Pen & Sword Books

This second edition of Peter Duckers best-selling British Military Medals traces the history of medals and gallantry awards from Elizabethan times to the modern day, and it features an expert account of their design and production.

Campaign and gallantry medals are a key to understanding - and exploring - British and imperial military history, and to uncovering the careers and exploits of individual soldiers.

In a series of succinct and well-organized chapters he explains how medals originated,...

In this fully revised second edition of his best-selling Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors Phil Tomaselli explains which records survive, where they can be found and how they can help you in your research. Whether you are interested in the career of an individual air-man or woman, researching medals awarded to a pilot or crew member or just want to know more about a particular squadron or operation, this handbook will point you in the right direction. Each era in air force history is described, from...

The Pen & Sword guide to the census is detailed, accessible and authoritative, and it is one of the most comprehensive on the market. It has been written with the family historian in mind, and it is packed with advice on how to explore and get the most from the census records. As well as describing the modern censuses, it provides information on the less-known censuses dating from before 1841, and it covers the records of all the constituent parts of the British Isles. It is an essential introduction...

This well-known author has produced yet another excellent guide for researching ancestors who have served in the Army. The book is an ideal text for reference when investigating army personnel. Military Archive Research.com

A splendid publication with a great deal of valuable information. Michael Brooker, Guild of Battlefield Guides

Whether you are interested in the career of an individual officer, researching medals awarded to a soldier, or just want to know more about a particular battle...

Finding a way into the sources for British and Irish family history can be a daunting task if you live overseas. That is why this introductory book will be so valuable for anyone who is trying to trace their British and Irish ancestors and gain an understanding of their lives and the world they knew.

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt and Palestine Campaigns is the first book explicitly aimed at helping the descendants of those who fought in this part of the Middle East find out more about their ancestors actions, experiences and achievements. Their wartime lives were very different to those who served on the Western Front, and yet have never before been explored from this angle. Hundreds of thousands of British and Imperial troops fought in the Western Desert, Sinai Desert, Palestine,...

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War? Perhaps you have thought of visiting the battlefields in Turkey and the monuments that commemorate them, and want to find out exactly where and when your ancestor served and what part he played in the landings and the fighting that followed? This practical and informative handbook is an ideal guide to the struggle for the Gallipoli peninsula and the stories of the men who took part in it. Simon Fowler outlines the...

If you want to find out about an ancestor who served on the Somme during the First World War - during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 or at any time during the fighting in this sector of the Western Front - this book is the ideal guide. It provides practical information and advice on how to conduct your research. It will help you to discover when and where your ancestors served and give you an insight into his experience of the war. It is also a fascinating introduction to researching the Great War...

Do you have an ancestor who served at Ypres in the First World War, during the four years in which the city was in the front line? Perhaps you have thought of visiting the battlefields nearby and the monuments that commemorate them, and want to find out exactly where your ancestor served and what part he played in the four great battles that took place there? So many British soldiers served in Flanders during the long struggle to defend the Ypres Salient and to break out of it that there is a good...

This concise guide to naval history and naval records is essential reading and reference for anyone researching the fascinating story of Britain's Navy and the men and women who served in it. Whether you are interested in the career of an individual seaman, finding out about a medal winner or just want to know more about a particular ship, campaign or operation, this book will point you in the right direction.Simon Fowler assumes the reader has little prior knowledge of the Navy and its history....

Whether you are interested in the career of an individual Royal Marine or just want to know more about the part played by the Marines in a particular battle or campaign, this book will point you in the right direction. Assuming that the reader has no prior knowledge of the Royal Marines, their history or organization, Richard Brooks and Matthew Little explain which records survive, where they can be found and how they can help you in your research. They also describe in vivid detail the evolution...

The Second World War was the defining conflict of the twentieth century and it is one of the most popular and fascinating areas for historical research - and for family historians. More records than ever are available to researchers whose relatives served during the war. And this new book by Phil Tomaselli is the perfect guide to how to locate and understand these sources - and get the most out of them. He explains how, and from where, service records can be obtained, using real examples showing...

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Whether you're just beginning your genealogical journey or have been tracing your family tree for years, Tracing your Staffordshire Ancestors provides a comprehensive roadmap to uncovering your family history in the heart of England.

With its rich historical background, Surrey once included areas now part of London, adding layers of complexity to genealogical research.

Few previous publications have focused on Welsh family history, and none have provided a comprehensive guide to the genealogical information available and where to find it.

That is why the publication of Beryl Evans's new Welsh family history handbook is such a significant event in the field. Her detailed, accessible, authoritative guide will be essential reading and reference for anyone who is eager to research ancestors from Wales.


She describes the key archival sources and shows how...

Tracing your Family History using Irish Newspapers is a great introduction for the family historian into Irish newspapers, journals and periodicals and how these resources can be used to paint a picture of the lives of your ancestors with so much more than what can be found in primary source material.

How were criminal children dealt with in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Over this hundred-year period, ideas about the way children should behave - and how they should be corrected when they misbehaved - changed dramatically, and Emma Watkins and Barry Godfrey, in this accessible and expert guide, provide a fascinating introduction to this neglected subject. They describe a time in which 'juvenile delinquency' was 'invented', when the problem of youth crime and youth...

In Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, genealogist and best-selling author Chris Paton explores how the surviving records can help with our ancestral research.

Women are among the hardest individuals to trace through the historical record and this is especially true of female offenders who had a vested interest in not wanting to be found. That is why this thought-provoking and accessible handbook by Lucy Williams and Barry Godfrey is of such value. It looks beyond the crimes and the newspaper reports of women criminals in the Victorian era in order to reveal the reality of their personal and penal journeys, and it provides a guide for researchers who are...

An essential introduction and source of reference for anyone who is keen to trace their Irish roots.

The records of the Courts of Equity, which dealt with cases of fairness rather than law, are among the most detailed, extensive and revealing of all the legal documents historians can consult, yet they are often neglected. Susan Moore's expert introduction to them opens up this fascinating source to researchers who may not be familiar with them and dont know how to take advantage of them. As she traces the purpose, history and organization of the Courts of Equity from around 1500 to 1876, she...

In this practical handbook Jonathan Oates introduces the fascinating subject of criminal history and he gives readers all the information they need to investigate the life stories of criminals and their victims. He traces the development of the justice system and policing, and gives an insight into the criminal world of the times and the individuals who populated it. In a series of concise chapters he covers all the important aspects of the subject. At every stage, he guides readers towards the national...

In his latest handbook on the records of the major Christian religions, Stuart Raymond focuses on the Church of England. He identifies the available sources, comments on their strengths and weaknesses and explains how to make the best use of them. The history of the Church of England is covered, from the Reformation in the mid-sixteenth century until the present day. Anyone who has a family connection with the Church of England or a special interest in the local history of the church will find his...

How has the place we live in changed, developed, and grown over the centuries? This book provides a comprehensive overview of those sources, and its guidance will enable you to explore and exploit their vast range.

Family history should reveal more than facts and dates, lists of names and places - it should bring ancestors alive in the context of their times and the surroundings they knew - and research into local history records is one of the most rewarding ways of gaining this kind of insight into their world. That is why Jonathan Oates's detailed introduction to these records is such a useful tool for anyone who is trying to piece together a portrait of family members from the past. In a series of concise...

Tracing Your Roman Catholic Ancestors is the ideal handbook for readers and researchers who are keen to find out about their Roman Catholic ancestors and for anyone who wants an introduction to Roman Catholic history in general. Stuart Raymond provides a brief historical account covering the Roman Catholics from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, then goes on to identify the available sources, explaining their strengths and weaknesses. His accessible and authoritative book will be an essential...

A Guide for Family Historians

A book written in the belief that engaging in family history is a venture for all of the present-day family.

Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents - these are the relationships that structure the family tree and fascinate the family historian. But how much do we really know about how our ancestors lived out these multiple roles? Buffeted this way and that by economic developments, legal changes, medical advances, Two World Wars, the rise of the Welfare State, women's emancipation and many other factors, relationships between members of our family...

A Guide for Local and Family Historians in England and Wales

Despite its Union with England and Wales in 1707, Scotland remained virtually independent from its partners in many ways, retaining its own legal system, its own state church, and its own education system. In Tracing Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, genealogist Chris Paton examines the most common records used by family historians in Scotland, ranging from the vital records kept by the state and the various churches, the decennial censuses, tax records, registers of land ownership...

A Guide for Family Historians

Martin Wilcox's concise and informative guide to the fishing industry will be absorbing reading for anyone who wants to learn about its history or find out about the life a fisherman and his family. In a clear and accessible way he takes readers through the technical, economic and social aspects of the story. He gives a graphic account of the development of the British fisheries through the medieval period and into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The themes and issues that family and...

Property title deeds are perhaps the most numerous sources of historical evidence but also one of the most neglected. While the information any one deed contains can often be reduced to a few lines, it can be of critical importance for family and local historians. Nat Alcock's handbook aims to help the growing army of enthusiastic researchers to use the evidence of these documents, without burying them in legal technicalities. It also reveals how fascinating and rewarding they can be once their...

Family history is one of Britain's most popular pastimes. Around six million people in Britain are researching their family trees, and genealogy is one of the top categories for online searches. The opening up of public records, the growth of family history societies and the introduction of computers and the internet have made the subject accessible to everyone.As a popular history of the subject, rather than yet another 'how to' guide, Family Matters puts the study of family history...

The East End is one of the most famous parts of London and it has had its own distinctive identity since the district was first settled in medieval times. It is best known for extremes of poverty and deprivation, for strong political and social movements, and for the extraordinary mix of immigrants who have shaped its history. Jonathan Oates's handbook is the ideal guide to its complex, rich and varied story and it is an essential source for anyone who wants to find out about an East End ancestor...

For over 500 years, between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Justices of the Peace were the embodiment of government for most of our ancestors. The records they and other county officials kept are invaluable sources for local and family historians, and Stuart Raymond's handbook is the first in-depth guide to them. He shows how and why they were created, what information they contain, and how they can be accessed and used. Justices of the Peace met regularly in Quarter Sessions, judging...

Britain's industrial revolution depended on canals for the cheap movement of materials and goods – until the coming of the railways. Canal companies struggled to compete and went into a long decline, but much of the canal network is still with us today, and interest in the history and heritage of canals - and those who worked on them - is strong. That is why Sue Wilkes's well researched and highly readable handbook on the subject is so valuable.

She concentrates on the people who lived...

How can you trace forebears who were patients in lunatic asylums and find out about their lives? What sources can you consult to discover their personal histories and gain an insight into their experiences? In this concise, accessible handbook, Michelle Higgs answers these questions. She provides a fascinating introduction to the subject and gives readers the means to explore the records for themselves. She concentrates on the period from the eighteenth century through to 1948 when the National Health...

In the 1920s there were over a million coalminers working in over 3000 collieries across Great Britain, and the industry was one of the most important and powerful in British history. It dominated the lives of generations of individuals, their families and communities, and its legacy is still with us today – many of us have a coalmining ancestor.

Yet family historians often have problems in researching their mining forebears. Locating the relevant records, finding the sites of the pits, and...

Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle sat down and wrote a poem, or a memoir? Researching Family History Through Ancestors' Personal Writings looks at the kinds of (mainly unpublished) writing that could turn up amongst family papers from...

Alex Ombler's handbook is the first practical guide for family historians who wish to find out about family members who worked in British docks. In a series of concise, informative chapters he takes readers through the history of British ports and identifies research methods and materials - both local and national - through which they can discover the lives and experiences of the people who worked in them. Many of us have ancestors who were dock labourers - in 1921 there were around 125,000 dockers...

What's in a Name?

This handy book is a timeline guide to genealogical resources - what records are available and when they started - as well as an aide-memoire to significant historical events from 1066 to 2020; helping to put family ancestors into an historical context.

The second edition of Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors is an expert introduction for the family historian to the wealth of material available to researchers in archives throughout Northern Ireland. Many records, like the early twentieth-century census returns and school registers, will be familiar to researchers, but others are often overlooked by all but the most experienced of genealogists.

An easy-to-use, informative guide to the comprehensive collections available at the Public Record...

Every family historian has child ancestors, and childhood experiences and records are an essential aspect of research into a past life. That is why Sue Wilkes's detailed and accessible handbook is such a useful guide for anyone who is trying to find out about the early years of their forbears. In Tracing Your Ancestors' Childhood she explores the history of childhood and education and brings together information about relevant records and archives into one handy reference guide. She outlines...

The medical profession had as much influence on the lives of our ancestors as it does on our lives today. It occupied an extraordinary range of individuals - surgeons, doctors, nurses and specialists of all kinds. Yet, despite burgeoning interest in all aspects of history and ancestry, medicine has rarely been considered from the point of view of a family historian. This is the main purpose of Michelle Higgs's accessible and authoritative introduction to the subject. rn Assuming the reader has...

Tracing Your Ancestors Lives is not a comprehensive study of social history but instead an exploration of the various aspects of social history of particular interest to the family historian. It has been written to help researchers to go beyond the names, dates and places in their pedigree back to the time when their ancestors lived. Through the research advice, resources and case studies in the book, researchers can learn about their ancestors, their families and the society they lived in and record...

Gill Blanchard's practical and informative handbook will help you to trace your ancestors in the traditional counties of East Anglia Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and it will give you an insight into their lives.

As well as guiding the researcher to historical records held in all the relevant archives, she explores the wealth of other resources that add the 'flesh to the bones' of our ancestors' lives.

She describes how fascinating information can be discovered...

What was a merchant seaman's life like in the past, what experiences would he have had, what were the ships like that he sailed in, and what risks did he run? Was he shipwrecked, rewarded for bravery, or punished? And how can you find out about an ancestor who was a member of the long British maritime tradition? Simon Wills's concise and informative historical guide takes the reader and researcher through the fascinating story of Britain's merchant service, and he shows you how to trace...

What were the principal causes of death in the past? Could your ancestor have been affected? How was disease investigated and treated, and what did our ancestors think about the illnesses and the accidents that might befall them? Simon Wills's fascinating survey of the diseases that had an impact on their lives seeks to answer these questions. His graphic, detailed account offers an unusual and informative view of the threats that our ancestors lived with and died of. He describes the common...

Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland for the last 500 years and more. The 'Athens of the North' is the centre of Scottish banking, medicine, architecture, law and publishing. It is the home of Scotland's national museums and the location of the Queen's official residence in Scotland and of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It is also the site of the Edinburgh Festival and Royal Military Tattoo, and the seat of the devolved Scottish government. The city is steeped...

This fully revised second edition of Chris Paton's best-selling guide is essential reading if you want to make effective use of the internet in your family history research. Every day new records and resources are placed online and new methods of sharing research and communicating across cyberspace become available, and his handbook is the perfect introduction to them. He has checked and updated all the links and other sources, added new ones, written a new introduction and substantially expanded...

Tracing Your Police Ancestors will help you locate and research officers who served in any of the police forces of England and Wales from the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Assuming that the reader has no prior knowledge of how or where to look for such information, Stephen Wade explains and describes the various archives and records and provides a discussion of other sources. Case studies are used to show how an individual officer's career may be traced and understood...

Tracing Your Glasgow Ancestors is a volume in the series of city ancestral guides published by Pen & Sword for readers and researchers who want to find out about life in Glasgow in the past and to know where the key sources for its history can be found.

In vivid detail it describes the rise of Glasgow through tobacco, shipping, manufacturing and trade from a minor cathedral town to the cosmopolitan centre of the present day.


Ian Maxwells book focuses on the lives of the local people both...

Straddling parts of Counties Antrim and Down, the city of Belfast has seen its fair share of history across the centuries. From its humble beginnings as a ford based settlement between two tributaries of the River Lagan, it grew following its grant of a charter in 1613 to become a corporation town, and expanded dramatically when later made a city in 1888. Along the way it has experienced the darkest of times, including the Belfast Blitz and the recent Troubles, to some of the most enlightened developments...

Fraternal and friendly societies and trade unions – associations that provide mutual aid and benefits – have a long, fascinating history and the most famous of them – the Freemasons – have a reputation for secrecy, ritual and intrigue that excites strong interest and has been the subject of widespread misunderstanding.

Daniel Weinbren, in this concise and accessible handbook, dispels the myths that surround them and gives readers an insight into their real purposes, their membership and...

In Sharing Your Family History on the Internet, genealogist and best-selling author Chris Paton explores the many ways in which we can present our research and encourage collaboration online.

Anyone who wants to find out about the history of their house - of their home - needs to read this compact, practical handbook. Whether you live in a manor house or on a planned estate, in a labourer's cottage, a tied house, a Victorian terrace, a twentieth-century council house or a converted warehouse - this is the book for you. In a series of concise, information-filled chapters, Gill Blanchard shows you how to trace the history of your house or flat, how to gain an insight into the lives...

Photographs of your seafaring ancestors may tell you more about their lives than you realize, and Simon Wills's helpful and practical guide shows you how to identify and interpret the evidence caught on camera. Since maritime roles have been so vital to Britain's prosperity and military might, they are among the commonest professions depicted in photographs of our ancestors, and his handbook is the ideal introduction to them. Maybe your ancestor was a seaman in the Royal Navy, a ship's...

Gill Blanchard's practical and informative handbook will help you to trace your ancestors in the traditional counties of East Anglia - Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex - and it will give you a fascinating insight into their lives. As well as guiding the researcher to historical records held in all the relevant archives, she explores the wealth of other resources that add the 'flesh to the bones' of our ancestors' lives. She describes how fascinating information can be discovered...

Debtors' prisons are infamous but very little has been written about the records of those confined within them in London or elsewhere in the country. Even less has been written about the trials of those who were often incarcerated following misfortune or mismanagement rather than criminal intent. That is why Paul Blake's handbook will be so useful for researchers who want to find out about forebears who may have been caught up in the insolvency system. In a series of information-filled chapters...

Did you have a spy in the family, an ancestor who was involved in espionage at home or abroad? If you have ever had any suspicions about the secret activities of your relatives, or are curious about the long hidden history of Britain's secret services and those who served in them, this is the book for you. Phil Tomaselli's fascinating guide to over 200 years of British spies and spying takes the reader on a journey through the twilight world of the secret intelligence organizations Britain...

‘East Enders are a very special breed and tracing your East End ancestry is going to be tremendous fun.

Everyone has got some East End ancestors - and if they haven’t they invent them, rollicking chaps, larky and resourceful, talking a funny language to keep “them” guessing, eating at eel and pie shops, shouting out their wares in clattering, colourful markets. Their wives and masters (“ ‘er in doors”) are brazen lassies, smart as paint, tough as their men folk, presiding over an...

If you want to find out about the life of an ancestor who was active in the labour movement or was a union member, this handbook will be a fascinating introduction to the subject. Mark Crail provides a graphic and authoritative account of the history of the labour movement in Britain from the early nineteenth century to the modern day. He gives a vivid insight into the key stages in the development of labour relations - the battles fought by labour movement pioneers, the formation of the first unions,...

Genealogically and historically, Kent is an important maritime county which has played a prime defensive role in English history. It is large and diverse and replete with great houses, castles and other family homes, many with their own archives. It is also a fascinating area of research for family and local historians, and David Wright’s handbook is the perfect guide to it.


For thirty-five years he has been working with the various Kent archives, and his extensive experience means he is uniquely...

Anthony Burton's concise and informative guide to British shipbuilding will be absorbing reading for anyone who wants to learn about its history or find out about the life of a shipbuilder and his family. In a clear and accessible way he traces its development from the medieval period to its peak in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and on into the present day.He describes how, at the height of its powers, it was of immense importance. It employed tens of thousands of workers, so a...

If you want to find out about Lancashire's history, and particularly if you have family links to the area and your ancestors lived or worked in the county, then this is the ideal book for you. As well as helping you to trace when and where your ancestors were born, married and died, it gives you an insight into the world they knew and a chance to explore their lives at work and at home.

Sue Wilkes's accessible and informative handbook outlines Lancashire's history and describes the...

Tracing Your Pre-Victorian Ancestors is the ideal handbook for family historians whose research has reached back to the early nineteenth century and are finding it difficult to go further. John Wintrip guides readers through all the steps they can take in order to delve even more deeply into the past. Carrying research through to earlier periods is challenging because church registers recorded less information than civil registration records and little census data is available. Researchers often...

Vivien Teasdale's concise and informative guide to the textile industry will be absorbing reading for anyone who wants to learn about its history or to research the career of an ancestor who was a textile worker. In a clear and accessible way she takes readers through the technical, economic and social aspects of the story. She gives a graphic account of the extraordinary growth of the industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and of its decline in the twentieth. In the process she...

The Georgian period - 1714 to 1837 - was a key stage in our modern history so some understanding of it is essential for family historians who want to push their research back into the eighteenth century and beyond, and John Wintrip's handbook is an invaluable introduction to it. In a sequence of concise, insightful chapters he focuses on those aspects of the period that are particularly relevant to genealogical research and he presents a detailed guide to the variety of sources that readers can...

The recent past is so often neglected when people research their family history, yet it can be one of the most rewarding periods to explore, and so much fascinating evidence is available. The rush of events over the last century and the rapid changes that have taken place in every aspect of life have been dramatic, and the lives of family members of only a generation or two ago may already appear remote. That is why Karen Bali's informative and accessible guide to investigating your immediate...

London is a key site for family historians. Many researchers, seeking to trace their ancestry back through the generations, will find their trail leads to London or through it.

Yet, despite the burgeoning interest in genealogy and the importance of London in so many life stories, few previous books have explored the city’s history or provided guidance on the research resources family historians can use to discover the life of a London ancestor. This is the purpose of Jonathan Oates’s invaluable...

Almost all of us have a tradesman or craftsman - a butcher, baker or candlestick maker - somewhere in our ancestry, and Adele Emm's handbook is the perfect guide to finding out about them - about their lives, their work and the world they lived in. She introduces the many trades and crafts, looks at their practices and long traditions, and identifies and explains the many sources you can go to in order to discover more about them and their families. Chapters cover the guilds, the merchants, shopkeepers,...

For readers with family ties to Manchester and Salford, and researchers delving into the rich history of these cities, this informative, accessible guide will be essential reading and a fascinating source of reference.

Sue Wilkes outlines the social and family history of the region in a series of concise chapters. She discusses the origins of its religious and civic institutions, transport systems and major industries. Important local firms and families are used to illustrate aspects of local...

Oxfordshire has a proud history as an agricultural county, relying for centuries on the wool trade for its prosperity. It is also famous for the founding of Oxford University in the eleventh century and for the Morris Motors car factory established in Oxford in 1912\. The county is richly endowed with churches, museums, stately homes, industrial heritage sites and other places of interest, all offering a fascinating insight into its past and its present. In this informative and practical guide, Nicola...

This book shows how a variety of sources including birth, marriage and death certificates, censuses, newspaper reports, passports, recipe books, trade directories, diaries and passenger lists were all used to uncover more, and how much can be detected by setting the characters from your family tree in their proper historical backgrounds

The intriguing characters in these real family history mysteries include an agricultural labourer who left secrets behind in Somerset when he migrated to Manchester,...

Tracing Your Potteries Ancestors introduces readers to the wealth of information available to those wishing to trace their North Staffordshire roots. Michael Sharpe gives a fascinating insight into the history of this part of the Midlands which was for so long dominated by the pottery industry. The six pottery towns Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton are at the heart of the story. His handbook is an essential guide for anyone researching the life of an individual or family connected...

Gill Blanchard's practical step-by-step guide to writing a family history is designed for anyone who wants to bring their ancestors' stories to life. She looks at ways of overcoming the particular problems family historians face when writing a family history -- how to deal with gaps in knowledge, how to describe generations of people who did the same jobs or lived in the same area, how to cover the numerous births, marriages and deaths that occur, and when to stop researching and start writing....

This book is an essential handbook for those researching their ancestry in the counties of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset and the city of Bristol. It begins with an introduction to the identity of 'The West Country', its geography and history over the centuries. It then guides family historians through the wealth of historical records available both online and in archives and libraries in order to add the 'flesh to the bones' of the names of ancestors on their family trees.

West...

This fully revised second edition of Rachel Bellerby's best-selling guide is essential reading if you want to find out about your Yorkshire ancestors. As well as tracing when your ancestors were born, married and died, she shows you how can explore how they lived, worked and spent their leisure time.

She introduces readers to the many sources that hold a wealth of information about Yorkshire's past, and describes the records you can find in archives and online which will bring your research...

While there are popular and academic books on servants and domestic service, as well as television dramas and documentaries, little attention has been paid to the sources family historians can use to explore the lives and careers of their servant ancestors. Michelle Higgs's accessible and authoritative handbook has been written to serve just this purpose. Covering the period from the eighteenth century through to the Second World War, her survey gives a fascinating insight into the conditions...

Did you have a criminal in the family, an ancestor who was caught on the wrong side of the law? If you have ever had any suspicions about the illicit activities of your relatives, or are fascinated by the history of crime and punishment, this is the book for you. Stephen Wade's useful introduction to this fascinating subject will help you discover and investigate the life stories of individuals who had a criminal past. The crimes they committed, the conditions in which they lived, the policing...

Often, our most fascinating ancestors are those on society’s margins. They might have been discriminated against due to personal misfortune, or have been a victim of society’s fear of difference. You may have ancestors who were poor, or sick, illegitimate, or lawbreakers. Were your family stigmatised because of their ethnicity? Perhaps they struggled with alcoholism, were prostitutes, or were accused of witchcraft. This book will help you find out more about them and the times in which they lived.