News

Announcing the largest collection of fully searchable RAF Operations Record Books online 11 February 2022

Today we have released over 4.2 million transcripts for our RAF Operations Record Books (ORBs), fully searchable by Name, Rank, Aircraft, Squadron, and Date plus many other fields, making it simpler to find your air force ancestors.

Watch our short video on the new release and see the records in action :

We uniquely allow you to search the period 1911-1963. With over 11 million records online, this is the largest collection of searchable AIR 27 records making it the best place to find details about your RAF ancestors.

These records include not only the journal-like day to day entries recorded on Form 540 in which you can find RAF personnel mentioned, but also all of the appendices that go along with these documents, giving many statistical details as well as "Secret Orders".

What do our customers think?

One of your best. To be able to follow the day to day activities of individuals down to the hours the planes take off and land is amazing."

"A 2 minute search brought up 2 years of operations logs for my Father, who was a pilot in 123 Squadron stationed in North Africa, India & Burma. They are full of amazing information. Everything from a near miss when a Japanese machine gun bullet 'entered his cockpit', what films they watched & complaints about the food. Just wonderful."

"Just to say a big THANK YOU for giving my family access to records of my late Uncle Douglas Thom's operations in 90 Squadron Bomber Command in 1944. We have been very frustrated that his log books seem to have "disappeared" when his home in mid Wales was cleared. Now at least we have a time-line of his sorties and more information to add to his "not often spoken about" story. I will be passing what you have on him to my cousin, his son Doug, in Canada."

Find out more about these records in our featured article about our search for a famous fighter ace and a Pathfinder from Bomber Command.

New Land Owner & Occupier Records 21 January 2022

We have just added over 72,000 individuals to our Lloyd George Domesday Survery coverage. Researchers will be able to discover useful details about ancestors' homes from these new London areas in 1910: Albany, Belsize, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Euston, Grays Inn Road, Highgate East, Highgate West, Kilburn, Priory and Adelaide Parish (Hampstead), St Andrew East, St Andrew West, St Giles East, St Giles North, St Giles South, Saffron Hill, Somers Town and Tottenham Court Road.

These property tax records, collected by the Inland Revenue's Valuation offices, are linked to detailed OS maps that will pinpoint down to plot level and can be searched by name or keywords using the Master Search, or by selecting a pin from the map displayed inside TheGenealogist's powerful Map Explorer™. The ability to switch between georeferenced modern and historic maps allows the researcher to see how the neighbourhood in which their ancestors had lived or worked may have altered with the passing of time.

The huge value of these IR58 records, uniquely digitised by TheGenealogist from the originals at The National Archives, is that family history researchers as well as house historians will be able to discover all sorts of information about the past owners and occupiers of the homes, land, outbuildings and property recorded in these areas at the time before Britain was plunged into the First World War.

To find out more about these records, read our latest featured article, From showgirl to Dame of the British Empire.

Pinpoint ancestors homes from the 1911 census on historic maps 24 December 2021

Travel back in time and locate an ancestor's address from the 1911 England and Wales census using contemporary and georeferenced maps on our Map Explorer™.

For the first time the properties recorded in the 1911 census can now be matched with mapping to show where our English or Welsh ancestors had lived at that time. The majority of London can be seen down to property level, while the rest of the country currently will identify down to parish, road or street with house level matching as new areas are processed.

This groundbreaking feature allows you to pin down your ancestors to properties on a contemporary map at the time of the census in 1911. With this feature family historians are able to walk the streets where their ancestors lived as not only can it be accessed on a computer but also on the move on a mobile phone!

This is an invaluable tool for house historians making it easier than ever to link census records to properties and complementing the already rich georeferenced Lloyd George Domesday Survey and Tithe records that are already available on Map Explorer™.

Watch our short video on the new release and see the records in action :

New Edmonton, Enfield and Southgate 1910 Property Records 10 December 2021

Our latest release sees 60,290 new owner and occupier records added to our unique Lloyd George Domesday Survey record set. The IR58 Inland Revenue Valuation Office records reveal to family historians all sorts of details about their ancestors' home, land, outbuildings and property owned or occupied in Edmonton, Enfield and Southgate at the time of the survey in the 1910s.

These property tax records, taken at a time when the government was seeking to raise funds for the introduction of social welfare programmes, introduced revolutionary taxes on the lands and incomes of Britain's population. To carry out this policy the government used surveyors to catalogue a description of each property in a street and also to plot its location on large-scale OS maps.

Using the IR58 records from The National Archives, these valuable records can now be searched using our Master Search or by clicking on the pins displayed on our powerful Map Explorer™. The ability to switch between georeferenced modern and historic maps means that the family historian can see how the landscape where their ancestors had lived or worked may have changed over time.

This online 1910s property records resource is unique to TheGenealogist and enables the researcher to thoroughly investigate a place in which an ancestor had lived in the 1910s notwithstanding that the streets may have undergone unrecognisable change in the intervening years.

South West London Property Records 29 October 2021

Today's release includes records that let you discover the homes of England's most infamous monarch, English Rugby and the modern home of England's archives!

We have just released over 49,000 records into our unique Lloyd George Domesday Survey records, with the addition of owners and occupiers from the 1910s property tax records for Barnes, Hampton, Richmond upon Thames, Teddington and Twickenham.

These occupier and ownership records can be searched for using the Master Search at TheGenealogist or by clicking on the pins displayed on our powerful Map Explorer™. Only available online from TheGenealogist, these records enable the researcher to thoroughly investigate a place in which an ancestor lived, even if the streets have undergone massive changes in the intervening years.

You can find out more about these collections and discover the humble beginnings of The National Archives Kew in our latest featured article.

New Irish Records 15 October 2021

We have just released nearly 1 million records of baptisms, marriages and burials from Wexford Catholic Parish Records and new Dublin Will and Grant Books to provide a valuable resource for those researching Irish ancestry.

The Wexford Parish records have been newly transcribed and also benefit from our SmartSearch that enables subscribers to look for the parent's potential marriage records from baptism records and also potential siblings. Each result also has a link to view the registers on the National Library of Ireland's website should the researcher wish to see an image of the actual page of the Catholic parish register.

The Dublin wills are from the Deputy Keeper Of Ireland, Index To The Act or Grant Books, and To Original Wills, of The Diocese Of Dublin 1272 -1858 (26th, 30th, and 31st Report) and cover an area that is bigger than the current County of Dublin as the diocese included a sizeable part of County Wicklow, some substantial parts of southern and eastern County Kildare, as well as smaller portions of Counties Carlow, Laois (Queen's County) and Wexford.

You can find out more about these collections and discover George Harrison's Wexford ancestors Irish Parish Records in our latest featured article.

Announcing 1086 Domesday Book records on Map Explorer™ 24 September 2021

The fascinating Domesday Book from 1086 can now be searched as a layer on Map Explorer™ with pins on the maps, linked to transcripts and images of the pages, identifying each entry in this Norman survey.

Pins on the map indicate where a record exists in 1086 and links to records that show holdings before and after the conquest. Discover the name of the Overlord, Tenant in Chief and Lord of areas across England. Find out the numbers of villagers – and even slaves that were the lord's property – for places at the time of William the Conqueror's rule. Researchers can click the link to read the transcripts of the records that give details of the land, see who held it in 1066 and then in 1086, as well as see images of the actual pages from the 1086 Domesday Book.