Welcome

One hundred years ago, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent. Hostilities ceased but the painful reality of living with both mental and physical wounds continued for our families. It feels right in this centenary year to remember those who fought in this terrible conflict, not just by name but with as much understanding of what they experienced as we can glean from the archives ( page 17).

We’ve got a lot of WW1 features in the magazine this month (look for the poppies on Contents page 4), but we’ve got plenty more coming up over the next year including features on those who fought on the sea and in the air. So keep an eye out and build your library.

There is less than five months left to share your WW1 research via the Imperial War Museums’ Lives of the First World War digital memorial ( page 19). The website closes to new entries on

18 March 2019, so make sure that those who served in your family have been included and add what you can before it’s too late.

Finally, welcome to our new look. We have improved legibility, added even more web resources, and included bigger record images. We’ve also added some new features (see My Family Album on page 88). Thank you to my lovely team who have worked so hard over the past couple of months to make this happen. Happy reading!