Familyrelatives.com

HMS Victory 'set to be recovered' from seabed

2012-01-23T11:33:00.002Z

The remains of a 300-year-old warship are to be raised from the sea bed, according to reports. The wreck of HMS Victory, a predecessor of Nelson's famous flagship, was found near the Channel Islands in 2008.

The British warship, which went down in a storm in 1744 killing more than 1,000 sailors, could contain gold coins worth an estimated £500m More >>

If you are interested in Navy Records visit our online collection at Familyrelatives.com

Familyrelatives.com SALE 33% OFF

2011-12-28T17:09:00.001Z

With over 800 million records online it has never been a better time to take advantage of our Sale.

Familyrelatives.com is offering a massive 33% discount on all 12 month subscriptions that's £20, $33,€24 only

In the last 12 months Familyrelatives.com has added Navy Lists, Post Office records, Parish Records, School records, Military records and Australian Records. The good news is that in 2012 we will be adding millions more as well as adding new features which we think you will find exciting

New records for 2012 will include
English Parish directories
Australian records
US Military
USA collection - to be announced soon
Scottish records
Divorce records
Trade Directories
Convicts records
Births, Marriages, Deaths
Passport Application records
and many many more.....

Take advantage of this special offer before January 7th 2012. Simply log on and purchase or click here.

Nominative determinism the name game

2011-12-21T16:40:00.003Z

Nominative determinism the name game, what is it? can a persons surname influence their career? Find out here>>

Familyrelatives.com has over 750 million names to choose from.

The concept of nominative determinism although relatively new in name has been around for hundreds of years. Have a look at to some of the names we have found. Have a look at to some of the names we have found. The name game on Familyrelatives.com

Courage under fire a real-life War Horse story

2011-12-21T12:19:00.002Z

Read about the heroic story of a teenage soldier in the First World War braves enemy fire to rescue his horse from a lonely death on the battlefield.

The British Army used 1,183,228 horses during the conflict of which 484,000 were killed. The Blue Cross treated over 50,000 injured horses in the field. Read more>>

If the census is abolished what would replace it?

2011-12-12T10:42:00.003Z

If the census is abolished what would replace it?

The historic national census is set to be abolished and replaced by information on everybody in the country gathered from banks, stores and estate agents. Read more about the proposed changes..

"UK census is a historical treasure trove" read further opinions, is it out of date or not!?

For information on land census records and other family history records visit Familyrelatives.com

Unseen for 100 years Captain Scott's final letter

2011-12-08T16:08:00.003Z

Final moving letter from Captain Scott's ill-fated polar expedition revealed for the first time Read more

70th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor

2011-12-07T12:58:00.001Z

Familyrelatives.com remembers those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor.

December the 7th 2011 marks the 70th anniversary of the "Day of Infamy" when Japanese Imperial forces launched an unprovoked attack on the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii causing the biggest single loss in US maritime history. Read more on Familyrelatives.com

Search US records on Familyrelatives.com

Killed by an Itch

2011-12-05T15:20:00.003Z

The Bizarre causes of death in 17th century London. Bills of Mortality Read more>>

Search Births, Deaths and Marriages on Familyrelatives.com

Submarine escape: A WWII survival tale from Kefalonia

2011-12-02T11:03:00.003Z

Seventy years ago, off the Greek island of Kefalonia, the British submarine HMS Perseus hit an Italian mine, sparking one of the greatest and most controversial survival stories of World War II. This story often told and thought of as pure fiction turned out to be true. Read about John Capes' true story >>

Find out more about your ancestors on Familyrelatives.com and search World War II records

Familyrelatives.com remembers the fallen

2011-11-12T12:15:00.004Z

Familyrelatives.com remembers the fallen with 20 Million Military Records

Armistice Day also known as Remembrance Day is on November 11 and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allied Forces and Germany for the cessation of hostilities on the western Front which took place at eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

It was said at the time that World War I was the war to end all wars, sadly every decade of the 20th century has seen conflicts since.

Familyrelatives.com has over 20,000,000 Military records online and growing, which makes it one of the largest online resources available.This year at Familyrelatives we will remember on the 11 of 11, 2011 at 11 those who perished.

The range and quality of information on those who perished is poignant - from the men who lost their lives in ships across the oceans to the soldiers who died in Flanders’ fields in the Great War and in Europe, Africa and the Far east in World War II. The Royal Air Force too suffered many losses in fact more than 61,000. Records now include Rolls of Honour, Army, Royal Air Force and Navy Lists as well as the official General Register Office Overseas indexes.

You can find out more about your ancestors through Familyrelatives.com search facility which allows you to search for your past but also allows you to view those friends that fell with them or went down in the same ship. Some of the famous names of the Ships which were lost can easily be identified among the thousands listed. This search facility is available for

World War I 1914-1918 British Army Deaths, database covers 1913-1921 includes Royal Air Force Deaths and Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

As part of the collection we include 9 million soldiers who enlisted in the US Army with records of US Prisoners of war as well as sources from other countries including the Indian Army, Australian and New Zealand Army (ANZAC).
We released a few statistics which were garnered from the website in a quick search of the British Army Lists shows that between 1939 and 1945 the Army Officer Corps alone suffered the loss of:-

9 Major Generals
31 Colonels;
365 Majors
764 Captains
1630 Lieutenants

Similar to the British Army and the Royal Navy Records you will also learn that the Royal Air Force lost:-

6 AIR VICE-MARSHALS
5 AIR COMMODORES
55 GROUP CAPTAINS
362 WING COMMANDERS
956 SQUADRON LEADERS

Search Military records for fallen heroes on Familyrelatives.com

'Second Paris' built towards end of First World War to fool Germans

2011-11-10T10:19:00.002Z

Fascinating histories uncovered and those soldiers who took part were not allowed to talk and denied by the authorities here are some of these stories.

A second Paris, complete with a Champs-Elysées and Gard Du Nord, was built towards the end of the First World War to fool German bombers, it has emerged. More >>

Decoy towns, inflatable tanks and Ghost armies More >>

World War II Spitfire unearthed

2011-11-10T10:13:00.002Z

A Spitfire has been unearthed 70 years after its American pilot crashed the plane into the Irish countryside. An excavation at the site of a 1941 Spitfire crash in a bog in the Irish Republic uncovered huge, remarkably preserved chunks of plane and six Browning machine guns. Read>>

Excavating Tunnels from World War I

2011-11-03T16:10:00.004Z

Heroic acts unearthed by soldiers of World War I and their belongings in pictures
Four miles of tunnels which were dug during World War I in the Somme battlefield, are now being excavated by a team of British and French archaeologists. More>>

Search Familyrelatives.com for Military Records including Rolls of Honour for World War I & II

Ships, Shipwrecks & Cannons

2011-11-02T15:34:00.002Z

It would appear that there are plenty of stories about treasure and treasure hunters lately.

Some of the stories we hear are about treasure hunters are intriguing and show us how fascinating history can be although some about memorial thefts and metal thefts show a complete disregard for our heritage and the brave men and women who took part in wars to protect our freedom.

Here are some stories of interest I have come across lately in the news;

Should ship wrecks be left alone?
Titanic Message in a bottle
Cannon raised from Blackbeard ship, & Blackbeard’s cannon salvaged
Admiral Lord Nelson letter
Stories of those we should never forget
Familyrelatives.com hosts over 800 million records including Military and Navy records where you can discover your ancestors past.

The world at 7 billion, what's your number?

2011-10-31T15:13:00.005Z

The world's population is expected to hit seven billion in the next few hours, is this something we should celebrate or is it time for reflection?

If you consider that 200 years ago in 1800 the world's population was 1 billion we have grown seven fold since, can the planets resources cope with this growth!

Find out more on population growth and where you fit into 7 billion More

In the meantime the United Kingdom's population is expected to reach 70 million in 2027

Familyrelatives.com hosts over 800 million records including births, marriages and deaths find out where you and your ancestors fit into this population growth.

How are Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the Regent Bridge connected?

2011-10-24T16:05:00.002+01:00

Familyrelatives.com adds Scottish Trade Directories dating back 185 years.

Having released over 40 volumes of Scottish Trade Directories in 2009, we are pleased to release an additional 60 volumes of Directories dating back from 1825 to the early part of the 19th Century during the growing influence of the Industrial Revolution and the British Empire.

One of the directories available is Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and the hub of Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. It transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe which continued well into the 19th Century.

In these early directories key figures in the Scottish Enlightenment included Sir Walter Scott, Sir James Hall and other notables such as Robert Stevenson (1772-1850) a Scottish civil engineer and famed designer and builder of lighthouses.

If you have an interest in Scottish records visit Familyrelatives.com
Search these Scottish records

Could Store Cards replace the UK Census?

2011-10-19T11:48:00.002+01:00

The historic national census is set to be abolished and replaced by information on everybody in the country gathered from banks, stores and estate agents.

The census – first carried out more than 200 years ago amid fears that the number of people in the country was multiplying too fast – has become expensive, inaccurate and slow, the Office for National Statistics admitted. Read more>>

Changing your name

2011-10-18T12:42:00.006+01:00

Many of us have found Family History challenging at the best of times but may now prove to be even more difficult as for a fee you can change your name. Changing your name has become increasingly popular lately for all sorts of reasons and some of the names and reasons are really quite extraordinary. Anyone researching their family history in the future may have an even more challenging time and an almost impossible task. Find out about name meshing and celebrity names in these Articles from the Daily Mail and the BBC

Stolen Babies
An even more intriguing and unsettling story is one that has recently emerged about Stolen Babies in Spain, although its from another era it is still having a huge impact on the lives of those affected. More on this story

Familyrelatives.com Birthday Offer 20% Off

2011-05-26T12:46:00.004+01:00

It’s our Birthday and we would like to celebrate with you by giving up to
20% off all subscriptions That’s just £25 or $42 or €29 a year
– but hurry sale ends on May 31st.

We are very pleased that since our major improvements 5 years ago when we changed from Familyrelatives.org to the new Familyrelatives.com website we have grown substantially and are constantly looking of ways to improve.

Launching the new website allowed us to change many aspects of the original site which previously we were unable to do. For instance it allowed us to make many changes without disrupting our member’s ability to stay online, upload databases in a fraction of the time but mainly to re-organise the site and provide a clearer and most importantly, a bigger and faster website.

Since 2007 we have added 550 million records to the existing 250 million Birth, Marriage and Death records, that’s over 850 datasets and approximately 800 million records.
More on this offer

Familyrelatives.com January Offer Sale

2011-01-27T12:05:00.002Z

With over 750 million records online it has never been a better time to take advantage of our Sale.
Familyrelatives.com is offering a 20% discount on all 12 month subscriptions that's £25, $42, €30 only
In the last 12 months Familyrelatives.com has added Navy Lists, Post Office records, Parish Records, School records, Military records and Australian Records and the good news is that more records are to follow in the next 12 months, take advantage of this special offer before January 31st 2011.

Remembrance Day: Where they fell

2010-11-15T12:34:00.004Z

Thousands gathered all over the UK and abroad to mark and pay their respects on Remembrance Day for the men and women who have lost their lives in conflict since World War I.

Many interesting and articles have been written about personal experiences and what remembrance means to them however one shouldn't overlook that since the World Wars, Britain has been involved in several conflicts and we have a duty to both remember those who fell and to help veterans of war.

Here are a few of those articles in the press marking Remembrance Day:
A timeline has been produced Remembrance Day: Where they fell
Ypres, Belgium: Pete Waterman remembers 'that infernal battle'
The unknown soldier's journey from trench to tomb

Familyrelatives.com has several Rolls of Honour in commemoration of those who fought in these conflicts. Read more

Familyrelatives.com Social Networking features NEW improvements

2010-07-14T10:33:00.001+01:00

We are improving our Social Networking features

As many of you are aware Familyrelatives.com was one of the first to introduce social networking specifically designed for both amateur and professional genealogists.

As part of our ongoing commitment to you and in order to enhance and develop the website we will be making a number of changes in the coming months.

We will be making it easier to invite family and friends, add photos, add important dates to your calendar which you may choose to share, we are also developing the home page to make it more informative and allow you to keep in touch with family as well as all the usual features which you have come to love and use.

As the profile side has grown beyond our expectation we need to add capacity to allow additional profiles. As we make these changes we will let you know so that you can make a note of these. We are very excited by these upcoming changes and hope that you will find them useful as an additional tool to tracking down those illusive ancestors.

The collection is part of over 650 million historic records available online to all members and visitors by way of an annual subscription of only £30.00 or US$50.00 or €35 at www.familyrelatives.com
Familyrelatives.com has added the following new records

• Corps of Royal Marines 1826 NEW
• Navy List 1847 December - 1848 March NEW
• Navy List 1848 December - 1849 March NEW
• Navy List 1882 June & December NEW
• Navy List 1913 January NEW
• Navy List 1915 January NEW
• Navy List 1918 January NEW
• Navy List 1925 January NEW
• Navy List 1929 October NEW
• Navy List 1934 January NEW
• Navy List 1938 May NEW
• Navy List 1938 August NEW
• Navy List 1939 February NEW
• Navy List 1939 August NEW
• Navy List 1940 May NEW
• Navy List 1940 August NEW
• Navy List 1941 June NEW
• Navy List 1943 December NEW
• Navy List 1943 July NEW
• Navy List 1945 July Volume II NEW
• Navy List 1945 June Volume III NEW
• Navy List of Retired Officers July 1947 NEW
• Navy List Vol.1-3 Jan 1952 NEW
• Royal Naval College Dartmouth May 1930 NEW
• Royal Navy Dartmouth September 1933 NEW
• His Majesty's Minesweepers 1943 NEW
• Whitaker's Naval and Military Directory 1898 NEW

Familyrelatives.com release 2,000,000 New Navy Records

2010-07-13T10:59:00.003+01:00

Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the addition of 2,000,000 New Navy Records spanning over 160 years.
The records of commissioned officers of the Royal Navy dating back 163 years have been published online for the first time by Familyrelatives.com

Familyrelatives.com is pleased to release the most comprehensive online collection of Royal Navy Lists from 1847 to 1945. More than 2 million names are included in the Lists which date from the mid – 19th Century (or the Eleventh Period in Navy History) when Britain was involved in a number of conflicts.

The Royal Navy has played a central role in Britain ’s history for centuries. It is the oldest of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces and is the Senior of the three Services. Founded by Henry VIII a professional and national naval force was in existence when King Charles II came to the throne in 1660. At the time he inherited a huge fleet of 154 ships and it was the beginning of the Royal Navy as we know it today.

British ships and sailors were symbols of the nation’s dominance until the 20th Century but this dominance was driven not only by great naval supremacy and naval leaders but by Britain ’s industrial advance and technology which helped to shape the future of warfare.

From the beginning of the 19th century until well into the 20th century it was the most powerful navy in the world at a time when Great Britain was the world’s only superpower.

The Royal Navy not only protected Britain from attack by its enemies in times of war but projected its power around the world. The Royal Navy along with a smaller number of Trading Company warships controlled the sea lanes enabling trade to precede the flag.

With the establishment of Naval Stations and bunkering points at strategic locations across the globe the British Empire grew to become the dominant world power from 1815 until the Second World War. But the Royal Navy also participated in voyages of discovery and exploration and names such as James Cook, John Franklin, Scott of the Antarctic and Shackleton resound throughout history.

In modern times the Royal Navy, its officers and men fought tenaciously to defend shipping in both World Wars against the threat of blockade and attrition by Britain’s enemies and although there were huge losses there were even more successes with Britain and its allies emerging victorious.

The List runs like a catalogue of history – The Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the occupation of Beijing and Egypt all of which involved the supply of troops and the protection of troop transports and much later conflicts such as the Boer War and the forcing of the Dardanelles in the First World War.

The Navy Lists contain the details of all Royal Navy and Royal Marine commissioned officers on the Active List of those serving at the time of publication. It was said that every Captain in the Navy had a copy of the list as he was always anxious to know the exact status and seniority of other officers he met.

The information covers every aspect of both Royal Navy and Royal Marine officers whether Active, Retired or on the Reserve Lists, from the date they entered the Service. The List of appointments range from navy and marine cadets to Admirals of the Fleet. Masters and Commanders are featured alongside Physicians, Paymasters and even wounded officers. There is even a section on officers dress regulations, awards and decorations.

An important part of the records is the Lists of Ships in the Navy with their Commanders and Officers names as well as Commissioned Packet Ships and Revenue Vessels, together with captured prize ships and their bounties.
For example the 1934 List of Ships and Vessels includes Submarines of the Royal Navy, also the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy arranged in their various classes, their Officers and present Stations. The lists also include RAF Units for Naval Cooperation which was extensive at the time.

The following detailed information is also disclosed; the type of ship and where deployed, the Displacement Tonnage, the indicated horse power or shaft horse power and the main armament. This excludes field guns and machine guns used by the navy as an auxiliary land force as in the siege of Ladysmith. The Name and first names of Officers is shown with an initial denoting his qualification for duties i.e. G for Gunnery duties, T for Torpedo duties, N for Navigating duties, S for Signalling Duties, W/T for Wireless Telegraphy duties, or I paid as an Interpreter. The dates shown are the dates of first appointment to a ship and where two dates are shown for a Marine Officer, the date in brackets indicates when his current sea time commenced.

Who was the Combustible Commodore?
An interesting name and character in the Lists shows a George Robert Lambert the “Combustible Commodore” who was despatched by Lord Dalhousie to Burma over a number of minor issues but eventually and deliberately provoked a naval confrontation in extremely questionable circumstances by blockading the port of Rangoon and thus started the Second Anglo-Burmese War his actions led to a Bureaucratic cover up at the time.

Familyrelatives.com Navy records date back to 1660 during the time of Charles II earlier mentions of the Navy Royal can be found in the Oxford National Biography which includes details of great Naval Leaders such as Sir Francis Drake, James Cook and Robert Blake.

Recent records include those of the First and Second World Wars and later lists include the Naval Forces of the Colonies and the Dominion Naval Forces (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa), Naval Colleges, Yards, Depots with the names of the Principal and other Officers in charge.

Familyrelatives.com invites you to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of Victory in Europe on May 8th - V.E. Day

2010-05-05T17:21:00.002+01:00

This Saturday, May 8th will mark Victory in Europe exactly 65 Years ago - At the time Winston Churchill, broadcasting from the Cabinet Room at Number 10 announced the end of the War with Nazi Germany. An unconditional ceasefire had been signed in Rheims, France the day before. Vast crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace and cheered the Royal Family - including the King, Queen and both Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret and Winston Churchill. Above is how the Daily Mail reported it 65 Years ago.

Across the Atlantic , the United States President Harry Truman dedicated the victory to Franklin D Roosevelt who had died only a month earlier. Again vast crowds congregated in New York's Times Square as well as Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and other cities across the United States , to celebrate the end of the conflict which had become one of costliest wars in terms of human sacrifice. Although figures vary greatly, it is generally thought that in excess of 50 million people died.

As part of our ongoing efforts to make information more widely available and also to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of Victory in Europe we have released for the first time on Familyrelatives.com a wide range of records from both World War I and also World War II.
Familyrelatives.com has one of the most comprehensive Military collections available online with over 12 million individual records.

At Familyrelatives.com we are continually adding a large number of records to our already broad and diverse range, from the Peninsular War Rolls of the Duke of Wellington when Napoleon was driven from Portugal and Spain in 1814 through to the Korean War (1950-1953).

Our expanding records include in excess of 10 million military records related to World War II. You can search for those who died in the conflict from all three British services of the Royal Navy, Army and the Royal Air Force.

As part of the collection we include 9 million soldiers who enlisted in the US Army with records of US Prisoners of war as well as sources from other countries including the Indian Army, Australian and New Zealand Army (ANZAC) etc.

Graphic accounts surrounding events at the time of the Great War are released online on Familyrelatives.com for the very first time. These record sets provide a fascinating insight into life in the trenches, as well as soldiers at war. An extract from the "British People go to War" which is available now online at Familyrelatives.com gives a flavour of the mood of the times.

"Six years earlier Britain entered a new era, the transition from war to peace was dramatic, the country had put on uniform, the sky over the cities was dotted with balloons, everywhere people were digging trenches and filling sandbags, gas masks were being given out, there was a rush for black paper and cloth to screen windows and skylights. There was in the air a feeling of change, complete, inevitable, tremendous war had begun."

The unique release of "Mr Punch's History of the Great War" dotted with narrative references and poems of the goings on at home and abroad, Mr Punch's great wit and unbiased account of current affairs provides an unusual backdrop to the more serious events of the day.

A few statistics garnered from the website in a quick search of the British Army Lists shows that between 1939 and 1945 the Army Officer Corps alone suffered the loss of:-
9 Major Generals
31 Colonels
365 Majors
764 Captains
1630 Lieutenants

A spokesman for Familyrelatives.com added "We are very pleased to be adding these new military records to our existing collection, these will certainly allow family historians and military historians make good progress with their military research."
The records are free to search but you will need to subscribe to view the original images. Click here for subscription information The collection is only a part of more than 650 million historic records available online to all members and visitors by way of an annual subscription for just £30 or €35 / US$50 at www.familyrelatives.com

Battle of Britain diaries to be tweeted in real time

2010-04-14T10:40:00.003+01:00

The diaries of pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain are to be transmitted in real time via Twitter to mark the 70th anniversary of the campaign.

The Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambs., will transmit Twitter entries from heroes who defended Britain against Nazi bombers. More>>

For Royal Air Force records and Military records visit our Military collection online at Familyrelatives.com