Held in Athens, Greece, the 1896 games were the first modern Summer Olympic Games and this year marks 125 years of British athletes taking part in the sporting event. The opening ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games took place on 6 April 1896 in Athens in front of 60,000 spectators. Although the ancient Read More
Today is the anniversary of the sinking of the infamous RMS Titanic, one of the worst disasters in maritime history. Genealogist Simon Pearce journeys through Titanic’s fateful voyage from Southampton to New York and explores the collections which can help bring the Titanic’s backstory to life. Through historical documents, you can discover remarkable details Read More
This month, we have launched more than 5.6 million new Irish records to our collection. To help you explore some of these new historical collections Content Specialist Rhona Murray shares insight and tips to help you understand the importance of the newly added Church of Ireland Parish Search Forms collection. The history of the Read More
The Blitz is a chapter of the Second World War (WWII) many of us will be familiar with or will have at least heard of. We may have parents, grandparents or aunts and uncles who lived through the German bombing raids of the British Isles between 7 September 1940 and 11 May 1941 which claimed Read More
Records are at the heart of every story found on Ancestry. These documents not only reveal valuable information about the lives our ancestors lived, but pieced together, they create a vivid picture of who our ancestors were. The more records you uncover, the greater your understanding of who your ancestor was and what their life Read More
Birth, Marriage & Death records, including Parish records, are key collections for family historians. They can provide details about important milestones in your ancestors’ lives and are the foundation of family history research. When a birth, marriage or death is registered, a certificate is filled out and the information is kept on file. They include Read More
From passenger lists to Holocaust records, you can search the Jewish Family History Collection on Ancestry UK, the world’s largest online collection of Jewish historical records. We are incredibly grateful to our partners at Arolsen Archives and USC Shoah Foundation for entrusting us with these incalculably important collections. Arolsen Archives is an organization dedicated to documenting National Read More
Scottish poet Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire on 25 January 1759. Every year on his birthday people of Scottish descent the world over traditionally gather together to celebrate his life and work. Burns Night is not only a time to remember Burns himself but also an occasion to enjoy Scottish culture, including bagpipes, Read More
While digitised paper records can offer incredible details about our ancestors’ lives, sometimes it can be very moving to see visual evidence of the periods of time that they lived through, particularly key moments such as WWII. Through the U.S, United News Newsreels, 1942-1946, we are given a front-row seat to some of the events Read More
If you login to Ancestry today, you’ll find a new addition to our records: the Church in Wales Anglican Parish Registers. As Content Acquisition Manager for UK and Ireland I’m thrilled to take you through these fascinating records, which are invaluable for researching your Welsh ancestors. The collection spans from 1538 to 1994, with varying Read More