The recent past is so often neglected when people research their family history, yet it can be one of the most rewarding periods to explore, and so much fascinating evidence is available. The rush of events over the last century and the rapid changes that have taken place in every aspect of life have been dramatic, and the lives of family members of only a generation or two ago may already appear remote. That is why Karen Bali's informative and accessible guide to investigating your immediate ancestors is essential reading, and a handy reference for anyone who is trying to trace them or...

Part encyclopedia, part dictionary, part almanac - Jonathan Scott's Dictionary of Family History doesn't claim to be exhaustive, but it is practical, easy to use, entertaining and genuinely informative. It is the kind of book you can dip into or use as a starting point for deeper study, and it is the essential companion for experienced family historians and for anyone who is approaching this fascinating subject for the first time.

Thousands of A to Z entries are full of intriguing facts. There are definitions, timelines and terminologies, details of archives and websites as well as...

Tracing Your Pre-Victorian Ancestors is the ideal handbook for family historians whose research has reached back to the early nineteenth century and are finding it difficult to go further. John Wintrip guides readers through all the steps they can take in order to delve even more deeply into the past.

Carrying research through to earlier periods is more challenging because church registers recorded less information than civil registration records and little census data is available. Researchers often encounter obstacles they don't know how to overcome. But, as this book...

Whether you are interested in the career of an individual officer, researching medals awarded to a soldier, or just want to know more about a particular battle or campaign, this book will point you in the right direction. Assuming the reader has no prior knowledge of the British Army, its history or organization, Simon Fowler explains what records survive, where they are to be found and how they can help you in your research. He shows how to make the best use of the increasing number of related resources to be found online, and he pays particular attention to explaining the records and the...

Tracing Your Glasgow Ancestors is a volume in the series of city ancestral guides published by Pen & Sword for readers and researchers who want to find out about life in Glasgow in the past and to know where the key sources for its history can be found. In vivid detail it describes the rise of Glasgow through tobacco, shipping, manufacturing and trade from a minor cathedral town to the cosmopolitan center of the present day.

Ian Maxwell's book focuses on the lives of the local people both rich and poor and on their experience as Glasgow developed around them. It looks at their...

Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle sat down and wrote a poem, or a memoir?

Researching Family History Through Ancestors' Personal Writings looks at the kinds of (mainly unpublished) writing that could turn up amongst family papers from the Victorian period onwards - a time during which writing became crucial for holding...

The Boer War took place between 1899 and 1902, just 15 years before the start of the First World War. Some 180,00 Britons, mainly volunteers, traveled 6,000 miles to fight and die in boiling conditions on the veld and atop 'kopjes'. Of the over 20,000 who died more than half suffered enteric, an illness consequent on insanitary water.

This book will act as an informative research guide for those seeking to discover and uncover the stories of the men who fought and the families they left behind. It will look in particular at the kind of support the men received if they were war...