Free birth, marriage and death records

Before the introduction of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales in 1837, it is the parochial registers recording the baptisms, marriages and burials of our ancestors

This is one in a series of articles; the intention is to provide an overview of useful family and local history records in existence, covering the period 1066-1485. Each article can be enjoyed as a st

The first series of WDYTYA? aired in 2004, and I started working on the programme two years later. My first episodes were broadcast in 2007 and featured rower Matthew Pinsent and actor John Hurt, and

To some of us, post-1945 seems like yesterday – but if you are a younger researcher, this era could encompass several generations of your ancestors. More recent research is an important part of everyo

Actor Andrew Garfield followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Samuel Garfinkel, born in Kielce, southern Poland, to uncover his Jewish heritage in the latest series of Who Do You Think You Are?.

On 10 August 1948 Felix Hull became Berkshire’s first county archivist. He was working out of the basement of Reading’s old Shire Hall, now the Roseate Hotel, and collections under his care eventually