RESPONSE TO OPEN CONSULTATION: STORAGE AND RETENTION OF ORIGINAL WILL DOCUMENTS Published 15 December 2023 Introduction I have a number of significant concerns about the proposals outlined in the consultation paper. These concerns and my opinions regarding the proposals are based on more than 40 years of experience of using these records, both as a professional researcher and as an enthusiastic hobbyist researching the story of my own family. I was formerly the Principal Family Historian at the National Archives and I am a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists and of the Royal Historical Socie ..read more

Just in case anyone ever needs to know, if you want to get my attention, you could do worse than sending me a message that says: Hi Dave. I’m doing a bit of research at the moment on the 1939 national register and I’ve gone down a rabbit hole trying to figure out whether someone who later became a Hollywood star is on it or not. If you’re interested in an intriguing research challenge then I’d love to hear back from you. That’s exactly what House of Commons Library statistician Georgina Sturge did last November. My interest was instantly piqued and after exchanging a few emails I was soon ho ..read more

It’s New Year’s Day, 2024. Traditionally, this is a time of year when we look to the future and I’ve been doing my fair share of that over the past few days. But as a family historian, my mind is more often looking in the opposite direction and right now, I’m thinking about the past. In particular, I’m thinking about what my ancestors were doing 100 years ago today; and about what my more distant relatives were doing 200, 300 and 400 years ago. As I sit here in my semi-detached Hertfordshire home, I’m surrounded by all those modern conveniences that many of us in western Europe take for grante ..read more

A year ago, I set myself the challenge of writing about an ancestor who died in military conflict, with the aim of publishing a Remembrance Day blog post to mark their life. I’m pleased to report that I have delivered on that challenge… My great uncle Samuel Christie Annal died 78 years ago. Sam was the youngest of the seven children of my great grandparents, Samuel Christie Annal senior and Margaret Ann Clouston Annal (née Miller) but he was also the first of the seven to die. My grandfather, one of Sam’s four older brothers, died of a heart attack in 1953, aged just 45 but the other three ..read more

On 27 November 1826, the brothers, Robert, Walter, John and Alexander Robertson, presented an inventory of the personal estate of their father at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court. The brothers were described in the document as: Robert Robertson Herd at Bronsley, Walter Robertson Schoolmaster at Cranshaws, John Robertson Preacher of the Gospel, and Alexander Robertson student of Medicine residing at Cranshaws. National Records of Scotland SC70/1/35 Robert, Walter, John and Alexander were the brothers of my great, great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Robertson and to say that I was surprised to disco ..read more

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I’ve embarked on a virtual journey this year, tracking down the places connected with my ancestors’ lives (I’ve ‘borrowed’ my wife’s as well) and I’ve been tweeting about a different one each day, using the hashtag #365AncestralPlaces. In the process, I’ve learnt a lot about some of the previously less-explored parts of my family tree and I’ve also made some surprising discoveries. I didn’t want to limit myself to the places that they lived and died in so I’ve been including their schools and workplaces, the churches that they were baptised ..read more

Margaret Howland was born on 9 August 1906 at 46 Brunswick Street, Edinburgh, just off Leith Walk but south of the border with the ancient Burgh of Leith. Margaret was my grandma and one of the nicest and kindest people you could hope to meet but she didn’t have the easiest of starts to life. Her birth certificate leaves no room for doubt on one particular matter: she was born to unmarried parents, or, to use the language of the time, she was illegitimate. There’s a blank space on the certificate where her father’s name should be. Birth certificate of Margaret Howland, Edinburgh, 1906. Nationa ..read more

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I spent a day in London last week, pounding the streets in search of ancestors. Over the course of a long day, I visited four ‘live’ archives: the Bank of England Archive, Guildhall Library, the London Metropolitan Archives and the National Archives. But I also took time out to visit the sites of some former libraries/archives/reading rooms, took photos of them and then set people the challenge of identifying them. Eight former London libraries/archives/reading rooms. How many can you name? As I was sorting out the answers to the quiz, and m ..read more

This the last of six blogposts written and published on six successive days, in which I take a look at a particular ancestral gravestone that my wife and I visited on our recent road trip. You can read the other five here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5. Today we’re in the Cheshire village of Astbury, now on the outskirts of Congleton but historically the heart of the ancient parish of Astbury. We had no idea whether or not we would find any family stones there but I think it’s fair to say that we hit the jackpot with this one… If you were to draw a triangle connecting the parishes ..read more

This is the fifth of six blog posts, written and published over six consecutive days, looking at some of the family graves that my wife and I visited as part of a recent road trip to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. You can read the earlier instalments here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. The other five stones are all in churchyards (actually one of them was inside the church) but today’s stone is to be found in a large municipal cemetery. In 1866, the Macclesfield Municipal Borough set aside 68 acres of land to the north and west of the town to establish a public cemetery. Like ma ..read more