Behind The Scenes

Researching the family of EastEnders’ Lisa Hammond

EastEnders star and born-and-bred Londoner Lisa Hammond learned more about the wartime service of her paternal grandfather, Henry Hammond, and her maternal line, the Hilditches – and discovered she has roots in rural Wales

Military Records

Lisa was able to find some war records for her grandfather, Henry, on findmypast.co.uk. The website has placed a collection of British Army Casualty Lists online, which were originally kept by the War Office, at bit.ly/fmp-army-casualties. She found a listing for “HG Hammond” detailing his disappearance in Italy in 1943.

PCC Wills

A key source that showed that Lisa’s Hilditch kin were Welsh was the will of Joseph Hilditch, the uncle of her maternal 3x great grandfather William Henry Hilditch, which mentions a connection to Denbighshire.

It’s one of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury’s wills on ancestry.co.uk and at bit.ly/tna-wills.

Denbighshire Parish Records

A great many parish records are now online, and we found a collection for Denbigh on findmypast.co.uk. This allowed us to see the various life events of the Hilditch family, including the baptism of William Henry’s father, Richard Hilditch – Lisa’s 4x great grandfather.