Findmypast

Have you ever wondered what your surname says about you and your family history?  Tracing the history of the surnames in your family tree is one of the most popular ways of researching your ancestors. Surnames can take you back centuries. They can evolve, shaped by culture, work, language, migration, and more.  A comprehensive study by Findmypast has uncovered the evolving landscape of English surnames dating back to the time of Henry VIII, shedding light on forgotten lineages, regional dialects,

Alexander Armstrong is a comedian and actor, perhaps best known as the host of the BBC quiz show Pointless alongside Richard Osman. He's half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller (alongside long-time friend Ben Miller), and also presents a morning show on Classic FM. This multi-talented personality boasts a long and diverse career which includes radio, appearing regularly on Have I Got News For You, and voice acting credits on Danger Mouse, Sarah Jane Adventures and more.He married

Whether you've got relatives who fought in World War 1, World War 2 or another global conflict, it's so important to honour their stories with acts of remembrance. More than just wearing a poppy each Remembrance Sunday, this means preserving their stories for generations to come. Using our record collection, learn more about the servicemen who were captured as prisoners of war (POWs) between 1914 and 1918.Although France had always been Britain’s traditional enemy, not Germany, by August 1914, as a result of the

Between coronations, weddings, royal babies and Jubilees, there's been no shortage of royal occasions. The late Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee in June of 2022, just three months before her passing on 8 September.Take a look at some of the ways our community celebrated the longest-reigning monarch in British history.Commemorating the coronationBob Avery, in Chepstow, sent in this lovely photo taken on 2 June 1953 - the coronation date for Queen Elizabeth II.Bob's uncle took this photo just a

In 2011, we set out to digitise the British Library's entire newspaper collection and open it to the public as the British Newspaper Archive online. Today, we're proud to announce that we've passed the 100 million pages milestone. But we're not stopping there.Search for stories in our newspapers and publicationsExplore millions of digitised pages of newspapers and other publications from our British and Irish collections, dating as far back as the 1700s.Our newspaper digitisation continues at pace, and soon

If you’re Catholic or you have potential Catholic ancestors, keep reading. After all, Latin isn’t a dead language. It’s just Roman around.And don’t worry, we won’t ask you to conjugate a verb.While Latin is no longer a spoken language today, it survives in countless archives and libraries in many countries. Whether you were subjected to a spot of Latin at school or not, any genealogist needs to know the basics of Latin in family history records to research