Read the following story we received from Jan Pearce from Grantham, Lincolnshire. Jan found vital information for her family tree in our fully indexed birth records and Chelsea Pensioner British Army Service records:

‘My husband’s grandmother seemed to exist only in people’s memories, on censuses, and on marriage and death certificates. I couldn’t track her birth record although it was consistently shown as Southampton. Was Alice Maud found under a cabbage? Did the stork bring her?

My husband doesn’t know how he came by them, but he has copies of her parents’ marriage certificate, and her father’s death certificate. I had never come across the name Dedman/Deadman before, but there are multitudes of them in Hampshire records.

The only Alice Maud Dedman born about the right year came from Surrey, so I ordered her birth certificate. Wrong father and mother. I later traced this girl to her death from diphtheria, aged six.

I looked again at findmypast.co.uk’s recently re-indexed birth records, and there she was! Alice Maud Dedman, born in Southampton 23 November 1873.

It is interesting that the name was first spelt Deadman but the registrar corrected it to Dedman and signed the alteration. Her mother’s maiden name is written as Hansell when it was actually Ansell.

Second story - I was able to download my 2xgreat-grandfather’s Chelsea Pensioner records. It looks like he upped his age by a year or two to join the army in 1814. In 1815 he was sent to the East Indies with the 24th Foot Regiment and the seven years there left him with some health problems. This was the reason given for his discharge in 1834. He lived to the age of 91, however, having married twice and fathering a number of children.’

We have just published 131,052 indexed records from 65,526 Thames-side and Medway marriages on findmypast.co.uk

These records cover Essex, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey for the period 1750 to 1984.

These records are part of a collection licensed from local specialist Rob Cottrell and follow the recent publication of the Thames-side and Medway baptism and burial records.

Occupational records of Thames watermen and lightermen will also go online at findmypast.co.uk to complete the collection.

Find out more about the collection on our Thames-side and Medway records page.

Search our parish marriages to find your Thames and Medway ancestors.

Last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are saw actor Rupert Penry-Jones eager to learn more about his Indian heritage.

Rupert was born in 1970 and he is listed below in the fully indexed birth records on findmypast.co.uk:

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Rupert began his journey by speaking to his mother, Angela Thorne. Angela was born in 1939 in Karachi, India, which was part of British India. We found Angela in our overseas birth records, as shown below.

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For the first five years of her life, Angela’s father, William Thorne, was a doctor in the army. William commanded the 29th field ambulance unit as part of the Indian Army in World War Two. William died when Rupert was 12 and he wanted to learn more about his grandfather’s time in the Indian Army.

Rupert Penry-Jones (copyright Owen Benson)

William was posted to Italy from India and was involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1943, one of World War Two’s most vicious battles. Rupert’s mother told him that William never talked about his experiences in the army, so Rupert travelled to Cassino to find out more.

Rupert met a soldier who served in the battle and paid tribute to how brave William’s medical unit was. William’s unit worked on the front line, treating over 1,500 casualties with no regard for their own safety. William stayed in Italy until 1945 and returned to India where he worked until 1971.

Still with no answer as to his Indian heritage, Rupert went on to investigate his great grandfather Theophilus Thorne. Rupert visited The British Library and discovered that Theophilus was a self made man who did well for himself, despite a humble upbringing.

Theophilus was born in Somerset and joined the army as a private when he was 18, leaving behind his job as a gardener. He arrived in India in 1881 when Queen Victoria was empress of India and the British Raj was at its height. At this time in India there were plenty of opportunities for young men to prosper. Theophilus quickly rose through the army ranks to become major and he looked after ceremonial and state camps. These camps were lavish places where India’s and Britain’s elite paid homage to each other. Rupert learnt that Theophilus was part of the 1911 Delhi Durbar, a mass assembly held in Delhi to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India.

Theophilus’ army service record lists his marriage to Sarah Jane Todd in 1885 - here you can see them both on the General Register Office Index of Army Marriages in findmypast.co.uk’s armed forces marriages 1818-1994:

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Rupert discovered Sarah Jane’s baptismal record which showed her parents to be Thomas Todd and Louisa Johnstone. They got married in 1866 in South India when Louisa was just 15.

Louisa’s father, Thomas Johnstone, first went to India in 1842 where he was a sergeant in the Indian army.

Rupert travelled to India to find out once and for all if he had true Indian blood. He discovered that Thomas was stationed in Allahabad in 1857 during the uprising in India, when the Indians were rebelling against the British and their western culture. Thomas was 38 at the time and fought to calm and control the rebellion. At this time his wife Louisa and their children were in South India out of harm’s way. Rupert read some of the letters Thomas had written to Louisa which portrayed him as a loving husband and father. In 1857 Louisa received a letter from a commanding officer telling her Thomas had died after falling victim to cholera.

After tracing back six generations of his family in India, Rupert found out that Louisa’s parents were John Smith and Susannah (no surname). Rupert went to Nagpore to find out more about Susannah. Susannah’s baptism record shows her as an ‘Indo Britain’. Susannah’s and John Smith’s marriage record shows her surname as Collum.

Rupert then discovered that Susannah was baptised in June 1817 and the baptismal record showed her parents as Samuel and Elizabeth Collum. Elizabeth was born in 1816 but Rupert was unclear as to whether she was a native Indian or an Anglo-Indian.

Rupert successfully traced his mother’s line back eight generations, spanning two centuries, but never really achieved clarity around the origin of his Indian ancestry.

Make sure you tune into Who Do You Think You Are? tonight at 9pm on BBC1. This week actor Rupert Penry-Jones find out about his past. Rupert’s mother was born in Karachi and Rupert embarks on a journey to discover more about his Indian roots.

Rupert learns about his maternal grandfather, Bill, who was a doctor in India. This discovery inspires Rupert to travel to India where he finds out about his great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas who was part of the Great Indian Rebellion.

We’ve been looking into the records of the legendary Florence Nightingale to mark the centenary of her death today.

Nightingale was a visionary health reformer who led the nurses during the Crimean War (1853-1856), which is mainly remembered for three things: the Charge of the Light Brigade, mismanagement in the British Army and Florence Nightingale.

As well as finding out about Florence, we’ve also unearthed fascinating documents on Edwin Hughes, who in 1923 became the last survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade until his death on 18 May 1927. Hughes was buried with full military honours in Layton Cemetery in Blackpool.

Florence Nightingale

In the census for England and Wales, taken every 10 years, Florence Nightingale can be found listed from 1871 to 1901 living at 10 South Street, St. George Hanover Square, London. In the 1861 census she is found living at 30, Old Burlington Street, St. James, London as a lodger, aged 40:

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Her occupation is listed as a former hospital nurse and she lived with just one other person, her housekeeper, Mary Beatley (48). In the 1841 census Florence, then aged 20, can be found living with her parents in Embley, Wellow, Hampshire. This was the family home from 1825, before she started to pursue her nursing career.

After her death in London on 13 August 1910 her body was brought by train back to Romsey, and her coffin carried from the station to the church at East Wellow where she is buried.

In the later 1881 and 1891 censuses, Nightingale lists her occupation in greater detail as Directress of Nightingale Fund for Training Hospital Nurses - in the 1891 census she was 70 years old and still working:

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The fund was set up as a direct result of her work in the Crimean War. In all the census entries she is listed either as single or unmarried, further documenting the fact she never married.

In the final census that was to be taken in her lifetime, the 1901 census, she is listed as living on her own means; she was 80 years old, and still living at 10 South Street, Hanover Square with five servants - a cook, a ‘maid domestic’, two ‘housemaid domestics’ and a ‘kitchen maid domestic’. Her housemaid Alice Moody and domestic maid, Ellen Kate Tugby were both from Wellow, Hampshire, where Florence was brought up.

Edwin Hughes - the last survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade

We have also found Troop Sergeant Major Edwin Hughes, known as ‘Balaclava Ned’, the last survivor of the famous Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War in the Chelsea Pensioner British Army Service Records, which we have published online for the first time, in association with The National Archives.

The collection currently comprises over 4 million full colour images of the service records of soldiers in the British Army in receipt of a pension administered by The Royal Hospital Chelsea, and who were discharged between the dates 1760 and 1900.

Each individual soldier’s record consists of a minimum of four pages, and can be up to 20, full of fascinating personal details. Edwin Hughes has eight pages of records charting his time with the military in great detail. Each page has been painstakingly filmed by hand by FamilySearch, our partner in this two-year project.

Hughes was born in Wrexham, Wales on 12 December 1830, and died in Blackpool on 14 May 1927, aged 96. In the service records he was listed as a shoemaker before and after he joined the 13th Light Dragoons (later known as 13th Hussars), part of the Light Brigade, at Liverpool on 1 November 1852, as 1506 Private Hughes. In 1854 he went to fight in the Crimean War for two years in Russia and he was also based in Turkey for two years 11 months.

He was awarded the British Crimea Medal, the Turkish Crimea Medal, as well as The Silver Medal for long service and good conduct. The Chelsea Pensioner Service Records also list his progression through the army. In 1858 Hughes was promoted to Corporal, in 1863 to Sergeant, and in 1871 to Troop Sergeant Major.

On 24 November 1873 he was discharged from the Army at Colchester Garrison at his own request having completed 21 years and 24 days’ service. His discharge papers describe him as being 5 feet nine inches tall, of fresh complexion with sandy hair and hazel eyes:

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The day after leaving the Army, Hughes enlisted in the Worcestershire Yeomanry (a mounted volunteer unit), staying as Sergeant-Instructor until 5 January 1886. He was discharged on account of ‘old age’.

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Debra Chatfield, our marketing manager (pictured below), said:

‘Finding both Florence and Edwin within the records is fascinating, as we get to imagine them on a more personal level, adding to the legends that already surround them. Collections like the censuses and the British Army service records can enable everyone researching their family tree to add the same level of personal details to their own ancestors - truly bringing to life their family history.

‘Using family history websites, such as findmypast.co.uk, is more popular than ever in the UK. With the amount of historical records that are now available to search and view online people are not only able to find out about their own family trees, but historical events and figures through history.’

We have just added 8,368 new Dorset marriage records to findmypast.co.uk which cover the years 1560 to 1839.

We’ve done some digging around and have found some unusual names in our Dorset parish records collection.

We found a marriage between Martha Loaring and Samuel Single on 14 October 1750 in Bettiscombe, making Martha a married Single:

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The Dorset baptisms also offered some amusing names: here you can see a record for ‘Love Dear Bedloe’ who was baptised on 27 August 1745 in Dorchester:

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We also found a ‘Fruit Carter’ in the Dorset baptisms, who was baptised on 17 May 1807 in Chickerell:

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The Dorset burial records contain a slightly more sinister discovery: an ‘unknown’ person buried on 8 April 1815 in Abbotsbury. The notes state that the unknown person was ‘found on shore’:

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Search for your ancestors in our parish records - and maybe you’ll even make some weird and wonderful discoveries of your own.

Almost 70,000 new Dorset and Wiltshire parish records now on findmypast.co.uk

We have just published 69,545 new parish records for Dorset and Wiltshire on findmypast.co.uk

These records were provided by the Dorset Family History Society and the Wiltshire Family History Society.

The table below provides more information on these new records:

Search our parish records now for your Dorset and Wiltshire ancestors.

Over 22,000 new Thames-side and Medway parish baptism records now on the site

We have also just added 22,236 more parish baptism records to our Thames-side and Medway parish records collection. This brings the total amount of Thames-side and Medway baptism records you can search on findmypast.co.uk to 300,070 for the period 1721-1970.

Read more about our Thames-side and Medway records collection.

The value of parish records

Parish records are invaluable when tracing your ancestry as they go back much further than birth, marriage and death records. You can search parish records for baptisms, marriages and burials that date back as far as 1538 on findmypast.co.uk

The Federation of Family History Societies distributes its members’ records in partnership with findmypast.co.uk. Many family history societies contribute their records to make our parish records collection as comprehensive as it is. You can read more about the societies that contribute on our FFHS data providers page.

When you’ve found your ancestors in our parish records you’ll realise just how useful they are.

Read more about the value of parish records in our knowledge base.

Last night, Monty Don became the latest celebrity to get the Who Do You Think You Are? treatment.

Monty Don (copyright jo-h)

The episode focused on two branches of his family tree, his maternal Hodge and paternal Keiller lines.

One of the ancestors focused on was Monty’s great-grandmother, Charlotte Augusta Hodge. The programme revealed that Charlotte was one of nine children born to the Reverend Charles Hodge and his wife, Ann. Charlotte was left behind in England when her parents and four of her elder brothers emigrated to New Zealand in the 1850s.

While taking a look at the large Hodge family in the all-new fully searchable birth records this morning, findmypast.co.uk has discovered that there was actually a tenth child – Charlotte’s twin. The image below shows the record of Charlotte Augusta Hodge’s birth in East Retford, Nottinghamshire in the July / August / September quarter of 1846. Nine lines below Charlotte is an entry for a Harriet Vere Hodge, born in the same district.

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The death index for the same quarter of 1846 reveals that Charlotte’s twin died soon after her birth. Reverend Charles and Ann Hodge’s youngest child was born four years after this tragedy and was also named Harriet, presumably in memory of the child they had lost.

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This fresh information may help Monty understand why his great-great-grandmother, Ann Hodge initially emigrated to New Zealand without her husband and family in 1850. It was speculated last night that this showed a wish to escape from her husband. However, we feel that Ann’s emotional state following the loss of one child and the recent birth of another must have played some considerable part in her actions.

Please do let us know what you thought of last night’s episode and what you think Ann’s motivations may have been for leaving her family in 1850.

You can now search 163,477 new Thames-side and Medway parish burial records on findmypast.co.uk

These burial records cover Middlesex, Essex, Surrey and Kent for the period 1702 to 1997. These records represent the next part of a collection licensed from local specialist Rob Cottrell, and follow on from the Thames-side and Medway baptism records we recently published.

We will publish marriage records shortly and occupational records of Thames watermen and lightermen will follow to complete the collection.

Find your Thames-side and Medway ancestors today in our parish burial records.

In findmypast.co.uk’s July newsletter, we asked you to search our fully indexed birth records and tell us how many people in Hampshire are registered with the last name ‘Britain’. Thanks to all of you who entered - the lucky winner is Sally Hayward from Canterbury, Kent who correctly answered 16.

Sally wins two tickets to the Battle of Britain commemorative flight on 28 August 2010. Congratulations Sally!

The Battle of Britain Historical Society has organised this commemorative flight over the Battle of Britain area to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain this year. You can read more information about the flight here.