Making the most of the gro indexes

Q Is it possible to have a death in a workhouse with no subsequent death certificate in 1885? I have the record from Ancestry of the death. Mary Ann Arnold born 1854, death May 1885 (maybe Mar 1885),

We all know that transcription errors can get in the way of research, but sometimes they creep in in the oddest of ways. Like most family historians, I like to have the three main dates for my direct

It all started with an email. Regular reader Lee Passmore was having difficulties finding out what had happened to one of his three times great-uncles, a man called Bryan (or Brian) Dean, and he wante

The British merchant service was renamed the Merchant Navy after World War 1 to mark the vital role its sailors played in wartime. That role continued in World War 2 as merchant ships carried troops a

This is part of 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 s

I have just read Diane Lindsay’s piece (FT June) about decluttering. That did ring a large bell. I have been doing family history for something like 65 years. I have managed to file a lot of the infor