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From trailblazing women's history to unexpected ancestry discoveries, understand the past, one family story at a time.
Reverend David Railton first proposed the idea of having a single grave to represent the many unidentified British casualties of the First World War. While serving as an army chaplain on the Western Front he had seen a war grave with the simple epitaph;“An Unknown British Soldier”In 1920, Railton wrote to the Dean of Westminster suggesting that an unidentified British soldier be buried amongst the kings at Westminster Abbey. His idea was met with resounding support from Prime Minister…
You can begin in the same way, with a name from your family, your town or one of the memorials you pass every day. Because every name deserves to be remembered. Where the stories begin: A war memorial can be so familiar that it almost disappears into the landscape. Then you stop. The traffic continues, shop doors open and close, but the columns of names have you pause a little longer. Each name belongs to someone whose absence once changed…
Family history doesn’t just have to be about our own relatives. Many of us research for friends, colleagues or people in our local communities, helping to bring forgotten stories back to life.Four members of the Findmypast Community made some incredible discoveries about their local war memorials. Here’s what they uncovered about these lives marked by conflict. A hidden Second World War story: Community member Patricia used to be in the Women’s Royal Air Force. She decided to research a…
Thankfully, one remarkable memorial at York Minster preserves more than 1,400 of their names. But until we look closer, they’re just names. Who were the women who died during the Great War? What are their stories? Where are the women in First World War history?: Think of a First World War memorial and you'll probably picture weathered stone in a town square or churchyard, carved with rows of men's names. Women's names are much harder to find, largely because women didn’t…
An Italian ice cream seller. A Russian boot dealer. A café owner who'd sailed the world before settling in the East End. Just three years after the Battle of Cable Street, the records reveal the real lives behind the barricades.Read on to discover their stories and how you can listen to our podcast series, East London vs The Fascists: A Family History Of... Cable Street. What was the Battle of Cable Street?: In the 1930s, this ordinary street became…
The First World War upended thousands of families. For one Surrey family, a soldier's disappearance on the battlefield slowly unravelled an entire household, scattering its children across institutions, counties and, eventually, an ocean. Nearly a century later, family history records helped stitch those pieces back together. An ordinary family: In 1911, carpenter Albert Edward Bance married Caroline Ratcliff in Surrey. Within a few years they had three children: Frances Elizabeth, Daisy Maud, and Albert Edward. The family of five never appeared…
When we picture the Industrial Revolution, we tend to imagine scorching blast furnaces, foundries worked by men, and the famous bridge stretching across Ironbridge Gorge. And yet, across places like Coalport, Broseley, and Jackfield, women spent long days in factories, workshops and family businesses. They painted delicate china by hand, packed goods for transport, made pipes, raised families and helped keep household finances afloat. Their work shaped the communities around them, yet many have largely disappeared from popular histories of…
The First World War would bind their names not to profit or loss, but to memory, and to the families still tracing their stories today. This is the story of the very first Pals battalion – the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, City of London Regiment. Your country needs you: Better known as the Stockbrokers’ Battalion, the 10th Royal Fusiliers was raised in August 1914 during those first urgent weeks of the First World War when Britain called for volunteers.…
When Findmypast’s research specialist and expert genealogist, Jen Baldwin, began tracing her 4x great‑grandfather Archibald MacKenzie, she uncovered a story rooted in two places profoundly shaped by the Great Famine: Macroom, County Cork and Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Through family history records like census returns and newspaper reports, Jen stitched together a picture of what the Famine felt like to the communities who lived through it. One town’s catastrophe became another’s transformation. This is their shared story. Before the Famine took:
Imagine yourself living inside a large steel cylinder, lit by electricity, with an endless network of pipes and cables decorating the walls. All around the cylinder is water, exerting such pressure that it threatens to crush the manmade hull. It's a maze of complicated machinery, home to anywhere from 30 to 60 men with nerves of steel. It’s a stark image, 250 ft below the surface - one that was a reality for the submariners of the Royal Navy. History’s first Royal Navy submarines:…