Learning Centre

Were any of your ancestors imprisoned for sheep stealing? Are you distantly related to any notorious felons? Now at Ancestry.co.uk you can find out about your ancestors' shadier past in our new collection of Criminal Registers.

This collection shows the original records contained in 279 bound volumes carefully preserved in The National Archives. There are 1.4 million trials recorded in this collection, which took Ancestry technicians 616 man hours to scan. These were then uploaded into the Ancestry World Archives Project and contributors from the Ancestry community transcribed them so they could be searched online.

Read all about the trials and convictions

In the registers you'll find detailed records of everyone charged with indictable offences, plus the results of their trials and their sentences if found guilty.

You'll also find execution dates and, in some cases, personal information about the prisoner and the circumstances leading to their crimes. By present standards some of the crimes seem petty and the sentences very severe. But now, with Ancestry.co.uk, you can review the facts and judge for yourself.

How to find your records

You'll be able to search by Name, Birth Year, Date and Places of Trial - which means there's no place for criminals to hide.

Which areas are covered by the collection?

The actual records are all of the trials and sentences that took place in Britain. However, there were huge numbers of prisoners sentenced to deportation to the colonies. So this is a fascinating collection for Australian researchers and anyone who wants to find out whether they have links to the new world.

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Two new collections available online at Ancestry.co.uk make essential reading for everyone wanting to know more about India in the colourful 19th century.

The East India Register and Directory 1844 is a wonderful archive of the East India Company rules and regulations, plus a who's who of staff and proprietors of one of the country's most influential trading companies. In this directory you'll find fascinating and eccentric entries such as complete lists of the Company's Servants including their Appointments and Lists of Casualties recording who died, were invalided, killed in action, drowned or even murdered. There are about 10,000 names listed, and the records cover Bengal, Fort St George (Madras) and Bombay. They also include Prince of Wales Island, Singapore and Malacca.

This is the first time the images of the books have been available online and at Ancestry.co.uk you can search the Register and Directory here.

This image is part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. High quality prints from their collection can be purchased here. This website offers a selection of the Museum's finest images.

Thacker's Indian Directory 1895 reads like an almanac of British and foreign merchants, commercial industry, military, railways, government departments and European and prominent residents.

Published annually from 1885 until 1960, this series is online for the first time to help you track the career paths of ancestors as they rose up the ranks and moved around the country. The collection includes Calcutta commercial and street directories, Civil Service and Military directories plus alphabetical lists of residents, newspapers and periodicals and specific directories relating to produce like tea. You can search by name or keyword to find out who lived where and what they did.

The areas covered are India, Bengal, Ceylon and Sri Lanka - almost totally related to the tea industry.

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Your name in history

Do you know the meaning of your surname, or its origins? On Ancestry.co.uk you simply type in your surname to find out what your name means and the distribution of your family name in the 19th century. You can open links to the census, connect with other members to discover possible family links and see who else is looking for your relatives. It's great fun to find out how your name evolved over the years.

Once you've discovered the meaning of your surname you can have it printed in your very own Surname book, available to order from the Ancestry Shop.

Don't miss out on what's new at Ancestry.co.uk

That's all for this month, but don't forget there's always something new at Ancestry.co.uk to help you make the most of research and give you amazing insight into the lives lived by your direct ancestors.

The Ancestry.co.uk Membership Team

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Who Do You Think You Are?

For six weeks this popular BBC series has been taking Davina McCall, Chris Moyles, Kate Humble, David Mitchell, Kim Cattrall and Martin Freeman on an emotional trip into the past. As each celebrity delves into their unknown ancestry you'll be amazed by tales of poverty, heroism, bigamy and even possible royal links. To see what each celebrity found out about their past, and the records they researched click here

Congratulations to our winners!

Last month we had 20 military heritage lapel badges, courtesy of Military Heritage, to give away to lucky winners. Now we're delighted to say that the winners are being contacted for their lapel badge orders, and as soon as everyone has given their order you'll be able to see the prizewinners list. See www.militaryheritage.co.uk for the range of badges available.

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Last month we asked you if you were watching the latest series of 'Who do you think you are?'. Thanks to the members who responded. You'd be interested to know that 2162 of members said 'yes' they were watching, while 83 said 'no' they weren't and 135 said they 'didn't know it was on.'

To coincide with the programme we introduced a website at whodoyouthinktheywere.com, which details each celebrity's story with links to relevant record collections on Ancestry.co.uk.

So this month's question is 'Did you find the website helpful?'

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