Welcome to the Family History Social

TheGenealogist has just released 116,218 records into its ever growing Poll Book Database. This useful resource for family historians can be used to find ancestors residences from the period before the census collection. The newly released Poll Books range from 1705 to the 1830s, joining records covering periods between census years.

The database allows researchers to:

• Discover ancestors who had the vote
• Find where they were registered to cast their ballot
• Discover the nature of their qualification to vote, such as possessing a Corn Warehouse, a Workshop, a House, or owning a Brewhouse
• These Poll Books range from 1705 to the 1830s.

The records cover 18 different registers of people who were entitled to vote in between 1705 and the 1830s and covers constituencies situated in Abingdon, Bristol, Hampshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Maidstone, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Worcestershire and York.

These records have been transcribed by volunteers on the UKindexer.co.uk website which brings benefits to the volunteers as well as the wider family history community.

They join the millions of electoral resources on TheGenealogist which include Electoral registers, Voters lists and Absentee Voters.

Read TheGenealogist’s article at:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/researching-poll-books-discovers-how-john-constables-family-voted-861/

The Family History Show at York held on the 23rd June was a fantastic success.

The people attending the event run by Discover Your Ancestors Magazine certainly seemed to be enjoying all that was on offer from family history societies to the expert's talks. As we went around asking the exhibitors for their reaction it was universally very positive with comments about how busy it had been and how they would be back next year.

I'm now looking forward to the London show run by the same organisers at Sandown Park Racecourse on the 22nd September.

I hope to see you there!

TheGenealogist has just released a great new resource for family historians wanting to find ancestors who had officially changed their forename or surname in Britain. The Change of Names Database covers information gathered from a number of sources including Private Acts of Parliament; Royal Licences published in the London and Dublin Gazettes; notices of changes of name published in The Times after 1861 with a few notices from other newspapers; registers of the Lord Lyon [King of Arms] where Scottish changes of name were commonly recorded; records in the office of the Ulster King at Arms and also some private information.

Use this database to:

• Discover ancestors that recorded a change of name
• Find what name had been adopted and the name discarded

Lord Byron who changed his surname to Noel and is found in the Change of Name Database on TheGenealogist

This is available to Diamond Subscribers and can be found under Miscellaneous Records.

The second release this month is to coincide with the return of The Family History Show, York to the racecourse on Saturday 23rd June. TheGenealogist has now added the Colour Tithe Maps for the North Riding and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Complimenting the already released schedule books and greyscale maps, these colour maps add an attractive visual aid to find where your ancestor lived in the mid 1800s.

The fully searchable tithe records released online allow researchers to:

• Find plots of land owned or occupied by ancestors in early Victorian North Riding and East Riding of Yorkshire on colour maps
• See where your forebears lived, farmed or perhaps occupied a small cottage or a massive estate.

Colour Tithe map of Township of Kelfield, East Riding of Yorkshire

To search these and a huge assortment of other genealogical records see more at: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

Read TheGenealogist's article on the fascinating Change of Name Database at:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/change-of-name-database-discovers-ancestors-who-adopted-different-surnames-846/

15 June 2018

Don't forget The Family History Show York is next Saturday 23rd June 2018 - 10am to 4.30pm at The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1RX.

Pre-book your tickets for The Family History Show, York and buy one get one half price!   Hurry, as pre-booking closes at the end of Wednesday 20th June!

Saturday 23rd June 2018 - 10am to 4.30pm

The Knavesmire Exhibition Centre, The Racecourse, York, YO23 1EX

Admission: Adults £5.00, Children under 14 FREE

With even more exhibitors attending this year, the York Family History Fair is probably the largest event of its kind in England. Many family history societies and companies attend each year. There is lots of local history from the York area too.

Facilities include:

• Free Talks from Expert Speakers
• Exhibitors from all over the UK
• Free Parking
• Cafe with refreshments available all day
• Fully accessible with lifts and ramps throughout

Our Girl star and Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan uncovers some exceptional women on her family tree in the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? that is broadcast tonight, Wednesday 6th June 2018 on BBC 1 in the U.K.

This is a stand alone programme from the fifteenth series of the BBC’s genealogy programme. While the rest of the episodes are due to be shown later in the summer, it begins tonight with Michelle's episode to coincide with the BBC’s ‘Hear Her’ series that is celebrating the centenary of women obtaining the vote in Britain.

In this show Michelle Keegan uncovers a special connection to the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst when setting out to trace her Mancunian roots. She also follows a branch of her family tree to Gibraltar and back into several generations to the north of Italy.

You can read about the discoveries in this article on TheGenealogist’s website. (Warning: article may contain spoilers.)

Who Do You Think You Are? Michelle Keegan

With the 1921 census still some years away from public release, TheGenealogist has added to its 1921 census substitute. This resource covers a large number of county directories which have been transcribed to produce a searchable resource. This appears under Census Records as the 1921 Census Substitute on TheGenealogist and they encompass a period currently not served by a published census. With this release the total records are boosted to 1.75 million heads of household.

The fully transcribed, searchable records released today will allow researchers to:

• search on forename, surname and profession
• search by street, town and county
• look for a business name
• discover your ancestors’ addresses
• find professions listed

These 1921 directories cover Nottingham, Glasgow, Leicestershire & Rutland, Derby, Shropshire, Kent and add to those already released for Aberdeen, Bath, Berkshire, Bradford and Surrounding Districts, Bristol and Suburbs, Brixton and Clapham, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Channel Islands, Cheshire, Cumberland, Dorset, Durham, Hessle, Hull, Lincolnshire, London, London County Suburbs, Middlesbrough, Norfolk, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire. If you have ancestors that you are tracing in the 1920s then this new release from TheGenealogist adds a fantastic name rich resource for you to use.

At a time when we are celebrating the 100 years of women getting the vote we have used this newly released records to find some people with suffragette connections.

See TheGenealogist's article here:

https://thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/1920s-census-substitute-reveals-the-suffragists-tea-room-836/

TheGenealogist has added to its Criminal Records collections with the release of the Metropolitan Police Criminal Records Office: Habitual Criminals Registers and the Habitual Drunkards Registers.

These are high quality transcripts with original colour images of the registers, as well as registers created by the Police to supervise released criminals.

One of the most interesting features of these records are the photographic portraits taken from the Registers of Habitual Drunkards. These feature two photographs - face on and profile - per individual, and some records may also give distinguishing features. The Habitual Drunkards Registers were distributed to licensed premises and the secretaries of clubs to prevent the convicted person from buying alcohol.

• Entries contain a description of the individual and date of discharge from prison
• Some records may also give distinguishing features of the individual
• See face on and profile Photographs of habitual drunks.
• It may also give the name of the prison, length of sentence and previous convictions.
• Includes registers created by the Police to supervise released criminals including spies!

These new records from The National Archive’s MEPO 6 are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

The Criminal Records on TheGenealogist could reveal the darker side of your family tree. Read TheGenealogist’s article:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/criminal-records-on-thegenealogist-could-reveal-the-darker-side-of-your-family-tree-816/

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections.

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

About The National Archives

The National Archives is one of the world’s most valuable resources for research and an independent research organisation in its own right. As the official archive and publisher for the UK government, and England and Wales they are the guardians of some of the UK's most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Their role is to collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible and available as possible. The National Archives brings together the skills and specialisms needed to conserve some of the oldest historic documents as well as leading digital archive practices to manage and preserve government information past, present and future.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

For the latest stories, follow the Media Team on Twitter @TNAmediaofficer

Today  we found out which celebreties are going to feature on our TV screens this summer.

The Press Release tells us that it includes stars from the world of music, comedy, sport, television and film.

The line up for the 15th series of the BAFTA-award winning genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? from Wall To Wall (a Warner Bros Television Production UK Ltd company) when it returns to BBC One this summer includes multi-awarding winning actor OLIVIA COLMAN, musician, DJ, fashion designer and British icon BOY GEORGE, Strictly Come Dancing’s Head Judge SHIRLEY BALLAS, comedian and Not Going Out actor LEE MACK, presenter and former JLS member MARVIN HUMES, barrister and television personality ROBERT ‘JUDGE’ RINDER, Our Girl star MICHELLE KEEGAN and gold medal winning Paralympian JONNIE PEACOCK all discover their families’ pasts in this year’s series.

Series fifteen reveals shocking discoveries, laughter and tears along the way, as our eight celebrities travel around the world to unearth the secrets of their ancestors.  Michelle Keegan uncovers some exceptional women on her family tree as she unearths a special connection to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. Olivia Colman’s journey is one of equal contrasts as she voyages from her family home in Norfolk to India, discovering that her ancestry is more diverse than she had originally thought. While Lee Mack’s investigation brings to light a comedy connection to his great-grandfather who performed on the frontline during WW1.  From adultery to asylums, illicit drinking dens to revolutions, our celebrities travel round the world, from Gibraltar to Genoa, India, Jamaica, South Africa and Latvia, as they solve the mysteries in their family trees.

_{Michelle Keegan by Sarah Winterman (Flickr: Me & Michelle Keegan (Corronation Street)) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons}

The series will air on BBC One over the summer with Michelle Keegan’s episode launching the series in June as part of the ‘Hear Her’ Season on the BBC which marks the centenary of women getting the vote.

The BBC is set to showcase women's voices in a dedicated season of content across TV, radio and online to mark 100 years since suffrage and the centenary anniversary of women being able to vote in the UK.

Executive Producer for Wall to Wall, Colette Flight, says: “Britain’s best loved stars are once again delving into their family trees, uncovering hidden secrets and solving mysteries. The stories they unearth are revelatory, often unexpectedly humorous but always affecting.”

BBC Commissioning Editor Fatima Salaria says: “The enduring appeal of Who Do You Think You Are is set to continue as BBC One broadcasts a huge host of names in series 15 including Olivia Colman, Boy George, Marvin Humes and Judge Rinder, which are guaranteed to move and entertain audiences. We’re particularly honoured to launch the series with Michelle Keegan’s episode which uncovers her special connection to Emmeline Pankhurst, as part of the BBC’s ‘Hear Her’ season. This is must see TV at its best.”

Series 15 was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director, BBC Content and Tom McDonald, BBC Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual. The Commissioning Editor is Fatima Salaria.

TheGenealogist has added to its Parish Records collections with a second batch of Warwickshire registers in an ongoing project with the Warwickshire County Record Office. These newly transcribed records are linked to high quality images of the original parish register pages.

• Over 1,270,000 individuals added to the Parish Records for Warwickshire
• High quality transcripts with original images of the registers
• Additional information such as Witnesses, Father’s Name and Profession have been transcribed where given
• Released in association with Warwickshire County Record Office
• This brings our total for Warwickshire Parish Records to over two million
• Fully searchable parish records with images enable researchers to find ancestors’ baptisms, marriages and burials

Parish register for Emscote (All Saints) Warwickshire 1868

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

Read TheGenealogist’s article that reveals how a Warwickshire marriage was key to the career of an 18th century tragic actress: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/warwickshire-parish-records-reveal-the-marriage-of-an-18th-century-tragedienne-800/

Queen Victoria's Journals

For those of us researching our ancestors the finding of a diary written by an ancestor would indeed be a red-letter-day.

For those of us researching our ancestors the finding of a diary written by an ancestor would indeed be a red-letter-day.

Not many of us are lucky enough to have access to such a resource. But in its absence we can read contemporary newspapers and magazines to get an understanding for the social influences on their world and what was happening around them.

Also of interest, to those researching the Victorian period, will be the journals written by the reigning monarch as they provide seven decades of royal history. Queen Victoria's Journals have been made available online in a partnership between ProQuest, the Royal Archives and the Bodleian Libraries. The result are high-resolution, colour images of every surviving volume of Queen Victoria's journals from her first entry in 1832 to close to her death in 1901.

Tracing the Victorian period through the eye's of the Queen this resource reflects the changes taking place in the nineteenth century as seen by Victoria herself.

Read more: http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do