Understanding genealogical sources & why it matters

HAVING SPENT SO MUCH TIME IN NEWSROOMS and edit suites making television and radio documentaries, I have come to archives late on in my life. These are the precious places that hold records, whether t

Q My great great grandfather, Enoch Coates, was wounded in the Crimean War at Sebastopol. His death notice in the Lichfield Mercury, on Friday 9 December 1910, describes him as a “Crimean Veteran” and

My maiden name was Shenton, and for as long as I can remember I’ve had a fascination for names. I grew up in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in a community that was deeply rooted in

As every family historian knows only too well, researching your ancestry becomes significantly more difficult the further back you get. There are fewer records available before the 19th century, and f

The economy of Suffolk traditionally relied on agriculture and fishing, but much of its prosperity in the Middle Ages resulted from the cloth and wool trade. In fact Bury St Edmunds, Clare, Hadleigh,

These days, we associate autograph books with celebrities. But they originated in 16th-century Germany, where university students used to collect signatures from their classmates, and functioned as an