Articles by Russell James
Who Do You Think You Are? – JK Rowling discovers her own magical story
When writing about JK Rowling, it’s tempting to use flippant puns about wizards and spells. The truth is, though, her Who Do You Think You Are? episode was far too moving and emotive to describe it in such throwaway language. As a family historian, I always find the programme interesting. Still, I have to admit… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? June Brown discovers her Jewish heritage
Who Do You Think You Are? series eight started in style last night with June Brown’s fascinating episode. A mix of rarely discussed history and true family research made for a highly entertaining hour. June’s quite a character and her sense of humour and charisma shone through. This strength of personality has clearly been… Read more
NEW Railway employment records
That’s right, just two weeks after we released our Postal Service Appointment Books, we have another mammoth set of occupation records for you. This time, we’re focussing on Britain’s railways, and the people that powered them. UK, Railway Employment Records, 1807–1963, offers a rare insight into our history, as it follows an industry literally from… Read more
NEW Postal Service records
We have yet more new records to tell you about today. This time we’ve turned our attention to your ancestors’ occupations – and specifically the people who worked for the Postal Service. The Post Office is a British institution. Not only is it a popular part of any village community, but it’s traditionally one of… Read more
Were you born on 10th May 1946? ITV1 want to hear from you!
ITV1 are developing a brand new series exploring the lives of people who were all born in Britain on exactly the same day. In this exciting programme, they’ll look at social history through the lens of people’s personal stories; people who all share the same birthdates, grew up under the same governments, and experienced the… Read more
FREE National Probate Calendar, until 8th July!
That’s right, for one week from today you can find your family fortunes in the most important probate collection online, without paying a penny! We’ve made our exclusive National Probate Calendar, 1861-1941, completely free to everybody until July 8th. You can search the indexes to see where and when your ancestors died, see the original… Read more
NEW London wills!
We have more new records to tell you about today – London Wills and Probate, 1525-1858. Wills are among the most personal of all the millions of records on our site. They’re often written in your ancestors’ own hand, and they reveal truly intimate details of their lives. You’ll discover things like how much money… Read more
NEW West Yorkshire Parish Records
Today sees the launch of the new West Yorkshire parish collection at Ancestry.co.uk. Parish records are a key resource for anyone wishing to trace their ancestors prior to the introduction of civil registration in 1837 and can help bridge important gaps in our ancestry. They are a mine of information for the family historian… Read more
Going to the Yorkshire Family History Fair?
This weekend, I’ll be driving up to York for the Yorkshire Family History Fair. This annual event is one of the biggest dates in the family history calendar, and I’m really looking forward to meeting our members from the north of the country, and hearing about your latest discoveries. At the Ancestry.co.uk Stand, our team will… Read more
1911 Census images online today
I’m pleased to announce that we’ve completed the first stage of our 1911 Census release. Any of our members can log in to the site right now, and browse the scanned record images from all over England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. If you’ve already traced your tree up to 1901,… Read more
Don’t forget you can search records, build your family tree and discover more about your family history over on the main site.
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