Family Tree UK

Learn how to trace your family tree! Every issue is packed with: family history research advice hands-on learning experiences to help you become an ancestor super-sleuth & step-by-step guides to show you the path to tracing the past. From vintage documents to the latest in DNA, we’re here to help you discover more! Get the latest in genealogy news, software, books, archives and expert answers. Plus enjoy those reader stories that remind what it means to trace your family story. Research & remember your roots with Family Tree!

Dull & dusty? You gotta be kidding!

Royal shipwreck artefacts revealed in new Norwich Castle Museum exhibition • Newly-revealed treasures from the royal Gloucester shipwreck are now on display in an exhibition curated by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Norfolk Museums Service

New Genealogy Institute at Strathclyde University • With the aim of delivering academic excellence through the creation of new genealogical courses and research opportunities, the Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies has been recently established by the University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Lifelong Learning

Call for improved access to public records

ROOTSTECH ROUND-UP

NEW WW2 SERVICE RECORDS DIGITISATION PROJECT • Ancestry has been awarded the contract by The National Archives to digitise Second World War service personnel records, formerly held by the Ministry of Defence

Clan portraits now on display in Edinburgh • Two portraits of important 18th century members of the Chief of Clan Grant’s household are now on display in the National Museum of Scotland

SOG ANNOUNCE INTERIM CEO

‘Transformative’ grant to preserve the story of humanism in the UK • Humanists UK and Conway Hall have announced the award of a grant of over £160,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to expand the work of the Humanist Heritage project

Declaration of Arbroath to go on display for the first time in 18 years • The Declaration of Arbroath will be displayed at the National Museum of Scotland this summer

ILLUSTRATING YOUR family’s history • Simon Wills considers why you might want to look for images to enhance the telling of your genealogy journey – and where you might find some of the pictures you need

MANY NAMES, ONE MAN • What began as a routine search to ‘kill off’ a distant cousin ended with an ‘Irish’ divorce and bigamy for professional genealogist Claire Bradley. Here she recounts her research journey.

YOUR DNA WORKSHOP • This month, Karen Evans advises two readers. One of whom is trying to make sense of his ethnicity estimate; and the other who wonders whether he is misinterpreting his results

And they all lived happily ever after… • Wayne Shepheard takes a look back down the centuries to meet the fairy tale characters who would have enthralled our ancestors – and who can also give us clues about the world in which our forebears lived…

WHERE WILL YOUR READING TAKE YOU?

DON'T RELY ON THE SURNAME! • This month Family Tree Academy Tutor, David Annal, demonstrates how to tackle the annoying habit that our ancestors had of changing their surnames!

YOUR PULL-OUT COMMEMORATIVE FAMILY TREE CHART

A TOP-NOTCH TANGENT • This month sees Gill Shaw in hot pursuit of her 3x great-aunt Sophia’s sons, John and Christian, and crossing the Atlantic once again in search of the story

MEDIEVAL MASTERCLASS • ‘It all looks so easy on television, doesn’t it?’ Writes Dr Nick Barratt. ‘Someone famous finds an ancestor with an established pedigree, and the next thing you know, they’re descended from Edward III and have blue blood running through their veins... It can be a bit off-putting but hang onto the thought that we’re all descended from people who lived that far back in time (even if they...