English Ancestors

31/12/2025

Happy New Year!
If you need an accredited professional genealogist to help with your family history research, here’s where to look.
PS. I’m on there too. 😉

Wishing you and yours a very happy New Year. May it be filled with exciting research and discovery! https://www.agra.org.uk/

29/12/2025

My latest blogpost has just published. Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and hoping that those of you who celebrate are enjoying a happy Christmas period.

Getting to Christmas always feels like a marathon. So much to do to get everything ready before the arrival of family to spend a few days with us. I put a lot of time into baking Christmas cakes, c…

09/12/2025

Are you, or do you know a younger genealogist (under 35) who might be interested in this?

NextGEN: Call for presentations. The Society of Genealogists and Family History Federation are arranging an online conference for young genealogists on Saturday 14 November 2026. A talk on preparing proposals is on 12 July. https://portal.sog.org.uk/Event/view/1693744

20/11/2025

14/11/2025

My latest blog post has just published. It's about preparing to visit ancestors' former homes and localities.

This is part four in my ‘Ancestral Tourism’ series. It follows on from Part 1: Churches and Churchyards, Part 2: Municipal & other Public Cemeteries and Part 3: Graves and Gravestones. The focu…

11/11/2025

Don't forget that the cost of wills in England and Wales post-1858 is about to rise by almost 1000% (yes, you read that right!).

You have until midnight on Sunday to place an order for every will you would like, or think you might like, to get them at the current price of £1.50 instead of the £16 it will cost you one minute later.

I've spent this week going through as many of my own projects as I could, to find wills I might want at some point, and had been delaying because they weren't a priority. I've now spent £21 on 16 wills, instead of the £256 that truly I would never be able to justify.

04/11/2025

There will be a HUGE increase in the cost of digital copies of post 1858 wills. It will take effect on 17th November.
The price will increase from £1.50 to a whopping £16.

Here’s a short article about planning ahead and making every will you order count.

From 17 November the fee for a copy of a will increases from £1.50 to £16. Read on for practical advice from Fraser & Fraser to help you plan and budget.

26/10/2025

If you’re looking for a professional accredited genealogist in England & Wales (and in some cases other parts of the UK or additional geographical areas) this is your starting point.

The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) is the professional organisation promoting high professional standards in the field of genealogy and historical research in England and Wales. Find out more about us here: www.agra.org.uk

24/10/2025

Here's the latest blogpost from me. It's aimed at Intermediate family history researchers and people moving from Beginner to Intermediate, and deals with combining information from various sources of burial records. Hope some of you will find it useful.

Today’s post is an interloper amongst my little ‘Ancestral Tourism’ series. It follows on from Part 1: Churches and Churchyards, Part 2: Municipal & other Public Cemeteries an…

24/10/2025

I just realised the link from my blog to this page hasn't been working and my last two blogposts haven't appeared here. Here's the one from 19th September:

Ryde Cemetery, Isle of Wight. © Janice Heppenstall This is the third in my ‘Ancestral Tourism’ series, and follows on from posts about preparing for visiting Churches and Churchyards an…

18/09/2025

If you are thinking of commissioning research as a festive gift then get in touch with a researcher now, as many professionals book out months in advance. Search our Directory here: https://www.agra.org.uk/memberbrowse

17/09/2025

If you have ancestors with a Germanic surname, this might be useful in helping explain why they changed it during World War 1. The name of our house was changed at this time. The family living here had a Swiss connection and they had named the house ‘Friedenheim’.

Could your family's surname have a secret past?

During WW1, thousands of people, including the Royal Family, changed their surnames. But why? ⬇️

It's 1914, and Britain is at war with Germany. Anti-German sentiment in Britain is strong. But what did that mean for those with German heritage living in Britain?

Thousands of families changed their surnames to sound 'more British' to distance themselves from their roots. There were increases in changes after the sinking of the Lusitania, which prompted outrage, and after the Armistice in 1918.

So if you've lost track of your family around WW1 and you're not sure why they seem to disappear from the records, you might want to check out the lists created by the Graphic newspaper. Could they have changed their surname? Could you find long-lost German roots? 🤔

Could this list of surnames help you solve a family mystery? 😮
You can explore the lists in more detail with our free collection ➡️ https://bit.ly/4iobclI