Course description

Family history is a detective story about your own family. This course shows you how to research your family tree using UK records, step by step, starting with what you and your relatives already know and working back, one generation at a time, through birth, marriage and death certificates, census returns, parish registers, wills, military records, newspapers and archives.

It's written for complete beginners in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You learn how to keep your research organised from the first day, how to cite your sources, and how to weigh evidence when records disagree, so the tree you build is one you can trust. It also explains what DNA kits can and can't tell you, and how to handle privacy, living people and sensitive discoveries with care.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a worked example and a short practical task. You follow Sandra, who began her family tree at 61 after finding a photograph of a young soldier in her mother's shoebox, from her first conversation with her mother to her finished report. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet and example answers, plus a pedigree chart, family group sheet, research log, invented sample certificates, census pages, parish registers and a will to practise on, an archive visit planner, handwriting practice and a model research report.

What you'll learn

• Starting with yourself and your family: writing down what you know, talking to living relatives, asking permission and handling sensitive memories, and caring for family papers and photographs.
• Organising your research: pedigree charts and family group sheets, numbering your ancestors, keeping a research log, citing your sources and weighing the evidence.
• Civil registration: how births, marriages and deaths were registered in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, searching the indexes, reading certificates and ordering them.
• Census returns and the 1939 Register: what each census from 1841 to 1921 asked, the 1939 Register, finding households that seem to be missing and transcribing what you find.
• Parish registers and church records: baptisms, marriages and burials, how the registers changed, bishops' transcripts, and chapel, Catholic, Jewish, Scottish and Irish church records.
• Wills, probate and military records: finding and reading wills and probate calendars across the UK, First World War soldiers, war graves and later service records.
• Newspapers, directories, electoral registers and archives: local newspapers, street directories and electoral registers, the national archives of each UK nation, county record offices and planning a visit.
• Online research and DNA: free and subscription websites, searching well, what DNA kits can and can't tell you, understanding matches, and privacy and living people.
• Brick walls, handwriting, old dates and sensitive discoveries: planning your way round a brick wall, spelling variants, reading old handwriting, the 1752 calendar change, and adoption and other discoveries handled with care.
• Final project: your own documented three-generation family tree, with a short research report you can share with your family.

Who it's for

Adults who want to start researching their family history using UK records and don't know where to begin. You don't need any experience. You'll need a computer, tablet or phone with internet access, and a notebook or a folder for your papers.

What this course is, and isn't

This course gives general information about researching your family history using UK records. It doesn't recommend any commercial websites or DNA companies, and it uses free official sources wherever it can. Prices and services change, so the lessons show you where to check current details. Sandra, her family and every record shown in the course are invented for teaching.

What will I learn?

• Start your family tree from what you and your relatives know, asking permission and handling memories with care
• Organise your research with pedigree charts, family group sheets, ancestor numbers and a research log
• Cite every source and weigh the evidence when records disagree
• Search the birth, marriage and death indexes and read certificates from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• Find your family in the census returns from 1841 to 1921 and the 1939 Register
• Use parish registers, bishops’ transcripts and chapel, Catholic and Jewish records to go back before 1837
• Find and read wills, probate calendars and First World War service and war grave records
• Use newspapers, directories, electoral registers and archives, and plan a visit to a record office
• Use free and subscription websites well, and understand what a DNA kit can and can’t tell you
• Tackle brick walls, spelling variants, old handwriting and old dates, and handle sensitive discoveries with care
• Build a documented three-generation family tree with a short research report

Frequently asked questions