Guest blogger Andrew Mills is a passionate family historian and Ancestry.co.uk member who discovered this great war story of bravery in his past.

My paternal grandfather’s elder brother Bertie Sidney Mills was born during the second quarter of 1874 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Although his father’s occupation was, according to census returns, a clerk of engineers, Sidney (as was known throughout his life) clearly developed an affinity to horses.

Certainly, by his early-mid 20s, in the closing years of the 19th century, Sidney was employed as a groom at the stables which served the Queens Hotel, situated on the Promenade in the Montpellier district of the town.

My great uncle appears to have formed a relationship with a young lady employed by the Queens Hotel, named Emily Louisa Mills (no relation!). The relationship, whilst not being formalised in marriage, certainly had continuity to it, as a son William Sidney Charles and a daughter Lugenia Annie Mary were born in 1898 and 1900, respectively.  However, this continuity clearly had its limits as the couple had separated and Sidney had already married Annie Potts by the time Lugenia was born in November 1900.

Sidney and Annie were married in Aston, Birmingham and in the 1901 census, the couple were living in Little Brown Street, Aston. Sidney’s occupation is recorded as ‘foreman horse dealer/stableman’.

For reasons unknown, Sidney and Annie (still without children) relocated to Llandudno in North Wales around 1905. Information is scanty but it seems likely that Sidney found work with a local carriage business.

Sidney and Annie’s first child was a girl named Florence Ada, who was born in Llandudno in the 3rd quarter of 1914, just around the time of Britain’s declaration of war on Germany.

As yet, the available information about Sidney’s war career consists of two separate items. The first is that Sidney and his firstborn son William are reported through the family as having met up in France at some time following William’s arrival in the country in May 1916. At the time, William was serving as a private in 2/5th battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and we assume that Sidney was already serving as a Sergeant in the 96th infantry brigade, 32nd Division of the Australian Corps where he is recorded in September 1918. Sadly, William was killed in late March 1918 in the Somme sector.

The second, and clearly recorded item of information, concerns Sidney’s citation for the award of the Military Medal on September 2nd, 1918. In the written account of Sidney’s brigade commander:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty near MISERY on 30/8/18. When the Brigade came under very heavy shell fire, this N.C.O. very gallantly attended to the men and animals and supervised the removal of the whole Brigade Transport to a place of safety. His entire disregard of personal safety set a magnificent example and greatly inspired all ranks.”   

Sidney was duly decorated with the medal after the war and one of the photographs of the event shows his obvious pride in receiving the medal from the Prince of Wales (who became King Edward VIII in 1936).

END

A message from Ancestry:  Delve into the true stories in your family’s past and see which of your ancestors stepped up to reveal their bravery at www.ancestry.co.uk/WarHorse.

As part of this month’s Ancestry Advent Calendar we set you a series of fun and festive challenges, asking you to track down suitably seasonal entries among our records.

Thousands of you joined in, so a massive THANK YOU to everyone who took part!  We revealed the answers the day after each challenge on our Facebook page but in case you missed any here are all the answers again in full: 

1st December: Census records
Answer – John (although as several members pointed out, there was an older son named Arthur in earlier censuses)

6th December: Military records
Answer – Royal Berkshire Regiment

8th December: Overseas records
Answer – Santa Claus

12th December: Birth, marriage & death records
Answer – Noel Christmas Hudson

14th December: Parish records
Answer – Charles

18th December: Emigration records
Answer – Lapland

20th December: Occupation records
Answer – Philip Frowde

22nd December: Probate records
Answer – £224 14s 9d

Let us know how you got on in the comments section below.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and look forward to more fun and games in 2012!

Good news today for millions of you tracing your ancestors in many of Britain’s most populated counties. We’ve completed the second part of our 1911 Census  transcriptions, so records covering London, Lancashire, Yorkshire and 17 other crucial counties are now fully searchable!

We’ve now transcribed more than half of the 35 million records that make up the 1911 Census. Last month we released searchable records for Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. With our latest addition we’ve concentrated on England’s busiest areas to help as many of you as possible find your family.

Of course the most populated region of all is the City of London. Most of you will find at least one ancestor living among the 4.5 million people that called the capital home in 1911.

But Yorkshire, Lancashire, Warwickshire and other areas all over the country were also thriving in the early 20th century. Remember, the Industrial Revolution was complete by this time, and people were flocking to England’s towns and cities to take advantage of new opportunities for work.

Here’s a full list of the areas that are now searchable:

Channel Islands
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devon
Durham
Isle of Man
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
London
Norfolk
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Royal Navy
Rutland
Wales
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Worcestershire
Yorkshire – East Riding
Yorkshire – North Riding
Yorkshire – West Riding

Remember, unlike any previous censuses this one provides you with the actual forms your ancestors filled in, complete with their handwriting and signatures. We already have all the scanned records available, and now more than half of them are searchable. We’re continuing to work on the remaining transcriptions – these will be finished next year.

Search the Census now.

AUTHORED BY KENDALL HULET (FROM ANCESTRY.COM)

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to view and merge Ancestry.co.uk’s “shaky leaf” record hints into your family tree directly on your iPhone, iPad or iPod?  We thought so, too.

Today, we announced the availability of an enhanced version 3 of our iPhone, iPad and iPod app, Ancestry, that now offers several new features:

• Ability to access Ancestry.co.uk’s “shaky leaf” hints for new discoveries of historical records about your ancestors directly in the app
• Merge functionality that identifies and extracts information about family members from historical records to help you grow your tree
• In-app purchasing, allowing non-subscribers to access record hints without a subscription
• Improved ability to add information to photos
• Ability to easily change your family tree privacy settings
• A more stable app with better performance

Don’t have an Apple iOS device?  Don’t worry, our Android app is in beta testing and will be available in late December for download.

For more information, or to download the app, visit the App Store.

It’s day five of our ‘15 minutes with 15 collections’ countdown! Today, we’ve made our 1920 United States Federal Census, completely free for everyone to use. It’ll stay that way until October 15th.

The 1920 US Census is one of the largest collections on our site, with over 100 million names included. It’s also among the most useful, as it reveals several key details not included on UK censuses – such as the year each person arrived in the States, their native language and their parents’ places of birth.

TOP TIP
When you find an ancestor in one of our records, you’ll want to make sure you don’t lose them again. A great way to keep track is to link records to relatives in your family tree. To do this, view the original record image, then click Save in the top-right corner. Select ‘Attach this record to your tree’, then simply choose which person you want to link it to and click Attach.

Come back tomorrow for free access to our Australian Electoral Rolls, 1903-1954.

See all our free record collections this month.
* Each collection will become available to search for free from 7am BST on the relevant day.  All collections will be available to search until 12 midnight BST on 15 October 2011.  To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address.

Are you making the most of our ‘15 minutes with 15 collections countdown? Remember, there are now four free collections for you to search! Today, we’ve made our Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918, completely free for everyone to use. They’ll stay that way until October 15th.

Even if you have no German roots, these records provide a rare opportunity to view World War I from the ‘other side’. They shed light on the military careers of soldiers serving in Bavarian Army units, giving you their names, ranks, birthplaces, occupations and countless other details, along with blow-by-blow accounts of their movements during the War.

TOP TIP
As you’d expect, these original documents are written in German. Still, it’s possible to understand them even if you can’t read the language. Read down the columns, or through the next few pages, and look out for obvious first names like Boris or Hans, surnames such as Schmidt and Jansen, places like München or Dresden and clear dates. Note which columns these appear in, and you can go back to your original entry with a better understanding of what you’re looking at.

Come back tomorrow for free access to our 1920 US Federal Census.

See all our free record collections this month. 

* Each collection will become available to search for free from 7am BST on the relevant day.  All collections will be available to search until 12 midnight BST on 15 October 2011.  To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address.

Guest blogger William Sexton Blake, family historian and great contributor to the Ancestry.co.uk Facebook fan page, offering advice, information of value and lots of humour.

My name is William Sexton Blake.  I am 52 years old. I have lived in Chester, Cheshire for 35 years. I was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and my roots are Northumberland and County Durham although I have just recently found out that my great grandfather on my maternal side is from Govan in Scotland.

My interest in genealogy began when I started to notice a number of genealogy magazines on the shelves at the newsagents and when the BBC started to broadcast the series “Who do you think you are”, a program where they delve into the ancestry of celebrities and famous people. The program in particular made it look so easy.

At first like many people I had very little information to start with. I put what little I knew on genealogy websites to no avail, despite going back day after day for a number of months nothing was found. It was then that I had the idea of contacting the Freeman of the City Newcastle of which I am one. I asked for their help.  All males on the Blake side of the family are entitled to be sworn as Freeman and they were able to give me the lineage back to William Blake in 1829.  Armed with this information I duly entered it into my family tree thinking all my brick walls would come tumbling down.

After weeks of no contacts or further leads I decided to try Ancestry.co.uk. I entered my information to my tree and lo and behold little waving leaves (hints) appeared on my tree. After following these hints and double-checking before entering the new information, my tree started to grow. Also a week later I was contacted by my 2nd cousin Keith whom I vaguely remembered and arrange to meet him and his family in Newcastle. I also took my father as he remembered him very well , as he used to take him gifts when he was home from the navy.  It was a lovely day, a very emotional day for my father. Memories and stories were duly noted as well as other family members added to my tree.

Like a lot of people I have spoken to, there is always the anticipation of finding someone of note or a connection with royalty in our family trees. I got very excited finding such people and announced with celebrations and certain bragging rights. Some of my noted finds are my 6x cousin Field Marshall John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort. By coincidence my father was aboard H.M.S Mary Rose algerine class minesweeper in 1944 sweeping around the bay and the island of Malta, while Viscount Gort was coming to the end of his tenureship as Governor of Malta.

The Victorian novelist and my 4th cousin Robert Smith Surtees.

Whilst these were celebrated finds with the help of Ancestry I found a photograph of my Grandmother Jean Dyer Wilson (on my maternal side) as a young girl on another member’s tree, a photograph my mother had never seen. I mentioned at the beginning that I had found my Great Grandfather Joseph Dyer Wilson and he was from Scotland, I also found a photograph of him too again on another member’s page. My mother never met her grandfather, did not know he was Scottish and had not seen a photograph of him, so this was so exciting to find.

Once I had finished celebrating my links to people of note I started to read the story of other members of the family who struggled to survive from day to day and found them much more interesting.  Stories of multiple infant mortality, work houses, a mining death and brave casualties of the Great Wars. These were the people to celebrate  for their determination to survive,  bravery and sacrifice.

In my search I have also found some characters which make you smile for all the wrong reasons.  An ancestor who was an agricultural labourer on my wife’s side in Yorkshire was found in a number of newspaper articles where he was witness for the prosecution. He turned out to be a right “grass”, giving evidence against fellow locals in poaching cases and various petty crimes. Soon he found himself at the centre of a case when he had been attacked by one of the very men he had given evidence against.

With the help of friends, family, family history websites and Ancestry members, my family tree is flourishing with over 2600 people added. I feel my journey has just begun and I long to know more. When I say more I do not necessarily mean adding more ancestors but finding more information about the ancestors I have, about how they lived, their occupations and what kind of people they were. Another great source of help I have found is the Ancestry Facebook page.  On this page I have made many friends, it almost feels like a family in itself. Here are like-minded people who chat about their breakthroughs, their brick walls, their family, the weather and anything else that takes their fancy. But it does not stop there, most of all it is a great place to get help, advice, tips and useful links from people at all stages of their journey.

The Ancestry.co.uk Facebook page recently celebrated its 20,000th fan. To become part of the Ancestry family on Facebook please go www.facebook.com/AncestryUK.

Last week the Ancestry.co.uk team went to Ham House in Richmond to volunteer our services and help preserve the beautiful 17th century house for a day. The volunteering took shape in a number of guises – removing tree suckers from lime trees, polishing brass pots and pans, and re-potting seedlings.

Built in 1620 for Sir Thomas Vavasour, Knight Marshal to James I, this grand house sits majestically alongside the Thames and boasts a history as rich as the atmosphere.  To give you a brief glimpse into this history, Ham house was given to a gentleman called William Murray in 1626, who was a close friend of Charles I. Interestingly, this gentleman had in fact been the future King’s ‘whipping boy’, meaning that he would take the young prince’s punishments because royalty was not allowed to be beaten.  The two men became firm friends, their friendship further consolidated by the same tastes in architecture and art.

When William died in 1655, Ham House passed to his daughter Elizabeth who became the Countess of Dysart. Known for being very beautiful, ambitious and political, she is thought to have belonged to the Sealed Knot, a secret organisation which supported the exiled King and was very contraversial in the day. She re-married the 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Secretary of State for Scotland, following the death of her first husband, and had Ham refurnished and made into the luxurious house it is known as today.

This stunning house continued to be passed down through the generations until the Sir Lyonel Tollemache and his son Cecil gave Ham House and Garden to the National Trust in 1948.

One of the things that struck me most about Ham was the grounds and gardens maintained by an army of skilled and knowledgeable gardeners, conservators, technicians and stewards to name but a few. Their vegetable garden is certainly one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, featuring an explosion of colours and smells and powering the kitchens that make food for those visiting the beautiful property.

The Ancestry team removed tree suckers from lime trees in front of the grand house, encouraging growth in the crown of the tree; and spent much of the afternoon polishing some of the old brass pots and pans which now adorn the shelves of the kitchen, typically in the basement. 

Spending the day at such a historical location and being talked through some of the stories which have survived the test of time, was very special for the Ancestry team, so here are a few photos we took to share with our members.

Ancestry.co.uk and the National Trust are working together to inspire people to discover their heritage by exploring their family history.  The UK’s towns and cities, grand homes and humble dwellings, and the individuals and families who have inhabited them over the centuries are part of our country’s rich heritage. By combining these historical resources with modern expertise we hope to raise awareness of conserving our UK heritage and the stories that shape it.

Another week and yet another new collection of occupations records!  And this time we’re going even further back in time, to the start of the 18th century, to catch your ancestors right at the start of their careers.

Apprentice Books, 1710-1811, explores a practice that has its roots even earlier, in the time of Elizabeth I.  That was when families first started paying for their children to learn skilled trades from established experts.

By the 1700s it was common practice for these apprentices to move in with their masters for up to nine years, until they were ready to start out on their own. The masters were paid healthy sums for their efforts – so of course the Government got in on the act and starting charging them a tax. It’s because of this tax that our records were created.

 English poet, painter, and writer, William Blake
was apprenticed to engraver and stationer
James Basire in 1772.

The youngsters depended on their employers for food and shelter, and worked whatever hours they demanded of them. This meant their new lives varied hugely according to how generous the masters were. Many were treated well, but others suffered in appalling conditions.

Our records give you an insight into your ancestors’ experiences. They tell you what trade they learned, and when they finished. You can also discover the master’s name and address, so you can go on to learn more about those people.

If you’re lucky, you’ll also find details of the parents that paid for their children to be taught in this way, in the hope of giving them a better life in the long run.

Edward Jenner’s apprentice record.
Known as the ‘Father of Immunology’ he was the
developer of the smallpox vaccine.

Don’t forget to watch our exclusive video, revealing more of the history behind these records with insight from Tony Robinson. Then go back and watch the rest of our occupations series to learn more about our other recent releases.

Search the

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 be on-hand to answer your queries, help solve your problems and tell you about our latest releases. Top of the agenda, I’m sure, will be our brand new West Yorkshire Parish Records, 1512-1985 – I’d imagine that a huge percentage of the attendees will have some sort of link to Leeds, Bradford, Halifax or Huddersfield.

If you are coming to the fair, please do drop in and say hello. Even if you don’t need help with anything, it’s always nice to meet our members and put a face to the username!

The Yorkshire Family History Fair is at the Knavesmire Exhibition Centre at York Racecourse. It starts at 10am on Saturday 25th June. Find out more