The life of bryan

When I first started to trace the Tonges, my mum’s dad’s side of the family, I thought they might be a tad predictable. We didn’t know very much about them, but surely if there were any interesting ta

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

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),

Dear Simon, The history of Pitman shorthand told by Angeline Wilcox in the July edition of Best of British (Write on Time) evoked so many memories. I was amazed to learn that Isaac Pitman actually cre

Christine Atkins asks: Please can you help with these family photographs? The posed lady in the studio photos might be my great-grandmother Emily Weston (née Brayban), b. 1864. She could also be the s

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