Researching19th-century merchant seamen

It’s an inescapable consequence of living in an island nation that, prior to the advent of air travel, everyone arriving in – or departing from – the country would have done so by sea. Over the centur

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

Visit any waterside tavern along the coast of Britain and you’re likely to hear some yarn about its smuggling past, no doubt embellished with each sip of ale: barrels clandestinely offloaded onto a mo

QMargaret Woodhall (née Smithson), born c1827 Liverpool (according to the 1851 census), was the sister of my great grandfather, James Murray Smithson, born c1835 in Edinburgh. Their father was William

As a professional genealogist I’m sometimes asked to carry out research into a particular individual – to, in effect, compile a biography. These requests most frequently come from one of my oldest and

A resurgence of interest in lug-rigged sailing vessels showcases the importance of Scotland’s former booming herring industry