Guides by Daisy Goddard

It’s easier than ever to trace your Scottish roots – use digitised family history records, old newspapers and handy online tools to trace back generations of your family in just a few simple steps.

In the dressing stations of the Western Front, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) medics worked by lamplight, sleeves rolled as they fought to save men carried in from the trenches. Stretcher-bearers hauled the wounded across cratered ground, moving under fire with only red-cross armbands for protection. For the Medical Corps, every second counted. With military records, you can uncover the stories of these brave servicemen.

Birth records are a key starting point for tracing your family history. They provide essential details about an ancestor’s early life, such as their full name, birth date, and parents' names.

Whether your ancestor's first cry echoed across the olive groves of southern Italy or the snow-lined streets of Montreal, international birth records can help you bring their earliest chapter back into focus.

A marriage record marks the moment that two family stories converge. If your roots span the globe, tracing your family's marriage records may prove trickier - here's how to delve deeper into this key milestone in your ancestors’ lives.

International death records help you understand not only where a life ended, but the path it travelled. They may bring you to the final chapter of a life lived far from where it began, whether an Irish labourer who died in Boston, a seamstress who spent her last years in New Zealand, or a merchant whose final voyage ended in Singapore.

Local history captures the everyday lives of your ancestors - the streets they walked, the churches they attended and the places they worked. By researching the history of a village or town, you can move beyond names and dates to understand the world that shaped your family’s story.

Do you have roots in the stone villages and historical market towns of Oxfordshire? Here's how to use genealogy records, old newspapers and handy tools to trace your Oxfordshire family history online and shed light on the experiences of your ancestors.

From the early morning drumbeats echoing across Highland camps to the bitter winds that swept the trenches of the Western Front, soldiers of the Black Watch Regiment carried themselves with endurance and bravery. Here's how to uncover their story.

Windswept cliffs, salt-sprayed harbours, and crofts tucked into green hillsides. If you have roots in the Orkney Islands, it's never been easier to uncover the experiences of your ancestors spanning hundreds of years.