Discover medical professionals in your family tree

2-3 minute read

By Ellie Ayton | March 27, 2026

A black and white photo of a group of nurses on some outside steps, with the word Fridays in the middle in a pink box.

Thousands more records from University College London and over 211,000 newspaper pages are waiting for you to explore this week.

Is the medical profession rooted deep in your family tree? Published in partnership with University College London, two new, extensive resources can help you trace and understand the doctors and other medical figures who practised in Britain generations ago. We've also expanded our newspaper archive with over 211,000 new pages.

Britain, The Medical Registers

Did your ancestor work in the medical field during the Victorian era? Following the landmark Medical Act of 1858, which sought to distinguish qualified practitioners from "quacks," these registers provide a definitive annual account of every person legally entitled to practice medicine, surgery, and midwifery in the United Kingdom.

Explore this brand-new set of 393,288 records to uncover more about their qualifications and career, and find out more about the world of medicine in Victorian Britain. The records span 1859-1895.

London (and Provincial) Medical Directory 1847-1869

This new set of fascinating medical directories, comprising 511,311 records, contains the names, addresses, qualifications, and appointments of every surgeon, physician, and general practitioner residing in London and its immediate vicinity.

Nine more newspaper titles now online

Bolton Guardian, Linlithgow Advertiser, and Times Illustrated are among the latest publications to join our ever-growing newspaper collection.

New titles:

Burnham Gazette and Visitors’ List & Highbridge Advertiser, 1896–1897, 1903–1904, 1948–1949, 1951–1974, 1983
Bolton Guardian, 1871
Hexham Herald and Northumbrian Gazette, 1868–1879, 1889, 1896, 1910
Linlithgow Advertiser, 1989–1997, 1999–2004
Illustrated Travelling World, 1890
People’s Journal (Argyll and the Isles), 1988
Times Illustrated, 1897–1898, 1904
Stafford & Stone Chronicle, 1987
Vanity, 1915

Updated titles:

Aberdeen Evening Express, 2005
Boston Guardian, 1872–1873
Brackley Advertiser, 1950
Bromley & West Kent Mercury, 1954
Buxton Advertiser, 1876, 1888, 1893, 1912
Cornish Telegraph, 1868, 1912
Dewsbury Reporter, 1910, 1912
Dunstable Gazette, 1877
Eltham & District Times, 1917–1919
Evening Gazette (Aberdeen), 1890
Evesham Journal, 1912
Exeter Flying Post, 1779–1781
Galway Observer, 1965
Glasgow Herald, 1917
Govan Chronicle, 1878
Haverfordwest & Milford Haven Telegraph, 1875
Hertfordshire Express, 1874–1876, 1880, 1907
Howdenshire Chronicle, 1889, 1892, 1896, 1912, 1939
Hunts Guardian, 1870, 1884, 1886
Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner, 1900, 1966
Jedburgh Gazette, 1887, 1964
Knaresborough Post, 1879, 1986
Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth & District Daily Circular, 1920–1929, 1932–1959
Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 1909
Liverpool Weekly Courier, 1911
Llais Y Wlad, 1877
Louth Standard, 2001
Macclesfield, Stockport, & Congleton Chronicle, 1842
Montgomery County Times and Shropshire and Mid-Wales Advertiser, 1952
National Reformer, 1860, 1892
Newcastle Courant, 1813, 1817, 1875
North Devon Gazette, 1910–1911, 1913, 1919
North West Evening Mail, 1912, 1915, 1919
Rotherham Advertiser, 1893, 1897
Scarborough Mercury, 1873, 1875, 1877, 1880, 1885
Selby Times, 1918–1919
Sleaford Standard, 2003
South Notts Echo, 1924–1926
Southport Independent and Ormskirk Chronicle, 1861, 1871–1872
Staffordshire Advertiser, 1871, 1874, 1880–1881, 1884–1890
Stalybridge Reporter, 1918–1919
Suffolk Chronicle, 1899–1911, 1913–1950, 1952–1965
The Queen, 1965–1966
The Referee, 1919
Totnes Weekly Times, 1910–1915
Vigilance Record, 1932
Wakefield Express, 1992–1995
Wellingborough News, 1879–1880, 1889
Western Daily Mercury, 1860, 1876
Widnes & Runcorn Chronicle, 1920, 1930, 1955
Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser, 1829, 1873–1874, 1877, 1889, 1896–1897
Wood Green and Southgate Weekly Herald, 1966
Yorkshire Evening Post, 1955

Why do women rarely appear in the records?

In this bonus episode of A Family History of Wartime Women, host and expert genealogist Jen Baldwin explores how those small clues — a line in the 1939 Register, a registrar‑office marriage, a maternity home address — can reveal the pressures shaping a woman’s life during war.