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The Family Histories Podcast
The Family Histories Podcast returns for its tenth series, as host Andrew Martin meets eight family history addicted guests, in seven new episodes. We’ll hear stories from around the world about medical pioneers working in a race to vaccinate against smallpox, and a woman surviving the 1918 flu pandemic. We’ll meet a disinherited daughter, a sea-faring young man, a hardworking factory worker, and an adventuress! As usual, the guests will ask for help to solve one of their brick walls.
Listen at https://familyhistoriespodcast.com.
Hackney Museum
Hackney Museum closes after Saturday 29 November 2025 for a major refurbishment supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The redevelopment will refresh the museum’s permanent galleries and spaces, using its unique historical collections to explore 300,000 years of migration and settlement in the local area. Many objects that have been on display since 2002, including the much-loved Anglo-Saxon logboat and the Pie and Eel shop, will be rested and prepared for redisplay in 2027. Regular updates on the project will be shared through Hackney Museum’s monthly newsletter and social media channels. More information can be found at https://www.hackneymuseum.org.uk.
London Lives
London Lives has released Version 3.0 of its website, featuring a full technical rebuild, a mobile-friendly design, enhanced search tools, and updated historical background pages. The new version also introduces improved browsing functions and a “macroscope” visualisation for exploring search results. The updated site is available at: https://www.londonlives.org/. The previous version will remain accessible at https://old.londonlives.org/ until July 2026, though user data has already been migrated to the new platform. The project team acknowledges the support of University of Sheffield alumni and the contributions of the developers and editors involved.
Ancestor Experts
Ancestor Experts has launched a new website to mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War.
The site, created in partnership with American Ancestors, offers resources, stories, and guidance for exploring family connections to this period of history. The website can be accessed at: https://revolutionaryroots.americanancestors.org/.
The Sephardic Genealogical Society reports that Volume 2 of the Livro dos Pleitos (“Book of Disputes”) of Bevis Marks Synagogue, covering 1772–1784, is now available online from A Nação Hebraica:
https://anacaohebraica.transkribus.eu/document/3343789. This follows Volume 1 (1721–1771):
https://anacaohebraica.transkribus.eu/document/3211687. A Nação Hebraica is working on both a name index and an English translation. Congratulations to Ali Erginsoy and Oscar Barroso on this ongoing project.
The second of V&A East’s two sites, V&A East Museum will open at East Bank in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday, 18 April 2026. V&A East Museum will bring art, design, fashion, music, and performance together in this new five-storey space. The museum celebrates making and creativity’s power to bring change around the world. Inside, you’ll find galleries exploring why we make exhibitions, creative commissions and events spotlighting the people, ideas and creativity shaping global culture right now.
Regular SoG speaker, Dr Jennifer Aston, is hosting a free one-day workshop at Northumbria University on Tuesday 20 January 2026, as part of her ESRC Divorce project Archives to Action: Historical Evidence for Policy Reform in Marital Breakdown, Domestic Abuse, and Child Welfare. The event, which is also available online, explores themes closely linked to areas of interest for family historians. It will showcase new findings from the project and feature speakers from policy, practice and the third sector, including Dr Jessamy Carlson from The National Archives. Society members can register here for either the in-person or online workshop.
THE LATEST DIGITAL COLLECTION NEWS
ScotlandsPeople
Extraordinary records documenting Victorian crofting life have been made available online for the first time, offering valuable new insights for family historians researching ancestors in the Highlands and Islands. Listing more than 16,000 crofters and cottars, these records were gathered for the 1883 Napier Commission, the public inquiry established to investigate claims of unfair treatment by landlords in the aftermath of the Highland Clearances. They provide a vivid picture of how communities survived and sustained traditional ways of life tied to the land, revealing details such as household members, acreage, rents, livestock and the seasonal work—such as weaving and gathering whelks—that supported family livelihoods.
Ancestry
Ancestry has added:
- Worcestershire, England, Marriage Licenses, 1661-1949
- UK, Council of Legal Education Examination Records, 1861-1949
- Suffolk, England, Gaol Records, 1791-1878
- Westminster, England, World War II Records, 1939-1945
- UK, Military Service Records, 1939-1959
- Doncaster and Surrounding Area, Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1558-1812
Findmypast
Findmypast has added:
- British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records, 1704-1939
- British Army Service Records, South Wales Borderers, 1891, 1914 and 1915
- Leicestershire Electoral Registers 1836-1970
- Leicestershire Monumental Inscriptions
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians’ Minute Books 1837-1902
- Faces of the Fallen 1914-1918
- Wales, Barry Railway Company Accident Registers 1889-1917
- Wales, Barry Railway Company Staff Registers 1888-1896
- Britain, Merchant Seamen Registry 1939-1945
Newspapers:
- Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial, 1951-1959
- Allen’s Indian Mail, 1843-1847, 1850-1860, 1863-1870, 1872-1882, 1884-1885, 1887-1891
- Brighouse Free Press and District Advertiser, 1914-1918, 1920
- Chatham, Rochester and Brompton Observer, 1914-1920
- Citizen (London), 1914-1917
- Connaught Telegraph, 1914-1918
- Cumberland Evening News, 1914-1918
- East Cornwall Times and Western Counties Advertiser, 1859-1861, 1864-1870, 1872, 1874-1877
- Haltwhistle Echo, 1914-1918
- Heckmondwike Herald, 1990-1993
- Illustrated Oldham Telegraph, 1859
- Iron Trade Circular (Rylands’) and Hardware Weekly Messenger, 1879-1881, 1883, 1886, 1888
- Midland Free Press, 1914-1915
- Newcastle-under-Lyme Times, 1938-1950
- Northern Review, 1887-1894
- Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 1994-1997, 1999-2004
- Skegness Herald, 1914-1916
- Wandsworth & Battersea District Times, 1870-1891
- Western Express, 1917-1919
- Y Celt, 1881-1882, 1884, 1891
- Zigzag, 1881-1882
The Genealogist
TheGenealogist has released the fully searchable 1871 Burke’s Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, adding hundreds of thousands of detailed pedigrees, family connections, heraldic notes and estate references to its online platform. This classic reference work strengthens the site’s expanding collection of genealogical resources and offers valuable support to anyone tracing roots in the British and Irish gentry. The new records are available to Diamond subscribers, and a special subscription offer is currently available.
TheGenealogist also released over 1 million new First World War Casualty List records, completing its coverage of the official War Office Weekly Casualty Lists. Spanning April 1918 to March 1919, the 1,090,293 records allow researchers to trace individuals who were killed, wounded, went missing or became prisoners of war in the final months of the conflict. Fully searchable by name, rank, regiment, and where noted, service number and nature of casualty, this expanded collection now brings the total number of WWI Casualty List records on the site to more than 4.5 million. The release also highlights prominent individuals, including author C. S. Lewis, whose wartime experiences can be explored through these records.
The records are now available to Diamond subscribers, and for a limited time readers can subscribe to TheGenealogist for £129.95, saving over £75. This offer includes a £40 lifetime discount plus a 12-month subscription to Discover Your Ancestors Online Magazine worth £36. The offer is available until 31 January 2026 at: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBBLG1025.
MyHeritage
MyHeritage is currently offering its DNA test at a significantly reduced price of £27 as part of their Black Friday promotion. This is the lowest price the test has been listed for to date.
At £27, the kit provides access to MyHeritage’s DNA tools and ethnicity estimates, covering 79 ethnicities and 2,114 geographic regions, and supports the platform’s matching system for connecting with genetic relatives.
As part of the Black Friday DNA Sale, customers can also add a 30-day free trial of the Complete plan, which includes access to 36.9 billion historical records and enhanced family-tree features. Adding the trial also qualifies the order for free shipping.
