Articles by Russell James
World War I sacrifices at sea
When I think about World War I, I picture trench warfare on the Western Front. I don’t think I’m alone in that – memories of the conflict tend to focus on the sacrifices of the Army in France and Belgium. The actions of our Navy – equally courageous and vital to the War effort –… Read more
FREE census access – today only!
Today is the day! Don’t forget to log in to Ancestry.co.uk to use all our UK census indexes, from England, Wales and Scotland, completely FREE. If you’ve just started tracing your family tree, this is your chance to kick-start your search for names and dates. And if you’ve already uncovered several generations, see if you can… Read more
Irish records – a history unlocked
We took a trip over the Irish Sea this morning, and released a raft of new records that will help people all over the world to uncover their Irish roots. Our four new collections date from the 19th century, providing a detailed view of life before and during the Great Famine. This tragedy brought about mass… Read more
Advocating Ancestry at Who Do You Think You Are? Live
“My mother always said we were related to a mayor of Cape Town in the 1930s, can we find out more about him?” It’s a slightly exotic enquiry from my first visitor at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show, and it yields some colourful snippets. Within about 10 minutes, we’ve tracked the… Read more
1911 – your monthly update
As we told you last month, we’re going to use this blog to keep you informed of our progress with the 1911 Census, as we work towards having it all online in 2011. This is your second monthly update. Over the past four weeks, we’ve been collecting together the scanned images of the Census pages,… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? – Spike Lee’s slave roots
Last night’s episode from the American Who Do You Think You Are? series was both emotive and inspiring. Film director Spike Lee delved into his slave roots to uncover stories of hardship, toil, but most of all courage. Slavery is a topic we don’t hear much about in this country. In the context of a… Read more
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope you’ve all had your fair share of cards, flowers and chocolates today. Unfortunately, my wife left the house almost before I’d opened my eyes this morning. I’ll have to spoil her when she gets back this evening! If you fancy injecting a bit of love and affection into your family history research, I… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Live – the Big Match!
Just now, our office feels like a sports team’s changing room before a big match – hot with anticipation and excitement. That’s because we’re just two weeks away from the FA Cup Final of the family history world – Who Do You Think You Are? Live! This year’s event is shaping up to be the… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011 – fight the January blues
Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011, London Olympia, 25-27 February. Find out more People often talk about feeling down in January, after the festive period is over and there’s nothing to look forward to. Fortunately, anyone who’s interested in family history doesn’t have that problem. We’re already little more than a month away from Who… Read more
It’s Christmas!
Well, nearly… Advent has arrived, and to celebrate we’ve set up a very special area of the site. We’ve provided you with your very own Ancestry Advent Calendar. Just like an ordinary advent calendar, this has 25 windows, and you can open one every day in the run-up to Christmas. However, you won’t find pieces… Read more
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