Over four billion family history records, including census and military records, will be free to access on Ancestry to mark International Women’s Day.
New research from Ancestry shows that 25% of UK adults say they have never asked a female relative about her past and 51% said they had never taken steps to preserve the histories of women in their family.
However, 26% said they wanted to find out more about their female ancestors’ achievements and 65% said they would feel very proud or inspired if they discovered an ancestor was a pioneer in her profession.
Laura House, family history expert at Ancestry, said: “International Women’s Day is a time to not only celebrate the achievements of women today but to reflect on the progress made by the women who came before us. Many of the incredible stories of women from history are hard to find because historical documents sometimes exclude women’s occupations, and newspapers often recorded women under their husbands’ names; but our research shows that people have a deep desire to learn about their women ancestors.”
Ancestry is offering free access to 59 record sets from 8 to 18 March.
Key free record sets include:
- The 1881, 1911 and 1921 English and Welsh census records
- The 1939 Register for England and Wales
- Over two million 1833-1956 UK rail employee records
- The 1737-1969 UK postal service appointment books
- The 1898-1968 UK and Ireland nursing registers
- The 1904-59 UK midwives roll
- The 1914-23 UK First World War pension ledgers and index cards
- The Second World War Women’s Land Army index cards
- The First World War Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps service records
- The First World War Women’s Royal Air Force service records
- The First World War Women’s Royal Naval Officers’ service records
- The England and Wales civil registration marriage indexes for 1837-1915 and 1916-2005
- The England and Wales civil birth indexes for 1837-1915 and 1916-2007
- The England and Wales civil death index for 1837-1915
Ancestry will also offer free access to its Newspapers.com historic newspaper website.
