Society of Genealogists News Feed

Family and Local History conference.

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 16:10:20 +0100

The Society of Genealogists is sponsoring a stream of expert speakers at the next national Family and Local History conference 'Open the Door Here are the People'.. This 4 day conference is being hosted by the Halsted Trust 28-31 August 2009 at the East Midlands Conference Nottingham. The SoG stream covers a series of talks given by Else Churchill, John Hanson, Geoff Swinfield and Alec Tritton, covering everything from Surname searching to the very best websites; DNA and family history to Tracing Living Relatives.

More details

14 June 2009 - See the Society of Genealogists at Who Do We Think We Think We Are? at Holy Trinity Church, Hull on Saturday 4th July.

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:47:35 +0100

The Society’s outreach team including the bookshop and the SoG Census Detectives will be at the church and giving lectures throughout the day.
For more information see the press release or Hull University(pdf)

8 June 2009 -News from The National Archives

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 23:07:19 +0100

TNA will be announcing a number of proposed changes at The National Archives to the public on Thursday 2 July 2009.

Open information meetings which will be held at Kew on:

12.15 pm on Thursday 2 July in the talks room, first floor reading room
10.00 am on Saturday 11 July in the talks room, first floor reading room

A link to the notice of the meeting has been posted on the TNA website

The National Archives will also be closed to the public at Kew on Monday 29 June from 2pm to enable TNA to take staff through these proposals.

As soon as the SoG knows more about these proposals we will post them on our website and inform our members accordingly.

21 April 2009 - SoG has received funding for free ‘Tracing your London Roots’ talks as part of the Mayor’s Story of London Festival.

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:09:46 +0100

Start Tracing your London Roots These talks will look at how to start your family history; where records can be found in and about London and how the Society of Genealogists can help you. Talks will last approx. 1-1.5 hours and will be free of charge, but need to be pre-booked. Lecturers: Paul Blake (2 June, 2pm), Geoff Swinfield (10 June, 11am) Else Churchill (18 June, 11am), Michael Gandy (25 June, 2pm). Although free, these need to be pre-booked by calling: 020 7553 3290, online or email .

Talks are funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)

SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP OFFER

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:56:09 +0100

Join the Society of Genealogists today at a special discounted rate.
Following our popular membership recruitment drive at Who Do You Think You Are? Live the Society of Genealogists is waiving the £10 administration/joining fee to anyone who becomes a member of the Society between April 1 and June 30 2009. This means your first year membership for UK residents* will be only £45 not £55 which makes SoG annual membership even more value for money working out at a mere 15p per day.
Check out the full benefits of SoG membership.
*Overseas membership will be only £27 not £37
Download your Special Offer Membership Application now and return the completed form with your payment to our Membership Officer Jacki Ellis

26 March 2009 - The Society is delighted to announce its first online course in partnership with Pharos Tutors.

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:59:58 +0000

The Society is delighted to announce its first online course. I’m Stuck How Can the Society of Genealogists Help Me? run in partnership with Pharos Tutors. For more on this story and information about the course and how to enroll or Print(pdf) a copy of the full Press Notice

Free Library tours at the Society on Sunday 3 May

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:05:19 +0000

Anyone attending the Family History event at the Barbican on Sunday 3rd May is welcome to join the free tours of the Society of Genealogists.
The Society will be opening specially on this Sunday for tours around the library, advice on your research from the SoG experts and guidance on starting your family history in our free community family history access area.
The library itself will not be fully staffed or open for research. However, anyone attending the Family History Event or coming to the SoG on the tours will receive a free day search voucher valid for two hours’ free use of the SoG library during normal opening hours. In addition the SoG will be waiving the £10 joining admin fee for anyone who becomes a member of the Society at the event or at the SoG on Sunday 3rd May.
The SoG will pick you up for tours and guide you round to the Society from the Barbican so do come and see us at our stand at the show.
The library will be open, as usual, on Saturday 2 May and will be closed, as usual, on Monday (Bank Holiday) 4th May
Else Churchill - Genealogist

SoG changes to opening hours in April

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 20:19:49 +0000

As a result of a review of the Society's financial position in the light of the economic situation a change to the opening hours will take effect from 1 April 2009.
A message from the Chairman, Board of Trustees explaining the background to this change and other plans for 2009 is available

13 February 2008 - JOIN the Society at Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:27:59 +0000

As a special treat for visitors to the show the Society of Genealogists is waiving the £10 administration/joining fee to anyone who becomes a member of the Society at the show. This means your first year membership will be only £45 not £55 which makes SoG annual membership even more value for money working out at a mere 15p per day. Find out about the benefits of SoG membership.

Download your membership application form now and bring it along with you to the Society's stand 812.

13 February 2008 - BUY 2 FOR 1 TICKETS! Tickets now on sale for Who do you think you are? LIVE

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:22:39 +0000

Tickets now on sale for Who do you think you are? LIVE
The Society of Genealogists is giving you the chance to buy two tickets for £20 that’s a saving of £20! To claim this special offer, simply call 0844 412 4629 or visit Who Do You Think You Are? Live and quote SOG241

25 January 2009 - Changes to access to New Zealand Birth Death and Marriage Indexes

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:00:00 +0000

24 January 2009 -The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? will now begin at 9pm on BBC One on Monday 2 February.

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:00:00 +0000

more on this story and check radiotimes.com for more schedules.

Royal Marines records available online and free at SoG Library.

Fri, 9 Jan 2009 09:00:00 +0000

TNA announced on 8 January 2009 that the service registers of some 110,000 seamen who joined the Royal Marines between 1842 and 1936 are now available to search and download from Documents Online which can be searched and downloaded free at the SOG. You can search under surname, forename, register number and date of enlistment, and may uncover the names of ships and shore stations served on, details of conduct, medal entitlement and much more.

England & Wales 1911 Census - updated

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:17:35 +0000

At the moment this is no arrangement for free access in the SoG library while the census remains exclusively on the 1911census.co.uk website. However it is our understanding that the exclusive licence issued to Brightsolid/Findmypast as the sole online provider will last only 6 months from the final content launch. Once the full exclusive licence has been operating for 6 months other online providers will have the opportunity to purchase the scanned images and get a licence to provide their own indexes. Once this is done we hope the 1911 census to be available on those sites such as Findmypast etc which are available free at the SoG. Note The 1911census.co.uk site is free to view at the National Archives in Kew. Vouchers to view the 1911cenus.co.uk site will be available from the SoG shop and users may of course use their credit cards on the SoG computers but are reminded to ensure that they do not let Windows remember their password details. I am told that any residual information is cleared from our computers each day.

England & Wales 1911 census on-line

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:01:00 +0000

1911 Census index now available to the public on www.1911census.co.uk. Findmypast.com and The National Archives have announced that that over 80% of the records from English counties are now ready and the index, transcripts and images are available on pay per view basis providing access to entries for some 27 million people. The further 9 million records for the remaining counties of England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands as well as the naval and overseas military records will be made available in the coming months.

Society Messages December 2008

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 20:38:07 +0000

The Society needs more Volunteers to help at the Family History Show @ Who Do You Think You Are LIVE!

1 December 2008

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 20:22:47 +0000

1 December 2008SoG index to St Leonard Shoreditch Burials 1813-1853 now online at The Origins Network. ..more

11 November 2008 (story 3)

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:56:04 +0000

London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section have announced a new partnership with Ancestry® to digitise genealogical sources. For details of the project see the City of London web site

11 November 2008 (story 2)

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:42:01 +0000

News of temporary closure and rearrangements of City of London Guildhall Library in 2009 ... more

11 November 2008 (story 1)

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:20:37 +0000

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is seeking your views on proposals to amend and update existing legislation relevant to admittance rules and fees charged. ... more

6 November 2008

Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:17:38 +0000

TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? LIVE

The live event format of the hugely popular BBC TV series, at London’s Olympia on 27 February - 1 March 09. NOW available a 2 for 1 ticket offer. See details

23 October 2008

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:28:05 +0100

Calling all Family History Societies! The deadline for the reduced table rate at Who Do You Think You Are? live 2009 is next Friday 31st October. Make sure you book your table now to take advantage of this special rate! Email charlottec@brandevents.co.uk or phone Charlotte on 020 7471 1099 today.

23 September 2008

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:47:18 +0100

SoG St Andrew Holborn marriage data now on British Origins. The Society of Genealogists is pleased to announce that its project to index the parish registers of St Andrew Holborn in London has been published on the British Origins website. The church of St Andrew Holborn is the largest of Sir Christopher Wren's London parish churches and stands at the western end of Holborn Viaduct by Holborn Circus. It also served one of the biggest parishes in London (it actually spanned the boundary of London and Middlesex) out of which five new parishes were eventually formed. The registers are large and contain many thousands of entries, as the parish has always been a popular place to marry. More significantly, the entries from the marriage registers do not appear on the International Genealogical Index or in Boyd's Marriage Index. Pallot's Marriage index has entries for 1780-1837 but these give only year and omit many of the details from the original registers. It is for these reasons that, in 2003, the Society of Genealogists decided to embark a project to transcribe and index the registers. The index for the period 1754-1812, comprising 18,724 marriages and around 92,000 names, is now available online. View more detailed information about this dataset Earlier and later data will follow in due course. This data is available to SoG members free of charge as part of their quarterly access to the British Origins site.

17 September 2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:00:01 +0100

BBC programme maker looking for Grandparents

29 August 2008

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:00:01 +0100

The Society's Open Access Area is now available

22 August 2008

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:00:01 +0100

findmypast.com extends parish register collection

NEWS 12 August 2008

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:28:43 +0100

The SoG’s Family History advice line is now available on Thursday evenings and Saturdays

NEW 12 August 2008

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:27:09 +0100

Notice of 2009 Stocktaking closing dates The Society will be closed from 6pm Saturday 3rd January until 10 am Tuesday 13th January for stocktaking/projects... click for more... details of this and closed periods over Christmas/New Year

News 8 July 2008

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 12:18:59 +0100

The Ministry of Defence has launched a public consultation process regarding the transfer of historic Armed Forces Service Personnel records to The National Archives.

News Flash [4 July 2008]

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 18:11:15 +0100

The Society of Genealogists is extremely disappointed to hear that the General Register Office has delayed the proposed Digitization of Vital Events Project (Dove) and improved online indexes of Civil Registration known as the MAGPIE project (Multi Access to GRO Public Index of Events). Having liaised with GRO about this project over the last three years the Society had heard regular assurances that the contractors Siemens were catching up with backlogs of digitising the certificates and that GRO was preparing to improve the indexes. This clearly is no longer the case.
The Society hopes fervently that the GRO and the Identity and Passport Service will not lose the opportunity to make improved services for all who make use of civil registration records.

Information update

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:19:34 +0100

The Society's Online Library Catalogue(SOGCAT) server is being relocated to a Datacentre in London's Docklands.See details on the homepage of a change in URL.

Family History Show update

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 16:01:00 +0000

The Society of Genealogists is please to announce Familyrelatives.com as the new sponsor of the Society of Genealogists Family History Show 2008

SOGCAT Server interruption

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:57:37 +0000

The Society's On-line Library Catalogue (SOGCAT) server will undergo an application software update and routine maintenance between 03:00 UTC and 06:00 UTC on Sunday 2nd March. It may not be possible to search the Library Catalogue during this period. We are sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.

Update on the Website upgrade

Thu, 3 Jan 2008 19:56:20 +0000

The Society upgrade of the web server service provided by NetBenefit was completed on 3 January 2008. Due to stocktaking ordering via the OnlineShop will remain suspended until Tuesday 8th January

Interruption to web site service

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:26:32 +0000

The Society has decided to upgrade the web server service provided by NetBenefit to take advantage of better support and to prepare for additional features planned for 2008. This will mean that on 2/3 January 2008 the Society's website (www.sog.org.uk) may not operate as usual for about 24 hours. Please note that any interruption is temporary and is unlikely affect any regular users for an extended period. The Society's On-line Library Catalog (SOGCAT) will continue to be available via this link

News [12 December 2007] 1911 Irish Census Details Now Online.

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:44:57 +0000

The National Archives of Ireland, in partnership with Libraries and Archives Canada, has created an online searchable database of the 1911 census of Ireland The site currently holds records for Dublin only, but project organisers plan to add the rest of the country, as well as details of the 1901 census, next year....

NEWS RELEASE [1 December 2007] WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? LIVE RETURNS!

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 15:41:36 +0000

After the huge success of Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE earlier this year, the show next year will be bigger and better and will take place in the stunning Grand Hall at Olympia from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th May 2008 (open 10-6 except Sunday 10-4).

NEWS RELEASE [29 November 2007] Civil Service Evidence of Age Index goes live at findmypast.com.

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:07:21 +0000

The Society of Genealogists today announced that its unique collection the Civil Service Evidence of Age index is launched on the UK family history website www.findmypast. This new online resource contains the dates of birth or baptism for some 64,300 people born between 1752 and 1948 many of whose births do not appear in the central birth registers for England and Wales...

News [28 November 2007] Need some Help? Try the Society of Genealogists' Family History Advice Service - Online, Face-to-Face or by Phone!!!

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:50:38 +0000

Family History Phone In; Family History Advice Sessions and Online. Three ways to help continue your research. Click the link for details

New Publication [22 November 2007] My Ancestor was an Agricultural Labourer by Ian Waller.

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:09:52 +0000

This much anticipated latest addition to the My Ancestors series will be of interest to all genealogists and family historians ...

The General Register Office will become part of the Identity and Passport Service from April 2008.

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:55:13 +0100

The Society of Genealogists welcomes news that the General Register Office (GRO) is to be part of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) from April 2008. The Society hopes that this decision puts an end to any uncertainty about the registration service and that work on the digitisation of certificates (DOVE) and the enhanced online indexes to births, marriages and deaths (MAGPIE) will now go ahead.

The National Archives offers a three month institutional access trial to their Documentsonline Service in the Society's Library.

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:50:18 +0100

The Society of Genealogists and The National Archives are delighted to announce the launch of a three-month trial offering institutional access to The National Archives’ DocumentsOnline service at its library at Charterhouse Buildings.

Society amalgamates stocktaking closures in 2008. .

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 15:31:28 +0100

The Society will be closed from 6pm 29th December until 10am 8th January.

Early closure of FRC(GRO) - further update

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:11:22 +0100

What can the genealogical community do now?

ONS fails to deliver on its services for the genealogical community

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:48:18 +0100

Society's response to ONS announcement today...

Request for help from members living outside London:

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:37:04 +0100

The Society of Genealogists is hoping to work with the National Trust this Summer, and in particular on 8th September when it is holding Heritage Days in selected properties throughout the UK. Click link for details.

Prince Michael of Kent Award 2007

Sun, 1 Jul 2007 12:06:43 +0100

FreeBMD becomes 4th recipient of the Society's Prince Michael of Kent Award

Dick Eastman video interviews with genealogy ‘personalities’

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 11:41:24 +0100

Dick Eastman video interviews with genealogy ‘personalities’ at Who do you think you are LIVE [Broadband required]

Society's Genealogy Officer in New Zealand for the NZGS Conference and lecture tour.

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 11:42:42 +0100

The Genealogy Officer will be speaking at the New Zealand Genealogical Society Conference at Wellington Girls College from June 2nd to 5th After the conference she will be traveling around New Zealand on a lecture tour visiting many branches of the NZGS and is looking forward to meeting any New Zealand members of the SoG as well as any New Zealanders with English ancestors. For a link to the post conference tour venues and topics see Lecture Tour Reports posted for 29 may; 1June: 2 June

GRO chaos as local registrars are told to abandon computer system..

Thu, 24 May 2007 16:57:48 +0100

Genealogists will be disappointed in the report in the Times Newspapers of Thursday 3 May of problems with the new electronic registration of births, marriages and deaths faced by local registrars as they try to implement the RON (Remote online records) system for General Registration.

Home page updates

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:37:59 +0100

News from the Society of Genealogists

Society of Genealogists News Feed

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:38:19 +0000

More on News from the Society of Genealogists

Family History Show

Fri, 2 Feb 2007 11:12:26 +0000

Family History Show@Who do you think you are? LIVE - latest

Lectures, Courses & Visits

Tue, 1 May 2007 10:00:37 +0100

Held at the Society of Genealogists premises, unless otherwise stated, all events are open to members and non-members alike. Places can be booked by email, fax, post or phone

ONS to move from FRC

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:08:53 +0000

ONS intends to close its public search facility, currently located at the Family Records Centre (FRC) in Islington, and instead to make indexes available at The National Archives (TNA) in Kew.