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During the second half of the 19th century, various occupations began opening up slowly to women - but it took the First World War to bring significant breakthroughs. With so many fighting-age men away at the front, women stepped into many roles traditionally regarded as the domain of men.While they had worked in textile factories for decades, women were now making munitions, driving lorries, collecting tickets on omnibuses and trams and undertaking heavy labour on farms to keep the nation

Findmypast member, Joanne Murphy, found much more than she bargained for when she delved into her family history. Here’s how her amazing discoveries unfolded, in her own words.When I began tracing my family tree, it intrigued me to find my 4x great-grandfather, George Rose, was a Methodist minister in Scotland. I knew his children were born in Gibraltar and I wondered if he could have been there to 'spread the word of God', so to speak. What I found

A picture paints a thousand words and at no time is that more true than when analysing old family photos for clues to help with your genealogical research. Clothing, photograph style, and even the way your ancestors pose are just some of the valuable clues that can help you learn more about your forebears, and maybe even make some more additions to your family tree.So, without further ado, here are my 30 top tips for using old family photos for

The year 1837 is a crucial one for genealogists because that's when the General Register Office (GRO) was established in the UK. For the first time, a central national index of all births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales was formed.This landmark moment in British history has helped millions explore their family trees ever since and made finding family in Victorian Britain relatively straightforward.1. Start with birth certificatesBirth certificates will be one of the first types of

With over 30 years of experience as a genealogist, Else Churchill knows a thing or two about searching online indexes. Follow her expert advice and you'll soon be filling your family tree with detail-rich discoveries and stories.1. Less is more when you're getting startedThis is one of the most important tips to remember if you're having trouble finding your family members in genealogy resources. You may not need to complete all the boxes or narrow your search.If you enter

For family historians, the 1939 Register is a veritable goldmine of information on ancestors who were in England and Wales at the outbreak of the Second World War. But what makes it one of the most exciting sources for tracing your family's records?It fills a 30-year census gapFirst and foremost, the 1939 Register is the closest record set we're going to get to a census for a while. The next census due to be released is the 1921 census and we

Researching the history of houses has become increasingly popular in recent years, but since A House Through Time hit our TV screens in 2018, this has seen enormous growth in popularity. People are increasingly wondering, ‘Who lived in my house before me?’ or ‘What was my house like when it was first built?’ and ultimately, ‘What is the history of my house?’As a professional house historian and research consultant for A House Through Time (BBC 2) and co-author, with David Olusoga,