Going further

You may have covered the basic steps in family history, but the journey's only just begun. You can find out so much more about who your ancestors were, and how they lived their lives. For example, you might have picked up a relative born outside the United Kingdom, in a census record. The National Archives holds naturalisation records telling you where they came from, and what happened next. Equally, a birth certificate may say that a relative served in the military. Again, army service papers, naval records are all at The National Archives, allowing you to trace their career. To get you started, you can visit this site, and look at a family history gallery, and this will give you useful information and sample documents to really get you on your way.