Articles by Alex Cox

Findmypast has some fascinating apprenticeship records containing the details of livery company membership as seen through the Worshipful Companies of Haberdashers and of Ironmongers. The records reflect these two trade activities as well as other occupations that increasingly entered the Companies' memberships. Spanning over 400 years of the City of London's history between 1511 and 1933, the records are fully searchable and contain beautiful images of the original handwritten volumes. The pages list details of apprentices, freemen and masters of apprentices from a

Last week's Findmypast Friday marked the release of over 157,000 additional England & Wales Merchant Navy Crew, Lists 1861-1913. Consisting of crew lists and agreements taken from British Merchant vessels, these new additions contain the details of individuals from some of Britain's earliest Asian communities and one of the most overlooked groups in British maritime history, the Lascars. Lascars were sailors and militiamen from the Indian subcontinent who served on board British ships between the 16th and 20th centuries. The history of Lascars