Features

Street urchins in Lambeth, South London in the 19th century, as recorded in Charles Booth's poverty maps

Discover your past

Who was Charles Booth, and what are his poverty maps?

Royal Navy service records Sepia photograph of 16 Royal Navy ship's officers posed for a photograph on board ship in 1890, with the ship's cat

How to find Royal Navy service records

Trace your house history like David Olusoga on A House Through Time

House history: The best websites for tracing the history of your house

Black and white photograph of 1st Padiham (St Leonard's) Boy Scout troop in the 1930s

When did the Boy Scouts start?

Tithe maps of Buckinghamshire

Discover your past

What are tithe maps?

The will of William Shakespeare, proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury

Discover your past

How to find Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills

First World War nurses, Christmas Day 1914

Discover your past

How to find First World War nurses’ records

Canadian family history - view of Busy Bon Secours Market

Canadian family history: The best websites

Advert for Christmas cracker, invented by Tom Smith

Who invented Christmas crackers?

Irish ancestry. Farmers in Glenshesk, County Atrim, c. 1900

Overseas ancestry

Irish ancestry: How to find your Irish ancestors

Scientist analysing the results of an autosomal DNA test

Autosomal DNA, Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA tests: what’s the difference?

Robert 'Judge' Rinder on My Family, the Holocaust and Me on BBC One

“It’s a red flag to complacency”: Robert Rinder on My Family, The Holocaust and Me

Welsh ancestry. Captain W Horton Hutchins of Cardiff Bicycle Club with his penny farthing bicycle (c.1870)

Discover your past

Welsh ancestry: How to find your Welsh ancestors

An Empire Flag Day fundraiser for hospitals in London to provide healthcare before the NHS

What was healthcare like before the NHS?

Nurses at the Sir William Hospital treat shell shock victims during the First World War with experimental medical equipment

What is shell shock?