The Live talk was followed by a Recording broadcast later the same day.
A Handout for this talk is in the Members Area under KFHS Resources
First a big thank you to our speaker, Dave Annal, who stepped in to give his talk Bringing it up to date, when our booked speaker had to stand down due to a health issue. Dave’s talk on research in the 20th century was a similar subject to the original talk advertised for this month.
To start Dave posed two questions: “Why do we needed a talk specifically about 20th century sources, and what is so different about researching recent records?” To answer Dave reminded us that the stumbling blocks for research in recent times are the 75 or 100-year cut-off rule and data protection which prevents the commercial sites such as Find my Past and Ancestry from publishing many recent records on their sites. Plus, although you might be allowed to read some individual records at an archive you would need to travel there to do so. Hence, this talk is looking at records that might be readily available for us to research our ancestors after the 1920s.
Dave’s first suggestion was starting with the ‘box in the attic’ where parents and grandparents may have stored family treasures, photos and items such as a family bible, legal papers, house deeds, passports, certificates and the like. The beauty of these items is that we know they are connected to our family and we don’t need to wonder if they might be our family, as we have the provenance!
If you haven’t inherited ‘the box’ yourself you may need to track down another family member who may hold items and know the family stories. Whilst the family stories may not be completely true write them down anyway as a grain of truth may lead your research somewhere in future. Talking to relatives is a vital part of any family research and you need to do so sooner rather than later and let them know not to throw anything away except towards you! Dave then went on to describe ‘the box’ of his wife’s family and some items and stories they had found that aided their research.
Civil Registration - The next idea was available source documents and BMD records. Not much changed to civil registrations until the early 20th century. In 1911 (September quarter), the GRO started adding the mother’s maiden name to the birth record indexes. And in 1912 (March quarter) surname of the spouse was added to the indexes of marriages. This information is available on FreeBMD but we can also use the GRO’s own online index. The GRO digital project indexing births and deaths was abandoned but has recently been relaunched and are being compiled from the original registers. Death certificates are being brought up to date too, with 2023 just added to the GRO site.
The next change to civil registration happened on 1st April 1969 when birth and death certificates changed from a Landscape to a Portrait certificate and gave more information. Birth certificate now give the parents places of birth and occupations. Whilst changes on death certificates give the date of birth from the June quarter of 1969. The date of birth is an unparalleled source to help confirm you have the right certificate. Dave then demonstrated how to use Mothers maiden name to find potential siblings without the need to send for all the certificates. Another finding aid is middle names and the original birth and death records had middle names, but the policy of showing them on the indexes varied over time. Now they will all be shown on the GRO index.
GRO certificates - GRO have in the past only supplied certified certificates but recently, after much campaigning, non-certified certificates are being provided in PDF format for £8 for births 1837-1923 and deaths 1837 to 1957. It takes about a week to be ready for download. But the GRO have recently introduced an almost instantaneous digital download service for £3. Although, Dave warned, they do not give all the information that the £8 PDF does. They omit administrative, registration and district details which may not be a problem in most cases but for some large urban areas with duplicated street names it would help to have the administrative details for the location.
Parish Registers nothing much has changed regarding the information they give and although data laws prevent online publication you still have a right of access to the parish register. Some maybe in the local archives but others still being used in the parish will need an appointment to view and there may be a fee charged to make them available.
Gravestones are also a good source for family historians. To save a journey and potential disappointment it’s worth checking if a local family history society has indexed the MIs. Also Find a Grave website has more than 200 million graves worldwide on their website. Many have photos of the headstone. Headstones often give more information than the burial register records. You may find other family members mentioned on the headstone and some you might not know about.
1911 and 1921 censuses its worth returning to look for clues in the exact wording your ancestors gave and maybe they added something extra. Also check information on the other side of the schedule, address etc. The 1921 census also gives the employer and place of work. Dave suggested using a map of the same era as the census. It will give you more ideas about the location were your ancestor’s, routes they took to work, play etc. and you may get a better understanding of their daily lives.
1939 Register, taken in September 1939, looks like a census but isn’t one. However, as the 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed in a fire (Scotland’s 1931 census still exists) and there was no census taken in 1941 due to the war, we will need to wait 30 years to view the 1951 census. The 1939 register was primarily set up to organise identity cards and ration books during WWII. After the war the information was used for the establishment of the NHS. It probably has had a better take up than censuses as people who usually dodge census soon realised that they would need id and food rations during the war and came forward belatedly. The blacked-out lines are redacted records mainly children. But once death has officially been established the record is opened to view. Originally death notification was the duty of the family doctor. You may find ancestors away from home as evacuations of children started in the run up to war being declared Changes of names are noted especially females upon marriage.
Wills and Probate – from 1858 to the present day. Dave demonstrated how up to date by downloading a grant of Administration granted the previous day. From the Probate you can order the Will for £1.50 and a downloadable PDF will arrive in your in box in a couple of days.
Electoral registers – many are available online. It was only just over 100th years ago that nearly all men and some women were able to vote; women had to be over 30 at first. Useful to view over a period of time. Absent Voters lists for both world wars. When the men were demobbed, they needed to be listed but hadn’t returned to their homes to go on the electoral roll these listed ensured they were not disenfranchised.
Passenger list – often a family group will travel together which allows for some intelligent guesses to back up with other research. Plus the end of the journey has paperwork too. And not forgetting that at the country they end up in will have censuses too.
Workhouse records – the workhouse system was not abolished until the 1930s so you may find details of your less fortunate ancestors although some of these records will fall in the closure period of 100 years.
Military service – for those in the army before 1920 or who joined after 1920 are being moved from the MOD to TNA and will be digitised for online access. The Royal Navy key date is 1928.
School admissions – are coming online via Find my Past and Ancestry. But only up to 1920 due to privacy and data protection. Another excellent source for the date of birth.
Trade Directories and telephone directories - best viewed over consecutive years.
Court Records of Trials – TNA’s main records through to the 1930s are available on Find my Past and The Old Bailey’s website covers up to 1913.
Maps and Newspapers – both are online
Dave ended by saying although the range of records available for the 20th century are more restricted than in earlier eras there are a many sources available that we can use.
Report by Tricia Baxter