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

CONTRIBUTORS

SARAH’S TOP TIP • Use RootsMagic to download all of the records on your Ancestry family tree

Letters

Who Do You Think You Are?

What’s On • Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk to feature your event here for free

PICK OF THE MONTH • Learn how to trace ‘ag labs’ with this online event

BOOK AHEAD • The A House Through Time presenter’s live tour visits Bristol

Virtual Record Treasury adds 175,000 Irish records • Rosemary Collins reports on the latest data releases and genealogy news

NEWS IN BRIEF

Medical records from 18th-century Edinburgh go online

CAN YOU HELP?

Birmingham records released by Ancestry

The Gazette creates VJ Day hub

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Foreign Office defends new head of MI6

GONE MUCH TOO SOON • Alan Crosby laments the horrendous rates of child mortality faced by our ancestors

VJ DAY • We celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender on 15 August. Here Phil Tomaselli explains the country’s role in the Second World War, and how it was finally defeated

ESSENTIAL RECORDS • You can use these documents to research the war against Japan, although many of them have not been digitised

LES BOWLER 1925–2023 • Phil shares a late friend’s experiences fighting the Japanese

VJ DAY TIMELINE • Phil outlines the major events surrounding Japan’s surrender

RESOURCES • Take your research further

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS • Lauren Potts explains how she uncovered the history of her beloved childhood home

5- ESSENTIAL RECORDS YOU CAN FIND ONLINE • Lauren recommends these digitised records for researching the history of a house

RESOURCES • Don’t miss these websites

GET STARTED WITH SUBSTACK • Genealogist Emma Cox shares her expert advice for making the most of the family history community on Substack

11 CREATORS TO FOLLOW ON SUBSTACK

‘I’M RELATED TO GRACE DARLING AND A DYNASTY OF LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS’ • Emily Cook has a tree full of lighthouse keepers. She has now written a tribute in which her relative Grace Darling meets the title character of Doctor Who, says Claire Vaughan

RESOURCES

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS • Marie-Louise Backhurst tells the story of the Channel Islands, and shares the best resources for researching relations from the area

EXPERT PICKS • Marie-Louise recommends these three websites for tracking down essential sources

JOE SUGG • YouTuber Joe Sugg explored his Channel Islands roots in his 2021 episode of WDYTYA?

REGISTRATION FORM, 1940 • This registration form for an identity card mandated by the Germans is in Guernsey’s Island Archives and Findmypast’s collection ‘Guernsey, Identity Registration Forms (German Occupation) 1940–1945’ at tinyurl.com/fmp-guern-cards

RESOURCES • Take your research further

ROYAL AIR FORCE • Eighty years on from VJ Day, Jonathan Scott recommends sites for tracing RAF personnel

EXPERT’S CHOICE

GO FURTHER • Nine more sites to take your research higher

ROYAL HOSPITAL CHELSEA PRIZE BOOKS • Phil Tomaselli explains why this newly digitised collection can reveal unique information about a soldier forebear

PRIZE BOOK • This page from the prize-money accounts of the 1st Battalion, 5th Foot, is held by The National Archives and...