Society of Genealogists | Jul 2, 2025, 3:00 PM
The Genealogy Gazette: Jul 25
Discover the latest SoG news and family history tips here. Along with community news on the latest record releases, conferences, and more.
OUR NEWS
Society of Genealogists YouTube
Catch up for FREE with our recorded talks, Researching Romany and Traveller Ancestors and “Researching in Northamptonshire” – now on YouTube.
Tips from inside the SoG
This month’s tips are taken from two of the the latest SoG talks, thanks to participants for sharing these little gems with us!
From Jude Rhodes’ talk on family history and dementia:
- It is very helpful to think of the time-period that someone with dementia will remember well - usually strong memories of their childhood, which is also a time we don't have access to via census records etc. Plus they will be able to identify people/places in photographs.
- Use maps to plot journeys such as from home to school, and verbally 're-walk' these with the person with dementia. It may help capture further memories.
- When talking to a relative with dementia, have more than one other person present, then it feels less like an interview!
From Danielle Gibbs’ session on researching Caribbean ancestry.
- The wider you spread information, the more you get back! You could create books for each family line and then share them with family found via DNA testing. Hopefully, their feedback will offer additional information!
- Expanding your tree to include siblings can help you to build up your direct ancestor tree.
- When researching Caribbean ancestors in enslavement registers, take care of your emotional well-being—step away if needed. Acknowledge the pain these records represent while also recognising their importance in uncovering and honouring the lives of those who came before us.
JULY EVENTS
Our new events booking system has been launched and you can view all our events, both online and in-person, here at www.sog.org.uk/events.
New to SoG events? We host at least one free talk a month, in line with our charitable aims. These are the perfect way to try online learning for the first time.
LIBRARY NEWS
For the latest news from the SoG Research Hub, see our July Library Update
https://www.sog.org.uk/library#update
including the latest news on the Information Provision Review, our new Featured Collection, and the new Researcher Handbook for library visitors.
VOLUNTEERING WITH US
Have you ever thought about volunteering with us?
We have various projects designed for the meticulous, the curious and the creative! From facilitating events, to transcribing Pedigree Rolls - there are plenty of opportunities to learn more about the world of genealogy while also sharing your expertise.
We have over 200 volunteers working from all over the world, but we also have in-person opportunities working from our north London-based Research Hub. Training is available for all our projects, and we have a dedicated volunteers’ forum where you can ask questions or have a chat.
So, whether you would like to learn more or would just like to make new friends, why not check out our volunteers page and get in touch?
BOOK OF THE MONTH
July's Book of the Month is:
How to Get the Most from Family Pictures by Jayne Shrimpton (2011)
This comprehensive guide, in colour and illustrated with around 220 images, is essential reading for anyone researching their family pictures.
This is the first book to cover inherited artworks - paintings and drawings- silhouettes and photographs, spanning the late 18th to mid 20th centuries. The author is a professional dress historian, with over 20 years’ experience of dating and analysing family pictures.
"Hugely informative, beautifully illustrated and highly recommended", Your Family History magazine
Usually priced at £12.99, How to Get the Most from Family Pictures is currently available to SoG members at the discounted price of £10.39 or £11.69 to non-members). Prices excluded postal charges. Offer valid until 31 July 2025. Visit our bookshop to get your copy.
And don’t forget - if you visit us at the Research Hub, Wharf Road, you’ll enjoy 25% off all SoG titles and 50% off second-hand books.
Competition
Win a copy of July 2025’s discounted book, How to Get the Most from Family Pictures. To enter, please answer the following question:
What is the name of the cardboard mount commonly used for studio portraits in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
Please email your answer to competition@sog.org.uk by midnight GMT on 10 July 2025 with the heading ‘Genealogy Gazette Competition’. Please provide your full name, postal address, and telephone number. Only one entry per person. The winner will be notified by email.
From SoG's Hilton-Denne Collection
The winner of June 2025’s discounted book, My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman by Christopher T Watts and Michael J Watts (2002), is Ann Wilson Clark.
The answer to ‘By what alternative name is the Fourth Register of Seamen better known?’ was Central Index Register for Merchant Seamen.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Call for Entries: Janette Harley Prize 2025
The British Records Association invites submissions for the Janette Harley Prize 2025, which is now open for entries.
Established in memory of Janette Harley (1951–2015), the prize aims to foster interest in archives and highlight outstanding research and achievements in the archival world. Deadline for applications is 31 July 2025.
Submissions should be sent to: secretary@britishrecordsassociation.org.uk. The winner will be announced in November or December 2025, with a prizegiving planned to coincide with the BRA’s annual Maurice Bond Memorial Lecture in early 2026. Full details of the prize criteria and previous winners are available on the BRA website: www.britishrecordsassociation.org.uk.
BIFHSGO 2025 Conference: Researching the Disadvantaged of England and Wales
18–19 October 2025 | Online | $C35 members / $C50 non-members
Registration opens 1 September
The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) will host its 2025 annual conference online this October, focusing on “Researching the Disadvantaged of England and Wales.”
Expert speakers will explore how to trace ancestors who faced poverty, institutionalisation, or marginalisation. The popular Expert Connect session returns, offering the chance to interact directly with presenters.
Perfect for researchers across time zones, this affordable virtual event brings expert insight to your screen.
For more details, visit bifhsgo.ca or email the planning team at queries@bifhsgo.ca.
Early British and Irish Census Project
Students in Utah’s Brigham Young University’s Family History degree programme are working to transcribe and make freely searchable all known surviving pre-1841 census returns for England, Wales, and Ireland.
Although the 1841 census is the first familiar, name-rich record, four earlier censuses—taken in 1801, 1811, 1821, and 1831—collected basic data about households. Just 791 parish returns are thought to survive, and the Early British and Irish Census Project is gradually making these available online.
You can search the database by county, parish, surname, and census year (the name recorded is usually the head of household only). Though the site is still a work in progress, over 170,000 households and 270,000 individuals have already been indexed.
Explore the database via:
- https://ebc.byu.edu/ (original site)
- https://ebic.byu.edu/ (new version)
For more background on surviving returns, the University of Essex has published a free guide:
Census Schedules and Listings, 1801–1831: An Introduction and Guide by Richard Wall, Matthew Woollard, and Beatrice Moring:
Read the guide here.
23andMe Announces Agreement to be Acquired by TTAM Research Institute
23andMe has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by TTAM Research Institute. TTAM has committed to upholding 23andMe’s privacy policy and all relevant laws, while also adopting additional consumer protections and privacy safeguards to further enhance customer data privacy.
Read the full press release here.
Excavation Begins at Historic Mother and Baby Institution Site in Tuam, Ireland
Work has started on excavating a mass burial site linked to a former mother and baby institution in Tuam, County Galway. In 2016, human remains of babies and children up to three years old were found in underground chambers at the site, once run by the Bon Secours Sisters and closed in 1961.
The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT) is overseeing the excavation, aiming to recover, analyse, and respectfully reinter the remains. The project, expected to take around 24 months, involves strict security and forensic controls to ensure the integrity of the site.
The discovery, brought to light by local historian Catherine Corless, revealed 796 death certificates with no burial records, prompting a government investigation into Ireland’s mother-and-baby institutions. This excavation marks a significant step in acknowledging a difficult chapter of Irish history.
English Heritage Seeks Descendants of Bayham Abbey Uprising Protestors - 500 Years On
Today marks the 500th anniversary of the Bayham Abbey Uprising, when over 100 villagers from Kent and Sussex armed themselves to protest Cardinal Wolsey’s 1525 closure of their local monastery. Seen as a precursor to the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace, the uprising highlights the deep community ties to Bayham Abbey.
English Heritage will hold a commemorative event this summer and is searching for descendants of the 31 men indicted for their role in the riot. These men, mostly local tradesmen and labourers, risked much to defend their abbey and livelihoods. See here for full details.
If you believe you are related to any of these protestors, please contact press@english-heritage.org.uk.
Just released: around 69,000 newly transcribed records of historical railway staff accidents are now available through the free Railway Work, Life & Death database – bringing the total to over 125,000 cases from 1855 to 1939.
Released during Volunteers Week and Railway 200, this milestone is thanks to the hard work of volunteers at The National Archives. These records shed light on the everyday experiences of railway workers across England and Wales – from dog callers and ship’s donkeymen to women workers and international seafarers.
Explore the stories of past railway people, like William Parry, who continued work after losing a leg, and music hall performer A. Warmley, who died rushing for a train.
Free to access now at: www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk.
The British Library has acquired five exceptional medieval manuscripts, once housed at Longleat House, thanks to support from major heritage and library organisations. These treasures illuminate Christian-Hebrew scholarship, civic life in medieval Bath, devotional practices in England and Ireland, and Church controversies.
Highlights include a unique trilingual Hebrew-Latin-French dictionary made in collaboration with Jewish scholars; The Red Book of Bath, with legal records, maps, and Arthurian legend; and visionary writings from 15th-century Dublin.
All five manuscripts are now freely available to view online and in person at St Pancras. Explore them at bl.uk/manuscripts.
📺 What’s On The Box?
We’ve really enjoyed the latest episodes of DNA Journey – full of fascinating family discoveries, unexpected socio-historical connections, and moving moments. If you’ve missed any, you can catch up now on ITVX.
We’ve also been touched by the new series of Long Lost Family: Born Without A Trace, which follows people who were abandoned as babies as they search for answers about their past. It’s a powerful reminder of the real lives behind the records. Watch on ITVX.
Join the conversation!
Tell us what you’ve been watching and share your thoughts with other family history enthusiasts over on our Facebook page.
THE LATEST DIGITAL COLLECTION NEWS
New on Newspapers.com: 212 Papers from Seven U.S. States and Canada!
Newspapers.com has just added 212 new titles to its growing archives, featuring historic papers from Illinois, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Canada. Explore local news, family notices, and forgotten stories from across North America—now searchable and accessible at your fingertips at Newspapers.com.
Findmypast and the British Library have renewed their landmark partnership to digitise an additional 70 million newspaper pages over the next five years, expanding the British Newspaper Archive to become an even more inclusive and comprehensive historical resource.
With over 90 million pages already online, this collection spans 1699 to the present day and is an essential tool for family historians, researchers and academics. The next phase will grow coverage of regional, national and minority titles – including newspapers from across the Commonwealth.
The project also includes 4 million free-to-access pages and enhanced academic access via Findmypast’s Social History Archive. This ambitious collaboration continues to bring historic newspapers to life and into the hands of more researchers than ever before.
Findmypast has added:
- Scotland, People of the Black Isle, Ross and Cromarty 1338 to 1850.
- Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists
- Lincolnshire, Workhouse Guardians' Minutes 1836 to 1901
- Britain and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960
- Britain & Ireland Naturalisations 1844-1990
- New newspaper titles:
- African Times, 1863-1869, 1880-1889, 1900-1902
- Academy, 1869-1915
- African Critic, 1895–1904, 1906–1914
- Blackburn Catholic News, 1908
- Bradford Daily Argus, 1893-1894, 1898-1902, 1905-1908, 1910, 1912-1914, 1920-1923
- Cornish Evening Tidings, 1891
- Devon and Somerset News, 1875–1876, 1878–1885, 1887–1895, 1898–1920
- Eccles Advertiser and District Recorder, 1886, 1889
- Largs & Millport Herald, 1883-1884
- North Derbyshire & North Cheshire Advertiser, 1871-1872, 1874-1880, 1882-1887, 1890-1893
- Norwood Review and Crystal Palace Reporter, 1880-1888, 1890-1900
- Salford Chronicle, 1888–1889
- St. Neots Advertiser, 1916
- Weekly Times & Echo (London), 1847-1867, 1885-1892, 1894, 1896-1901, 1908-1912
- Wood Green and Southgate Weekly Herald, 1931–1965
TheGenealogist has released over 100,000 new names in its occupational records collection – perfect for uncovering the working lives of ancestors in science, engineering, and industry.
Highlights include:
British Association for the Advancement of Science reports and member lists (1800s–1920s)
Records from engineering bodies and firms such as:
- Petters Ltd Apprentices Register (1938)
- Junior Institution of Engineers Members List (1950)
- British Engineers' Association Directory (1917)
These records offer valuable insights into careers across the UK and beyond.
Save Over £100!
Subscribe to TheGenealogist Diamond Subscription for just £129.95 SRP £169.95
Includes these extras worth £64.95:
- 12-month subscription to Discover Your Ancestors Online Magazine
- Online Research Pack
- Tickets to The Family History Show (Midlands, Liverpool or London & Online)
- Discover Your Ancestors' Occupations by Laura Berry [Digital Edition]
Claim the offer here https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/SOGGAZ25
MyHeritage added MyHeritage has just released a groundbreaking collection: 731 million structured records extracted from historical French newspapers, thanks to our in-house AI technology. This is our first "Names & Stories" collection in a language other than English, and it opens up a treasure trove of information for anyone researching their French roots.
Please contact us for more information
Events, News & Joining the SoG
Explore our Upcoming Events
Discover new courses, talks, walks and visits. Delivered by experts in genealogy or history our educational opportunities cover a vast array of topics. From techy tools to history to genealogical research tips.
News and Updates
Discover the latest SoG news and family history tips here. Along with community news on the latest record releases, conferences, and more.
Society of Genealogists Membership
Our mission is to help you investigate your ancestors, preserve, organise and analyse your genealogy, and delve into social history. Join now to connect with your past and discover your unique family history.
Join us
As a member, you can make the most of our resources, access our experts, and find a welcoming community of people interested in family history and genealogy.
We all have roots. Let’s find them together.
