Learning Centre

Now is your chance to unearth the lives and times of your forbears with the London Historical Records 1500s-1900s - available for the first time online - in partnership with London Metropolitan Archives.

With over 400 years of London history to explore, you can paint a detailed picture of your ancestors from the present day right back to the 1500s. In fact, you can see where they were born; find out how they lived and even where they were laid to rest.

During the course of 2009, we'll be introducing new searches including Parish Records, School Records, Electoral Registers, Wills, Workhouse Lists, Poor Relief Records, Freedom of the City Lists and lots more besides. So make sure you keep checking back throughout the year to discover even more fascinating information.

Available now:
Boards of Guardians Deaths & Burials collection, 1834-1906; and Births & Baptisms, 1834-1934

The Boards of Guardians were established as part of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 to help care for the poor. These fascinating records open the doors of workhouses, asylums and special schools across London and Middlesex - so if your ancestors found themselves in these institutions, you could find them here.

Start your search

back▲

Following the great famine of the 1840s, about one million Irish people left their home country in search of a better life. Many headed for the United States and are recorded on the official passenger lists, which were kept by the port authority.

However, thousands of passengers who were declared destitute, stowaways or deemed mentally or physically unfit were never allowed to cross the Canadian Border into the United States. Instead, they were sent to local hospitals, workhouses or asylums in or around the port of St John, without being recorded in official documents.

But thanks to keen genealogist Daniel F. Johnson, a comprehensive set of records, containing over 7,000 names of people from the workhouses and hospitals, has been put together. The Irish Emigration to New England through the port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841-1849 includes details of why individuals were committed to various institutions, rather than be allowed entry to the US.

Sadly, many of these people were widows, orphans or the physically disabled. This was due to the fact that wives lost their husbands, children lost their parents and many people became seriously ill on their voyage to Canada.

These records tell tragic and often harrowing stories, but without them many of the names included would have been lost forever.

To view these fascinating records and see if any of your ancestors were among those who failed in their attempt to get into the United States.

back▲

Ancestry Family Trees

This section is all about making sure you're getting all the help you need to make searching and storing information as easy as possible. This month, it's family trees.

The family tree is a great way of keeping all your research organised and in one place. It's free to use and even if you are no longer a customer, you can still access and see the records you've attached.

If you're looking for someone in particular, just enter their names, dates and locations and we'll automatically search through our records for potential matches. If there's a match, you'll see a little green leaf symbol next to the name. All you have to do is click on it to check the original historical record to see if it's correct. You can then incorporate it into your family tree.

You can also attach any family photos, stories and scans of documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as video and audio files. If that isn't enough, you can even let family members view or edit your tree, so they can help fill in any gaps or add their own photos.

And if your computer crashes after all your hard work collating information, don't panic. All of your records and research will still be available online.

back▲

We've been busy making even more exciting changes Ancestry.co.uk. Once logged into your homepage, you can now see if you've received any messages from other members. Just click on the 'messages' link in the header, which will take you straight to all your messages in your inbox.

It's a great way of finding other members who might be able to help you in your search for ancestors and information. The further back your story goes, the more likely you are to meet other members who have ancestors in common with you. You can connect privately and conveniently and your email address will never be given out. You can also update your public profile and share a little more information about family history so members can see if your interests and ancestors overlap.

To see if you have any messages already waiting for you, simply log on and click the 'Messages' link at the top right hand of the homepage.

Log on now

back▲

We're delighted to announce the winners of last month's competition. A copy of Dr Nick Barratt's Encyclopaedia of Genealogy will be heading its way to each of these lucky winners below:

Wendy Peedle, Louise Haywood, Debra Coleman, James Hardy and Carol Calver.

back▲

Last month we asked you how many people liked our new look newsletter. 2237 people responded. Just over 88% said they did like the new newsletter, 2.5% said they didn't and just under 9% said they didn't know.

This month's question
Have you searched the new London Historical Records yet?

Yes   No    I intend to

back▲