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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…

Imagine leaving the crowded streets of a bustling city, trading the noise of factories for the wide-open fields of the countryside. As a Land Girl, you’d rise before dawn, hands blistered from wielding unfamiliar tools, back aching from hours spent ploughing, planting, and harvesting the fields. The work was relentless - digging trenches, tending crops, and feeding livestock - but every grain harvested kept the nation from going hungry.  The British government established the Women’s Land Army (WLA) amidst the devastation of…

Church or parish records are some of the best resources you can use to take your family tree back further. In many cases, you'll be able to go as far back as the 1500s, when King Henry VIII was on the throne. These records were taken by church officials in every corner of Britain and cover the most important milestones in your family's history.With parish records, you can unearth details of your ancestors' baptisms, marriages and burials. They also…

Women's rights issues are nothing new and are as prevalent today as they were 100 years ago. Back then, however, one defiant group of women decided they'd had enough of archaic rules and anti-equality movements. They took their fight nationwide and eventually won women's voting rights. Are you anything like the famous females who made history as part of the women's suffrage movement in Britain?Who are you most like? Share your results on social media and compare them with friends…

Our Catholic Heritage Archive is a groundbreaking project that will eventually see as many as 100 million Catholic records published online for the first time ever. We've put together this comprehensive guide to understanding your search results. Sacramental registers are the Roman Catholic Church's equivalent of the parish or parochial registers found in, for example, the Anglican Church, and what tend to be called metrical books in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe.While Anglican parish registers tend to comprise…

Emily Davison, the suffragette who died in 1913 after throwing herself in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby, is famously said to have secreted herself in the House of Commons at the time of the 1911 Census in order to have herself enumerated within Westminster.We have discovered the actual historical documents that prove this is the case and will perhaps throw some more light on this key moment in parliamentary history. The event is considered to be such…

Emma Jolly was overjoyed with her Findmypast discoveries. Here's her family story.My great, great grandmother, Annie Jolly (1882-1969), was London Welsh. She grew up in Stoke Newington in a family named Jones. Her father, David Jones, was a carpenter and builder in the growing northern outskirts of the late 19th-century capital. Annie's London Jones relatives centred around the Welsh enclave of Islington, where they remained long into the 20th century. During the Second World War, Annie's cousin's son, John David…

Edith Cavell was a British nurse who served during World War 1. Not only did she save the lives of both Allied and German soldiers, but she also helped many British soldiers escape to safety. With the help of Norwich Cathedral and Nick Miller of edithcavell.org.uk, Edith’s courageous story is remembered alongside tales of WW1 trenches. Early life: Edith Louisa Cavell was born in 1865 in Swardeston, near Norwich. Her father Frederick was the local vicar. As a girl, she enjoyed drawing…

In this post, we'll run you through exactly what parish records are, why they're important and how to search the collections to find your family's records. What are parish records?: In the 1530s, a combination of events, new pieces of legislation, the politicking of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII's desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon in favour of Anne Boleyn led to Henry's ex-communication and a split with Rome.In 1538, the new religious regime – the Church of England – decreed that…

On the night of 2 April 1911 census enumerators were collecting the details of households across Britain. Still battling towards their goal of universal suffrage, tens of thousands of women decided to boycott the census by resisting being counted in protest at the government's refusal to grant them a vote. Many women hid and attempted to confuse enumerators by travelling to different addresses throughout the night, while others opted for a more creative approach. Uncovered: Emily Davison Hiding in Parliament's Crypt in 1911:…