Q & a

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

Whenever we start our family history research we can be quite excited at the speed of our initial discoveries, as they come at us thick and fast. Across time, as we push further back, challenges incre

Q My ancestor, a pilot in Poole, had a son taken up by the press, and I’d like to know whether the son was let off, or whether he sailed away and never came back. I asked Dorset Archives some years ag

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

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