A family history service is giving people the chance to access wartime records for free ahead of Remembrance commemorations this month.
Ancestry is offering access to almost 2.5 billion UK and Ireland records from more than 1,000 collections between November 4 and 8.
Meanwhile, the family history specialist has commissioned a poignant new poem recounting experiences behind the everyday – and not so everyday – stories from the First and Second World War.
Written by acclaimed poet, Nikita Gill and titled, Who You Are, it is based on real-life stories from the home front and front line, discovered in wartime records available on Ancestry. It is available to view at www.ancestry.co.uk/whoyouare
It comes as new research from Ancestry reveals that one in four Brits (25 per cent) regret not asking older family members more about their wartime stories while they were alive, highlighting the importance of moments such as Remembrance to discuss family history stories.
With over half (53 per cent) of people only finding out something fascinating about an ancestor after they had passed away, Ancestry’s research reveals the impact of not speaking with loved ones about our family history. Nikita’s poem dramatises this by highlighting the real stories from World War I and World War II that may have been lost if it were not for their digitisation to help preserve them for future generations.
Accompanied by a short film shot against the atmospheric backdrop of Fort Widley, a former bunker in Portsmouth, the poem includes some of the real-life stories uncovered in wartime records available on Ancestry, such as:
● The first Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross, Khudadad Khan, who continued working at his machine gun when all other men in his section had been killed or wounded, before crawling back to his company to receive medical aid.
● The story of 21-year-old barmaid, Lilian Maher, who saved a man’s life during the Blitz after learning how to make a tourniquet from a book.
Nikita Gill commented: “Both my grandfathers were in the Indian Army, so I felt like I had a real connection to the subject matter. I wanted to do justice to the stories of ordinary people who lived during a time of great change and uncertainty. My experience of using the wealth of UK and Ireland wartime records available on Ancestry as inspiration demonstrated how even the simplest of records can tell such interesting and poignant stories."
‘’Britain’s wartime history is full of fascinating accounts that shed light on how our ancestors once lived, and yet there are still so many stories to be discovered,” said Simon Pearce, military history expert at Ancestry. ‘’Nikita’s poem is a powerful way of commemorating all types of wartime experiences, which we hope will inspire people to discover more about their own ancestors’ lives during wartime.”
To find out more about your family history and access wartime records for free between November 4 and 8 on Ancestry, visit ancestry.co.uk/Remembrance-day
