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Improving the way we organise historical records
Hello – my name is Ian Tester, and I’m findmypast’s product manager. I wanted to let you know about a fundamental change we’re about to make to the way findmypast.co.uk is organised, which should make it a lot easier for you to find and search the millions of new records we’re adding to the site every month.
Findmypast has grown an awful lot since we last designed the way the records are organised. We’ve added millions of records that don’t fit into the main categories of births, marriages and deaths/census/military/migration/living relatives and, at the moment, they are often either being wedged into a section where they don’t really fit, or being put into specialist records.
This doesn’t make it easy for you to discover and use some of the fantastic historical records that are regularly being provided by our record partners. You’ve probably also noticed that we’ve significantly upped the rate at which we put new records online – and the number of records we are adding each year is increasing all the time.
Ian Tester, findmypast
So the site is already beginning to burst at the seams and there are lots of very exciting new collections on the way that deserve new sections to accommodate them. We’ve spent several months working with our members to find a set of categories that will allow us to make room for the new records and make better sense of the records that are already online. Many thanks to the hundreds of you who have taken the time to complete surveys and participate in research sessions to help get us to this point!
The result of all this hard work is that in the next month, you’ll begin to see some changes to the site. The first one is that the main record categories across the blue navigation bar at the top of the site will all come under a single new category: “Search records”. Within this category, you’ll be able to choose from a range of sub-categories of records, just as you can now. The new sub-categories are very similar to the current ones in many cases, but you’ll notice a few new ones as well.
- Life events (births, marriages and deaths) – this will be very similar to the current BMD section and will continue to contain our millions of parish records
- Census, land & surveys – as well as our best-in-class England & Wales censuses (including our complete 1911 census), this will include fabulous new records, including historical electoral rolls
- Armed forces & conflict – our comprehensive military collections will live here
- Education & work – with fantastic school and merchant marine records on the way, we need a new sub-category. You’ll also find some gems currently buried in the specialist section
- Institutions & organisations – covering workhouses, hospitals and more, you’ll also find some fabulous new court records in future, as well as records that are sprinkled across other sections at the moment
- Travel & migration – is very similar to our current migration section, but has some lovely new international records on the way
- Living relatives & directories – this will give us room to expand the directories that we hold, way beyond the current living relatives directories
These new sections are designed to be as futureproof as possible, so you’ll also notice a few more new sub-categories appear over time as new records come online. A fringe benefit of creating more space on the blue navigation bar at the top of the site is that we’re making room for some very exciting new tools, including what we hope will be one of the best “saved records” tools available.
Obviously it’s hard to imagine these changes before they go live, but let us know if you have any thoughts on this approach.
We’re very excited to be making such a large-scale improvement, especially as it has taken lots of time to test and refine the new sub-categories so that they make sense to our members. Keep your eyes peeled for other improvements in the coming months – there’s a pile of exciting new features in the pipeline, as well an awful lot of exciting new records…
Saving your records – what’s new, what’s coming
Hello – I’m Ian Tester, the Product Manager for findmypast, and I wanted to let you know about a neat little project we’re in the middle of to make your experience of searching records a little better.
You may have noticed recently that small blue stars have started appearing next to your search results and wondered what’s going on. Usually, seeing stars before your eyes is a matter for concern, but not in this case – this is the first manifestation of our “Saved Records” project.
You’ve been telling us for some time that it would be incredibly useful to have a record of the records that you’ve already viewed to make your research easier. We’ve been thinking of various ways that we could do that for you, and have been beavering away in the background to make the first stage of this happen.
We’ve been making a number of changes behind the scenes for a few months now: the first was to make sure that we recorded the details of every record that you view in our database, against your account. We got this in place last year, meaning that we have been recording your search history since the end of 2010 in a much more structured way than we did before. We’ve also now started showing you which records you have viewed already, by adding a little blue star to your search results to mark the ones you’ve viewed most recently. It currently only shows you a few hundreds of your most recent views, but we’ll be expanding this number over the coming months into the thousands. So when you see a blue star today, that means that of all the records on the page, the records marked with a blue star are ones that you’ve already had a look at. It works across most of the records on findmypast, with the exception of Living Relatives (but keep your eye on this blog for some more exciting news about living relatives records later in the year).
So what’s next? Well, it’s useful being able to see the records that you’ve already viewed in your search results, but we’ll also be providing you with a dedicated “Saved Records” area where you can see everything you’ve viewed – this will give you an instant insight into the research you’ve been doing recently and will also allow you to add basic notes that you can use later.
After that, we’ll be adding the ability to mark each record with how likely you think it is to be a match for the ancestor you’re actually looking for – we think this will be handy as you’ll instantly be able to ignore records that you’ve looked at and decided aren’t the right ones, and to return to those that you want to mark as possibilities and come back to later. Obviously, we’ll also provide you with tools to let you filter your saved records so you can go back and do more research on them later. You should see all these improvements arrive by the end of the year.
We hope this will make your research that little bit easier! One fringe benefit of Saved Records is that because we now store every record you’ve viewed against your account, there is no danger of being charged twice to view a record you have already seen if you’re a PayAsYouGo customer. And perhaps best of all, your Saved Records will be available even if (heaven forbid) your credits or subscription expires.
Do let us have any feedback or suggestions on how we could make this work better for you or even if you think this would be helpful or not – add a comment below!
Saving your records – what's new, what's coming
Hello – I’m Ian Tester, the Product Manager for findmypast, and I wanted to let you know about a neat little project we’re in the middle of to make your experience of searching records a little better.
You may have noticed recently that small blue stars have started appearing next to your search results and wondered what’s going on. Usually, seeing stars before your eyes is a matter for concern, but not in this case – this is the first manifestation of our “Saved Records” project.
You’ve been telling us for some time that it would be incredibly useful to have a record of the records that you’ve already viewed to make your research easier. We’ve been thinking of various ways that we could do that for you, and have been beavering away in the background to make the first stage of this happen.
We’ve been making a number of changes behind the scenes for a few months now: the first was to make sure that we recorded the details of every record that you view in our database, against your account. We got this in place last year, meaning that we have been recording your search history since the end of 2010 in a much more structured way than we did before. We’ve also now started showing you which records you have viewed already, by adding a little blue star to your search results to mark the ones you’ve viewed most recently. It currently only shows you a few hundreds of your most recent views, but we’ll be expanding this number over the coming months into the thousands. So when you see a blue star today, that means that of all the records on the page, the records marked with a blue star are ones that you’ve already had a look at. It works across most of the records on findmypast, with the exception of Living Relatives (but keep your eye on this blog for some more exciting news about living relatives records later in the year).
So what’s next? Well, it’s useful being able to see the records that you’ve already viewed in your search results, but we’ll also be providing you with a dedicated “Saved Records” area where you can see everything you’ve viewed – this will give you an instant insight into the research you’ve been doing recently and will also allow you to add basic notes that you can use later.
After that, we’ll be adding the ability to mark each record with how likely you think it is to be a match for the ancestor you’re actually looking for – we think this will be handy as you’ll instantly be able to ignore records that you’ve looked at and decided aren’t the right ones, and to return to those that you want to mark as possibilities and come back to later. Obviously, we’ll also provide you with tools to let you filter your saved records so you can go back and do more research on them later. You should see all these improvements arrive by the end of the year.
We hope this will make your research that little bit easier! One fringe benefit of Saved Records is that because we now store every record you’ve viewed against your account, there is no danger of being charged twice to view a record you have already seen if you’re a PayAsYouGo customer. And perhaps best of all, your Saved Records will be available even if (heaven forbid) your credits or subscription expires.
Do let us have any feedback or suggestions on how we could make this work better for you or even if you think this would be helpful or not – add a comment below!
We've added 12,000 more Chelsea Pensioners records to the site
You can now find 12,000 more Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records for 1883-1900 on findmypast.co.uk. This brings the total to 302,052 records and 2,141,182 images on the site.
This is the latest in a series of updates to these records and there will be plenty more in the future.
Get searching our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records for your military ancestor.
We’ve added 12,000 more Chelsea Pensioners records to the site
You can now find 12,000 more Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records for 1883-1900 on findmypast.co.uk. This brings the total to 302,052 records and 2,141,182 images on the site.
This is the latest in a series of updates to these records and there will be plenty more in the future.
Get searching our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records for your military ancestor.
Even more Chelsea Pensioners records now on findmypast.co.uk
We’ve just added more Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1883-1900 to our site. There are now 289,783 records for you to search.
We’ll keep you posted on all the new updates we make to these records – you can expect to see plenty more in the coming months.
Search for your military ancestor in our Chelsea Pensioners records today.
A customer's discovery in the Chelsea Pensioners records
Customers can often be so much more eloquent about the amazing discoveries that they make in our records than we can. Here’s a great example of what you might find in the Chelsea Pesioners records we released last week:
The details provided are amazing. He moved up through the ranks to become a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery. He was 5′ 6″ tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and red hair. He was a Wesleyan and his occupation was that of a miller when he enlisted. His next of kin is initially named as his father, Philip, then changed to his sister, Mary – confirming her married name and address – then his brother, John, presumably after his father’s death.
He served in India, Egypt and Afghanistan in the 1870s and 1880s. He fractured his right leg in January 1890 when a horse fell on it, whilst he was on duty.
His medical record mentions his vaccinations and illnesses suffered whilst in service. These included hospitalisation from ague, a sprained ankle and primary and secondary syphilis, which was quite common amongst soldiers at that time.
All in all, it makes interesting reading. As well as giving lots of information about James, it also provides additional details of family relationships, consolidating what I knew about my ancestors.
His return from the army in the 1890s could also explain a family myth. My great-grandfather left Devon and eventually settled in Hertfordshire. One of my second cousins had been told he left when his brother returned “a war hero” and took over the running of the family farm. Perhaps his first cousin, James, was the returning war hero and the story has got changed over time?”
Originally posted at: http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5132&hilit=&sid=6c73909b15c27394fdd81ddbd8178a78
A customer’s discovery in the Chelsea Pensioners records
Customers can often be so much more eloquent about the amazing discoveries that they make in our records than we can. Here’s a great example of what you might find in the Chelsea Pesioners records we released last week:
The details provided are amazing. He moved up through the ranks to become a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery. He was 5′ 6″ tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and red hair. He was a Wesleyan and his occupation was that of a miller when he enlisted. His next of kin is initially named as his father, Philip, then changed to his sister, Mary – confirming her married name and address – then his brother, John, presumably after his father’s death.
He served in India, Egypt and Afghanistan in the 1870s and 1880s. He fractured his right leg in January 1890 when a horse fell on it, whilst he was on duty.
His medical record mentions his vaccinations and illnesses suffered whilst in service. These included hospitalisation from ague, a sprained ankle and primary and secondary syphilis, which was quite common amongst soldiers at that time.
All in all, it makes interesting reading. As well as giving lots of information about James, it also provides additional details of family relationships, consolidating what I knew about my ancestors.
His return from the army in the 1890s could also explain a family myth. My great-grandfather left Devon and eventually settled in Hertfordshire. One of my second cousins had been told he left when his brother returned “a war hero” and took over the running of the family farm. Perhaps his first cousin, James, was the returning war hero and the story has got changed over time?”
Originally posted at: http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5132&hilit=&sid=6c73909b15c27394fdd81ddbd8178a78
Almost 95,000 new records added to 1851 census
We’ve just unearthed nearly 95,000 new records to add to the 1851 census for Isle of Man, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Carnarvonshire. See below for a breakdown of the records:
|
Area
|
Piece no.
|
No. of records
|
|
Isle of Man
|
2523
|
12,362
|
|
|
2524
|
14,623
|
|
|
2525
|
17,228
|
|
|
2526
|
11,285
|
|
Hampshire
|
1681
|
14,616
|
|
Buckinghamshire
|
1723
|
13,753
|
|
Carnarvonshire
|
2517
|
11,004
|
Get searching the 1851 census now.
The London Collection launch
Findmypast.co.uk is pleased to offer a collection of records to help people track down their London-based ancestors and unearth the milestone events of famous Londoners from the past. The London Collection includes records of baptisms, marriages and burials which date back to 1538. These include significant dates in the lives of famous Londoners including Charles Dickens’ marriage in Chelsea in 1836, captured in the West Middlesex Marriage Index, and William Blake’s somewhat mysterious burial in 1827 at Bunhill Fields, detailed in the City of London Burial Index.
The collection also includes the records of baptisms in London’s Docklands, some of which provide a fascinating insight into popular baby names of the 1700s, including exotic-sounding names such as ‘Hephzibah’, ‘Delight’ and ‘Philadelphia’.
The findmypast.co.uk ‘London Collection’ includes:
- City of London Burial Index – records from all the churches in the City of London from 1813 to 1890
- West Middlesex Marriage Index – detailing 84,863 marriages in 61 parishes from 1538 to 1837
- London Docklands Baptisms – comprising 407,558 baptisms for London’s docklands areas 1712 to 1933
- London and West Kent Probate Indexes – mainly detailing wills and administrations from 1750 to 1858
- The Matchworkers’ Strike – listing participants of the strike of over 700 men, women and teenage boys and girls working at the Bryant and May factory in East London in 1888, the same year as the Jack the Ripper murders