Tree UK4 min read
Photo Corner
I have a large group wedding photograph, c1920, for which I cannot name the bride and groom. However, my entire family from the First World War era are present, and one of them would appear to be the best man/witness. I have other well-identified pic
Family Tree UK1 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
Images Of The Past
➊ It was common for men to hold a traditional top hat in early photos, like this 1860s cdv ➋ Later, many men wore a semi-smart bowler hat, this natty version dating to the early-1870s ➌ Bowler hats changed shape over time, the tall crowns in this t
Family Tree UK2 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
Photo-dating Study Hints
During the past year this column has explained methods of dating old family photos, from recognising formats, through researching photographers, to dating different compositions and studio settings. These are all important, but sometimes we only have
Family Tree UK4 min read
Diary Dates
IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, 30 July to 3 August The conference will feature more than 100 speakers, with programmes geared from first-timers to conference veterans. An exhibitor hall and resource room will include genealogy e
Family Tree UK3 min read
Saying No To Notifications
I’ve often given thanks to various websites for family history hints, tips and suggestions, even when they’ve led nowhere in the end. Negative searches, as we all know, are still useful in that we can record and cross them off. Or better still, retur

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