3 Search Newspapers

Newspapers have transformed our ability to create a narrative out of our family history, but it’s about more than just looking for a name. Build newspapers into your research strategy for an area or an industry. Factory closures or a bad harvest are staple topics for local newspapers. Obituaries can be particularly revealing. In Jodie Whittaker’s episode an obituary revealed that her great great grandfather Edwin Auckland started working in the mines at the age of eight. Many newspapers can be searched online via findmypast.co.uk if you are a ‘Pro’ subscriber, or on britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.

But not all newspapers are online, and if you think an ancestor may have merited an obituary it is worth checking local or specialist archives. The obituary that David Walliams found for his great great grandmother Julia Haines came from The World’s

Fair, a specialist newspaper available at the National Fairground and Circus Archive. Also, the Gazette ( thegazette. co.uk) may uncover military heroes in your tree with its medal citations, or bankrupts like Mary Berry’s ancestor Christopher Berry: thegazette.co.uk/ London/issue/16731/page/983.