Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine not only explores the stories behind the popular BBC genealogy TV series, but also helps you uncover your own roots. Each issue is packed with practical advice to help you track down family history archives and get the most out of online resources, alongside features on what life was like in the past and the historic events that affected our ancestors.

Welcome

SARAH'S TOP TIP • Check all new online records, even if you think you know what they will say

CONTRIBUTORS

A BANNER FOR A HERO

Letters

Who Do You Think You Are?

What's On

Ancestry adds millions of Birmingham electoral registers • Rosemary Collins reports on the latest data releases and genealogy news

NEWS IN BRIEF

Free UK Genealogy reveals plans for probate website

CAN YOU HELP?

TNA discovers will from Shakespeare family legal dispute

Records of Irish schools released

PhD student's family history collection digitised

A RIGHT ROYAL TO-DO • Alan Crosby reveals how Charles II's visit to Norfolk affected the local community

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX • If you've hit a brick wall in your research, don't lose hope! There are plenty of new strategies to try, says Chloe O'Shea

1 MAKE THE MOST OF MARRIAGE REGISTERS

2 LOOK DEEPER INTO WILLS

3 UNCOVER SOURCES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

4 FIND OTHERS WHO MADE THE SAME JOURNEY

5 EXPAND YOUR SEARCH TO OTHER COUNTIES

6 RESEARCH EVERYBODY NAMED IN A SOURCE LINKED TO YOUR ANCESTOR

7 VARY YOUR TERMS WHEN SEARCHING NEWSPAPERS

THE INHERITANCE OF TRAUMA • In the lead-up to World Mental Health Day on 10 October, Claire Vaughan learns how traumatic events exact a heavy toll on subsequent generations

LEAH'S STORY • Celia Heritage reveals how genealogy and therapy helped one of her clients

RESOURCES • More on mental health and trauma

STOLEN BY THE NAZIS • Researchers worldwide are trying to trace the families who owned looted artwork

THE ART OF RESTITUTION • An upcoming Radio 4 series and podcast reveals how Antony Easton (right) uncovered the hidden truth of his father's origins and the Nazis’ theft of the family's paintings during the Second World War, says Claire Vaughan

‘MY RELATIONS ARE PART OF A RICH TAPESTRY OF WELSH HERITAGE’ • A Calvinist minister, hill farmers, a musical icon and a self-taught solicitor – together they tell a story of what it is to be Welsh. Antony David Davies shared his remarkable relatives with Claire Vaughan

RESOURCES • These resources helped Antony uncover his Welsh roots

ASYLUM RECORDS • Michelle Higgs explains how to find out if your Victorian or Edwardian forebear was a patient at a mental hospital

FIND YOUR FOREBEAR IN ADMISSION REGISTERS • Michelle explains how to search for your relation in a major collection available through Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk)

ADMISSIONS REGISTER, 1884 • This register of admissions of pauper lunatics to All Saints’ Hospital in May 1884 is held by the Library of Birmingham and available digitally on Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk)

JOHN CONOLLY 1794–1866 • This psychiatrist improved the lives of generations of patients

RESOURCES • Take your research further

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT • A wealth of online records can help you uncover a forebear's misdeeds, says Jonathan Scott

EXPERT'S CHOICE • Dr Nell Darby is a crime historian and the author of Sister Sleuths: Female Detectives in Britain (Pen & Sword, 2021)

GO FURTHER • More websites that can't be missed

PROTESTATION RETURNS • The Protestation Returns are the closest record we have to a census on the eve of...