News

60,000 Headstones Added 02 August 2019

We have just released nearly 60,000 new individuals on Headstones from another 61 churchyards and cemeteries. This means that there are now a total of over 174,500 individuals that are fully searchable in our Headstone collection which has examples from across England, Scotland and Wales as well as Jersey in the Channel Islands, Cyprus and India.

Read our article about the Headstone Project to find out more.

New War Memorials Added 19 July 2019

This week we have released over 75,000 additional War Memorial records. These fully searchable records are transcribed from images of the tributes put up to honour the war dead from various conflicts including the Boer War, the First World War and World War II. This latest release from TheGenealogist covers war memorials from many parts of the UK, as well as some further afield monuments in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Read our press release to find out more.

Half a Million Parish Records Released 04 July 2019

This week we have released over half a million new parish records for Norfolk. In addition to containing the uniquely transcribed records of Baptism, Marriages and Burials with images for over 250 parishes, these records also include some fascinating Bastardy bonds, Examinations, Warrants and Orders. With this release, family historians will be able to find the details of ancestors baptised, married and buried as well as those that had children born out of wedlock in this East Anglian county.

The new data will allow you to discover:

• Over half a million individuals in records
• Names of parents of the illegitimate children
• Images also reveal the names of people standing guarantor for the father
• The baptism, marriages and burials of ancestors in Norfolk

These fully searchable records are transcribed from the original records and linked to the images from the Norfolk Record Office.

These new records are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

New Records of Victorian Convicts 14 June 2019

This week we have released over 100,000 individuals, allowing you to find the details of ancestors that had broken the law and were incarcerated in the harsh conditions of early Victorian convict prisons - including some that were only children!

The new data will allow you to discover:

• Over 100,000 individuals in records covering the years 1838 to 1875
• Registers of prisoners inside Millbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville prisons
• Each prisoner's age on conviction
• The marital status and whether the prisoner can read or write
• The convict's former trade
• When and where they were convicted, their crime, sentence, where and whence received, previous offences, when removed and to where

These fully searchable records are from the HO24 Home Office: Prison Registers and Returns 1838-1875 for Millbank, Parkhurst and Pentonville.

To find out more, read Nick Thorne's article "Criminal records can reveal ancestors locked up in convict prisons".

New Islington Lloyd George Domesday Survey records 31 May 2019

This week we have released Islington Lloyd George Domesday Survey records. These cover land owners and occupiers in 1910-1915 with over 70,000 individuals recorded, joining the previously released data books and their associated maps for other parts of London. For family historians looking for ancestors' homes just before the First World War in the Islington area of London this record set is invaluable.

This new release covers records made of property ownership and occupation in Barnsbury, Canonbury, Charterhouse, Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Glasshouse Yard, Highbury East, Highbury West, Lower Holloway, Myddelton, Old Street, Pentonville, Saint Mary, Saint Peter, Saint Sepulchre, Thornhill, Upper Holloway, Upper Holloway East and Upper Holloway West.

Use these records to:

• Find ancestors who owned or occupied property in the Islington area of London
• See the outlines of their houses on large scale maps from the time
• Fade between historic and modern maps to see how the environment has changed
• Check details of properties in the neighbourhood, by clicking the red pins
• Locate an address from your research down to a specific house on the map
• Search by name, parish and street to uncover ancestors' property in 1910-1915

Complementing the maps on TheGenealogist's Map Explorer are the accompanying Field Books which provide detailed information relative to the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent.

This new release is the latest stage of our vast ongoing project to digitise over 94,500 Field Books, each having hundreds of pages, and linking them to large scale IR121 annotated OS maps which are now viewable with our powerful Map Explorer tool.

New Nautical Apprenticeship Records 17 May 2019

We have expanded our occupational records with over 300,000 records of Masters and Apprentices included in a nautical set of apprenticeship records. These BT 150 records from The National Archives comprise of an index that had been compiled by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and its predecessor. It consists of apprentices indentured in the Merchant Navy between 1824-1910.

The books have now been transcribed and include colour images of the original registers to add a fascinating resource to their broad range of records which can be used to build an ancestor's story.

You can read more about these records and some of the more interesting people within them in our latest article "Merchant Seamen apprentices to Captains of the Cutty Sark".

New Prison Records 26 April 2019

We are expanding our Criminal Records collection with the release of over 146,000 individuals who were listed in prison records. Sourced from the PRIS 10 & PRIS 11 collections held at The National Archives, these documents contain records from 1697 to 1862 and reveal those jailed for debt or bankruptcy.

These records will give family historians details of those imprisoned in the Debtors prisons including the King's Bench Prison, Fleet, Marshalsea and Queen's Prisons. These contain commitment and discharge records, giving details of names of the debtor, creditor and attorney, along with the amount of debt.

Read Nick Thorne's Article "Little Dorrit, Dickens and Dad's Debts" to find out more.