Find My Past has made these records available online. The handwritten registers date back to 1538 and span more than 300 years; they provide insight into baptisms, marriages and burials from 103 parishes across Lincolnshire, from Laughton to Gedney Hill.

Some of the details include information on the baptisms of scientist Isaac Newton and poet Lord Tennyson, famous for the Lincoln-inspired Victorian ballad, “The Lady of Shallot”. The records also include information on the burial of famous hangman William Marwood, renowned for inventing the “long drop” technique that ensured the prisoner’s neck was broken instantly at the end of the drop, considered to be a kinder way to be executed.

Councillor Nick Worth, executive member for libraries and culture at Lincolnshire County Council, says: “Lincolnshire has a rich cultural heritage, and the county council has long sought to celebrate and enhance this through digital access. The partnership with Find My Past is a very positive development that will help bring these records to a wider, global audience, and hopefully encourage people to explore more of the county’s vibrant history.”

Eneclann says: “The paper was on the O’Neill Lineages Project, tracing the main O’Neill lineages that emerged between the 13th and 17th centuries with geneticists defining the ‘genetic signature’ for each.

“As you might expect, feedback from the talk was overwhelmingly positive. Consequently, Fiona has decided to make available online a brief outline of what was discussed.”

You can read more about the O’Neill Lineages Project here.

Ancestry.co.uk has made available:

UK Civil Engineer records 1820-1930

Ancestry says: “This collection contains documents relating to membership in the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1820–1930. A group of young civil engineers met in 1818 to found a professional organization to “foster and promote the art and science of civil engineering.” That organisation, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), received a royal charter in 1828, and by the end of the 19th century had become both an educational and a qualifying body as it introduced examinations for civil engineers. Today, the ICE is a worldwide organization with more than 80,000 members.

“Engineering records from the late 19th century document a particularly important era in UK history. Records like these can tie into occupations in the census, railway records, and trade union records, as well as revealing biographical details and work patterns over time.

“This database contains records created as people sought membership in the ICE. Documents include certificates of admission, proposals to admit new members, certificates conferring a status change (i.e., from associate member to member), training certificates, correspondence relating to applicants or members, and similar documents.

“Documents may include the following details:

•     name;
•     birth date;
•     residence;
•     nationality;
•     date of application or correspondence;
•     summary of education, experience, or training that would qualify the applicant for membership.

UK Civil Engineer Photographs 1829-1923

“This collection contains photographs of members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, with digitised images of both the front and back of the photo.

“On these images, you’ll typically find the name of the person and studio imprint (indicating where the photograph was taken). In some cases you may also learn of positions held in the organization and other biographical details.”

UK Mechanical Engineer records 1870-1930

“This database contains documents relating to membership in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1870–1930.

“In 1847, 56 engineers and manufacturers met in Birmingham to found the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), with railway pioneer George Stephenson as the group’s first president. Its founders wanted ‘to give an impulse to inventions likely to be useful to the world’. IMechE started graduateship examinations in 1913 and elected its first female member in 1924. A 1947 merger with the Institution of Automobile Engineers (IAE) led to an Automobile Division, and in 1969 a similar merger with the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (ILE) established a Railway Division.

“This database contains registers of members, proposals for memberships and changes to membership (such as associate member to member), and related records, including the following IMechE collections:

•     membership records of IMechE (1847–1930);
•     register of members (1847–1930);
•     typescript membership proposal forms;
•     membership records of IAE (1906–1930);
•     membership records of ILE (1915–1930).

“Indexed records and their associated images found after 1930 have been excluded to conform with privacy restrictions.

“Engineering records from the late 19th century document a particularly important era in UK history. Records like these can tie into occupations in the census, railway records, and trade union records, as well as revealing biographical details and work patterns over time.

“Records may include the following details:

•     age;
•     birth date;
•     birthplace;
•     event date;
•     education;
•     apprenticeship details;
•     work experience, with dates, places, employers;
•     names of those who proposed a new member and supported his or her election.”

Find My Past Ireland has added over 2.5 million records to its Irish Petty Sessions Court Registers 1828-1912 record set, which exposes the petty crimes Ireland’s residents committed and how they were punished.

The additions feature forty-four new courts in nineteen counties around Ireland. A further fifty-five courts have been supplemented with records from additional years. This brings the total Petty Sessions Court Registers on Find My Past to over 12 million records.

Notable new courts that have been added are the Limerick City Children’s Court and two courts with pre-famine records – Moynalty, Co. Meath and Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. As well as that, for the first time, seven new courts from Co. Longford have been added, bringing online over a quarter of a million new records for the county. Also well represented with totally new courts are Laois (five) and Cork (four).

Being drunk in a public place, being drunk in charge of a cart, failure to pay rent and allowing livestock to wander on the road are among some of the most common misdemeanors that our ancestors found themselves in court for. Although most defendants got away with a fine, the variety of cases heard gives a real flavour for life in Ireland at the time.

Cliona Weldon, General Manager of Find My Past Ireland, says: “We are really excited about this add-on to our Petty Sessions court records. As usual, the stories you can find in them really paint a picture of what life was like in towns and villages in Ireland at the time. From harrowing stories in the Limerick City Children’s Court to amusing ones in Longford’s seven new courts, there is something for everyone in there”.

New courts have been added to the following counties: Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford and Westmeath.

Ancestry.co.uk has made the following collections available online:

• Baptisms, marriages and burials 1538-1812;
• Baptisms 1813-1912;
• Marriages 1754-1937;
• Burials 1813-1987.

These records are from the Surrey History Centre and include baptisms, marriages and burials that took place in areas that became parts of Greater London in 1965, such as Croydon, Kingston, Richmond and Sutton.

However, you’ll find the records of areas that were historically in Surrey, but became parts of the Administrative County of London in 1889 (such as Battersea, Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth), in Ancestry’s London parish register collections.

Records of Scottish properties and their owners and occupiers in 1895 are being released on ScotlandsPeople, the Scottish Government’s family history website.

Valuation Rolls

ScotlandsPeople says: “Called the Valuation Rolls, the records give an insight into Scottish society during that period, and will be a major resource for genealogists.

“The records comprise more than two million indexed names and over 75,000 digital images, covering every kind of building, structure or property in Scotland that was assessed as having a rateable value. The Valuation Rolls include people from right across the social spectrum, from the wealthiest proprietors to the humblest property owners and tenants of Scotland’s urban housing.

Social history

“Some fascinating aspects of social history in Scotland during the late Victorian age are revealed in the Rolls, including the growth of tea rooms, the opening of Scotland’s first crematorium and the provision of housing for workers, such as shale miners and prison staff.

“Researchers at the National Records of Scotland have also identified many ‘tee-names’ in the Rolls, the names used in some communities in the north-east and elsewhere to distinguish people of the same name.

“Every one of the Valuation Rolls on the website is fully searchable by name and address, with the records listing the names of owners, tenants and occupiers of each property – in many cases occupations are also included.”

Invaluable for research

Tim Ellis, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland, says: “The release of the Valuation Rolls for 1895 will prove invaluable for family and local history research, enabling people to discover much more about who their ancestors were and how they lived. Reading an entry for a single building can provide a fascinating insight into local life at the time  adding to the information people can obtain from census records taken around that period.

“This forms part of the National Records of Scotland’s commitment to improving our service to the public and providing researchers with the resources that they need.”

Third set of Valuation Rolls

Chris van der Kuyl, the CEO of brightsolid, the company that runs the ScotlandsPeople website on behalf of the National Records of Scotland, says: “We’re very pleased to add a third set [after those for 1905 and 1915] of Valuation Rolls indexes and images to the ScotlandsPeople website, bringing our total number of index entries to a remarkable 92 million. As part of an on-going digitisation project, the Valuation Rolls are an excellent historical resource and will help to bridge the gap between the 1891 and 1901 censuses”.

Find My Past UK says: “[We have] added over 450,000 new parish baptisms, marriages and burials covering the period 1538-2009 from areas as diverse as Northumberland, Durham, Ryedale, Sheffield, Wiltshire and Suffolk to make it easier than ever to trace your ancestors further back through history and further expanding what has now become the most comprehensive collection of England and Wales parish records online.

“Full details of what this record release contains are as follows:

• 141,525 Suffolk Baptisms 1753-1911;
• 244,309 Wiltshire Baptisms 1538-1867;
• 27,420 Northumberland & Durham Burials 1587-2009;
• 22,687 Sheffield Baptisms 1837-1968;
• 8,181 Sheffield Marriages 1824-1991;
• 7,113 Ryedale Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1754-1999.

“These records are brought to you by Suffolk Family History Society, Wiltshire Family History Society, Northumberland & Durham Family History Society, Sheffield Family History Society and Ryedale Family History Society as a result of the ongoing partnership of Find My Past UK and the Federation of Family History Societies.

“They are available to search online now and can be viewed with ‘Pay As You Go’ credits, a Britain Full or a World subscription. The records are available on all Find My Past sites as part of a World subscription.”

Deceased Online says: “Another first for [us] with the addition of all records for one of the historic ‘Magnificent Seven’ Victorian garden cemeteries.

“Brompton Cemetery in South West London is one of the UK’s most prestigious and historically significant cemeteries. Approximately 30% of the Cemetery’s 207,000 records are now available for the period 1840 to 1871.

“The records comprise burial register scans, grave details and cemetery section maps (photos of memorials will be added soon). All records will be available on the website within the next three weeks.”

Peterborough Cathedral

Deceased Online, which is making the records available, says: “All available records from the mid 16th century are included, together with some records that date back to the early 12th Century. We believe that this is the first time that any Cathedral has digitised its burial records and made them available online (Brechin Cathedral in Scotland, whose records are also available on Deceased Online, is strictly speaking no longer a cathedral).

“The Peterborough Cathedral records feature many notable burials; including Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, executed in 1587 in Fotheringhay Castle, and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England and first wife of Henry VIII. The records comprise scans of register entries (until 1995) and some photos of memorials and graves.

Brompton Cemetery

“Next week, we start uploading records for the historic Brompton Cemetery in West London. This is the first time that one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ Victorian Garden cemeteries has had all records digitised and made available through any website.

“To celebrate the Brompton Cemetery records on Deceased Online, we’ll be offering you the chance to win copies of the excellent pocket-sized guidebook, London’s Cemeteries. Those wishing to enter the series of competitions will need to look regularly at our Facebook and Blog pages.”

This online assortment of records highlights the many aspects of Irish life that were affected during the Great Irish Famine (1846-1852). You can search through a number of record categories including emigration, land and newspapers and piece together your ancestor’s story during the period.

Cliona Weldon, General Manager of Find My Past Ireland, says: “The Famine was one of the most monumental times in modern Irish history and changed the landscape of this country forever. This commemorative record collection is a chance for people to remember their ancestors and reflect on what life was like for them during this harsh time in Ireland”.

The online memory bank provides the opportunity for people to delve further into their own family history by searching through record collections from the time, as well as reading fascinating stories covering different aspects of Irish life during the Famine.

One such story is that of a young, deaf Irish boy, Edward Murray, who escaped the hardship of Ireland with his family in 1849 by emigrating to the United States. Using US Census records on Find My Past Ireland, he was subsequently traced through four decades to a farm in Iowa where he had gone on to create a successful farming career, a feat which might not have been possible had his family stayed in Ireland.

Not all stories had a happy ending, however. Another, from an article carried by the Stirling Observer newspaper in April 1847 and found in Find My Past’s British Newspaper Collection, vividly recounts a police officer who saw a crippled man, John Callaghan, on crutches resting against a wall in White Street, Cork City. On approaching the man, the officer realised he was dead. In his pocket, John carried an admission slip for the local infirmary and was most likely on his way there when he died.