English Ancestors

14/11/2025

My latest blog post has just published. It's about preparing to visit ancestors' former homes and localities.

This is part four in my ‘Ancestral Tourism’ series. It follows on from Part 1: Churches and Churchyards, Part 2: Municipal & other Public Cemeteries and Part 3: Graves and Gravestones. The focu…

11/11/2025

Don't forget that the cost of wills in England and Wales post-1858 is about to rise by almost 1000% (yes, you read that right!).

You have until midnight on Sunday to place an order for every will you would like, or think you might like, to get them at the current price of £1.50 instead of the £16 it will cost you one minute later.

I've spent this week going through as many of my own projects as I could, to find wills I might want at some point, and had been delaying because they weren't a priority. I've now spent £21 on 16 wills, instead of the £256 that truly I would never be able to justify.

04/11/2025

There will be a HUGE increase in the cost of digital copies of post 1858 wills. It will take effect on 17th November.
The price will increase from £1.50 to a whopping £16.

Here’s a short article about planning ahead and making every will you order count.

From 17 November the fee for a copy of a will increases from £1.50 to £16. Read on for practical advice from Fraser & Fraser to help you plan and budget.

26/10/2025

If you’re looking for a professional accredited genealogist in England & Wales (and in some cases other parts of the UK or additional geographical areas) this is your starting point.

The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) is the professional organisation promoting high professional standards in the field of genealogy and historical research in England and Wales. Find out more about us here: www.agra.org.uk

24/10/2025

Here's the latest blogpost from me. It's aimed at Intermediate family history researchers and people moving from Beginner to Intermediate, and deals with combining information from various sources of burial records. Hope some of you will find it useful.

Today’s post is an interloper amongst my little ‘Ancestral Tourism’ series. It follows on from Part 1: Churches and Churchyards, Part 2: Municipal & other Public Cemeteries an…

24/10/2025

I just realised the link from my blog to this page hasn't been working and my last two blogposts haven't appeared here. Here's the one from 19th September:

Ryde Cemetery, Isle of Wight. © Janice Heppenstall This is the third in my ‘Ancestral Tourism’ series, and follows on from posts about preparing for visiting Churches and Churchyards an…

18/09/2025

If you are thinking of commissioning research as a festive gift then get in touch with a researcher now, as many professionals book out months in advance. Search our Directory here: https://www.agra.org.uk/memberbrowse

17/09/2025

If you have ancestors with a Germanic surname, this might be useful in helping explain why they changed it during World War 1. The name of our house was changed at this time. The family living here had a Swiss connection and they had named the house ‘Friedenheim’.

Could your family's surname have a secret past?

During WW1, thousands of people, including the Royal Family, changed their surnames. But why? ⬇️

It's 1914, and Britain is at war with Germany. Anti-German sentiment in Britain is strong. But what did that mean for those with German heritage living in Britain?

Thousands of families changed their surnames to sound 'more British' to distance themselves from their roots. There were increases in changes after the sinking of the Lusitania, which prompted outrage, and after the Armistice in 1918.

So if you've lost track of your family around WW1 and you're not sure why they seem to disappear from the records, you might want to check out the lists created by the Graphic newspaper. Could they have changed their surname? Could you find long-lost German roots? 🤔

Could this list of surnames help you solve a family mystery? 😮
You can explore the lists in more detail with our free collection ➡️ https://bit.ly/4iobclI

02/09/2025

Ryde Cemetery, Isle of Wight. © Janice Heppenstall This follows on from my last post: Ancestral Tourism 1: Churches and Churchyards. It focuses on locating and visiting graves of our ancestors whose final resting place is in one of the large municipal or other public cemeteries in our towns and cities rather than in a church graveyard. First, a bit of history…...

Ryde Cemetery, Isle of Wight. © Janice Heppenstall This follows on from my last post: Ancestral Tourism 1: Churches and Churchyards. It focuses on locating and visiting graves of our ancestors whos…

25/08/2025

Very good offer on Ancestry for the next few days. £20 UK/Ireland for 4 months or 12 months Worldwide for £89.99.

Hurry, Offer Ends 31/08/25

21/08/2025

Really useful record sets, usually available (if they have survived) at the Country Record Office and not online.

“I have been having a clear out and I have found some old documents; do you want them?” Many a new accession to Derbyshire Record Office starts with a conversation like this. One of the…

12/08/2025

For many of us, there comes a time in our ancestral journey that we want to know more about the places where our ancestors lived. For the truly obsessed, this can take the form of a One-Place Study. However, for the majority of family historians, and indeed for many of our ancestors, simply visiting the place where they lived will be enough to provide that extra insight we're looking for....

For many of us, there comes a time in our ancestral journey that we want to know more about the places where our ancestors lived. For the truly obsessed, this can take the form of a One-Place Study…