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 • Keep apprenticeship in mind when looking for an ancestor in the census

CONTRIBUTORS

Resourceful reader

Letters

Who Do You Think You Are?

What's On

Who Do You Think You Are? 2026 celebrities announced • Rosemary Collins and Molly McGee report on the latest data releases and genealogy news

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ancestry adds Shropshire electoral records

CAN YOU HELP?

TheGenealogist adds 77,000 Worcestershire parish records

UK and Ireland in €5m archives boost

New collection of 12 million soldiers’ records goes online

A FUN-LOVING PURITAN • Alan Crocby on a young man's historic diary that challenges conventions

Make the most of the 1926 CENSUS OF IRELAND • Genealogist Nicola Morris and Zoë Reid of the National Archives of Ireland present our essential guide to the 1926 Irish census

Household Return (Form A) • Nicola explains how much you can learn about your relations from Form A

MISSING FROM THE CENSUS • There are always elusive ancestors who don't immediately emerge during a census search. Here are some tips if you can't find a relation in the 1926 Irish census

Enumerators’ Return (Form B) • Nicola reveals how to understand the information recorded on Form B

What next? • You can follow up discoveries from the 1926 census in free online records

Understanding the VALUE of HISTORIC WAGES • Calculating the real worth of the wages our ancestors earned in today's money is not a simple sum — there are complex social and economic aspects to factor in, says historian Judy Stephenson

LABOUR ECONOMICS DURING THE REBUILDING OF ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

RESOURCES • Don't miss these websites

‘DAD SPENT YEARS IN A TB HOSPITAL As A Child’ • Helen Parker-Drabble's father suffered from tuberculosis in the 1930s, like so many of our relations. Her extensive research into his treatment horrified her, says Claire Vaughan

Resources • Helen used a range of resources to research Harry's treatment

Apprenticeship Records • Genealogist Judith Batchelor explains how to find out if your forebear worked as an apprentice

EXPERT PICKS • Judith recommends the records available on these three websites

Thomas Coram 1668-1751 • The creator of London's Foundling Hospital believed in apprenticeships

Parish Indenture, 1713 • This record is held by the Dorset History Centre in (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/libraries-history-culture/dorset-history-centre) and on Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk)

RESOURCES • Unmissable websites

Clergy • You can research your religious relations using a wide variety of records, says Jonathan Scott

Expert's Choice • Stuart A Raymond is the author of Tracing Your Church of England Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2017)

Go Further • Nine more websites you can't afford to miss

WW2 Royal Navy Casualty Logs • With orders for Second World War service records taking over a year to process, Phil Brown suggests using casualty logs to fill in the gaps for Royal Navy ancestors

Royal Navy Casualty Log, 1940 • This record is available digitally in the collection ‘British Royal Navy Casualty Logs, 1939–1945’ on Findmypast (tinyurl.com/RNCasualtyLogs1939-45)

RESOURCES • Take your research...