British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

Thank you to all who entered our latest book competition to win a copy of My Ancestor was a Woman at War (SOG, 2013). The winners will be announced on our Facebook page next week. The answers to the competition are:   (i) Who was known as 'the lady with the lamp'?   B Florence Nightingale (ii) Aethelflaed was the daughter of which famous English King? A Alfred the Great (iii) Women killed in the First World War are named on memorial screens in which cathedral? C York Minster. Mary Seacole (c.1805-1881) Florence Nightingale (who was born this week 1820, 12th May) features in the book as the founder of army nursing. Her innovative work in the Crimean War of 1854-56 led to the formalisation of nursing as a profession, but there were other women present in the region who took an alternative approach to tending the sick and wounded soldiers. One of the most well-known is Mary Seacole, who was obliged to arrange her own travel to the Crimea, where she op...

Look out for thousands more burial records from Deceased Online's Aberdeenshire Collection  By the end of Friday 2nd May, the Deceased Online database will hold over 75,000 burial records from Aberdeenshire in North East Scotland. All the burial grounds from this collection are managed by Aberdeenshire Council .  The magnificent 17th century Craigievar Castle lies close to the village of Alford, which features in the latest release Aberdeenshire is a large county, covering 8% of Scotland's land mass, and is steeped in history. The parishes covered in the new release are predominantly rural, with a number, such as Alford, Udny and Cluny, lying in the shadows of great castles. Unfortunately, neighbouring Towie Castle now lies in ruins. Auchindoir, which features in the latest records, takes its name from the Gaelic Auehindoir , or 'field of the chase'. This is associated with the flight of Macbeth's successor, Lulach, who is believed to have run thr...

Following on from last week's post on women serving in war, this week we have a competition to win a copy of My Ancestor was a Woman at War by Emma Jolly Women's war service has been thrust into the media spotlight recently with BBC 1's Sunday night drama series, The Crimson Field . Described by the BBC as one of "the Great War’s untold stories", the drama is centred around a tented field hospital on the coast of France, where a team of doctors, nurses and women volunteers work together to heal the bodies and souls of men wounded in the trenches.One of the issues raised by the story is the harsh reality of war. As with their male counterparts, women working close to the frontline could not be prepared for the sheer number of sick and injured men that would emerge from battle. My Ancestor was a Woman at War (Society of Genealogists, 2013) looks at how to research military nurses of the Victorian era and both world wars, while outlining resource...

This week I look at the contribution women made to Britain's wars and the memorials that exist for those who died serving their country     Last week, the Royal Mail launched a special collection of stamps , entitled "Remarkable Lives". The stamps feature ten notable individuals who each made a major contribution to British society and whose centenaries of birth fall in 2014. One of these is Noor Inayat Khan , whose life was cut short when she was executed by the Gestapo at Dachau Concentration Camp on 13 September 1944. An agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan originally joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) on 19 November 1940. Educated in Paris, she was fluent in English and French and was soon seconded to the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). In June 1943 she was sent to work as a wireless operator with the French Resistance. She was captured in October of that year. After her death, Noor Inayat Khan was awarde...

Thanks to all who contacted us after the Eureka Moments blog posted earlier this month. The personal stories highlighted proved so popular that we decided to reproduce more. In this week's examples, we hear from a New Zealander who found her family in London's Brompton Cemetery, a Briton who had success in another 'Magnificent Seven' cemetery, and an Australian who reconnected with his Scottish roots. Tree growing among gravestones in Brompton Cemetery, West London New Zealander, Vicki Houlbrooke (nee Leach) , was searching in central London burial records for her Westminster ancestor, George Leach . She had a transcript of the headstone, found in a letter from her Grandad's Great Uncle Fred, but there were no clues as to where the grave was located. The transcript read: Sacred to the memory of Mary Maria, Wife of George LEACH, of Vauxhall Bridge Rd, Pimlico, Who departed this life Sept 3, 1856, Aged 66 years. It is finished. Also Mr. George LEACH, Husba...

Recently, we asked on Facebook for your positive experiences in finding long-lost ancestors and relatives through the Deceased Online database. We have been overwhelmed with all the stories and memories you have sent us. Emails have arrived from the UK and beyond. We're not sure how many of you shouted, "Eureka!" when you found your missing ancestors, but we like to think of these discoveries as your Eureka Moments. This week, we highlight three of the stories we received. These Eureka Moments take us on a journey from Yorkshire to London, featuring a wartime fire, a lucky find in UK's largest cemetery and a great grandmother who had run off with the lodger!  Rebecca Walker (@Ancestreemakers on Twitter ) sent us this beautiful photograph [above] of her great grandmother, Revina (nee Kimber, b. 1870 in Yorkshire). In 1899, Revina married Joseph Westlake . They had a family and settled in Wealdstone, Harrow. Rebecca knew that Revina and her 36 year old ...