A Family History Of...
A Family History Of… takes you inside ordinary lives at extraordinary moments. Join host Jen Baldwin, alongside special guests, to uncover hidden stories from the archives, revealing the human side of history. Each month, follow one story across several gripping episodes, and experience history through the eyes of those who lived it.
Episodes
Petitions, Power, and Silence | Peterloo: Britain's Forgotten Massacre (Part 3)
The violence has stopped – but the fight is only just beginning. In the aftermath of Peterloo, William Cheatham’s story moves from the field into courts, petitions, and public debate. As he seeks recognition for what happened, his experience becomes part of a much larger struggle over how Peterloo will be understood. Joined by historian David Olusoga, host Jen Baldwin explores what
The Charge | Peterloo: Britain's Forgotten Massacre (Part 2)
The crowd shifts. Panic spreads. Escape is no longer guaranteed. As events at St Peter’s Field spiral, William Cheatham is caught in a moment of sudden and overwhelming violence at the hands of the Yeomanry. What began as a peaceful gathering fractures into chaos as the crowd tries to break free. In the second episode of this series, host Jen Baldwin and historian David Olusoga trace how
A Lawful Assembly? | Peterloo: Britain's Forgotten Massacre (Part 1)
Men, women and children gather at St Peter’s Field, fuelled by hope, unaware of the chaos that’s to come.In August 1819, tens of thousands gather in Manchester for one of Britain’s largest ever peaceful protests. Among them is weaver William Cheatham, who has travelled miles to stand with the crowd. As anticipation builds at St Peter’s Field, host Jen Baldwin and historian David Olusoga explo
Peterloo: Britain's Forgotten Massacre | Trailer
An assault on men, women and children; one ordinary man’s fight for justice. Join host and genealogist Jen Baldwin and acclaimed writer, broadcaster and historian David Olusoga as they uncover one man’s experience of the Peterloo Massacre and its lifelong consequences. In August 1819, tens of thousands of people gathered in Manchester for one of the largest peaceful pro
From the Postbox | Your Somme Stories (Bonus)
A heartfelt look at your stories and questions sparked by our Somme series. What does the Somme mean to you? How do you go about researching a First World War ancestor? In this bonus episode, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin is joined by her producer and history-lover, Ellie Ayton, to explore your questions and stories from the most recent series. From fresh perspectives on the Attenbor
Family Serving Side by Side | The Somme (Part 5)
A deeply personal story of sacrifice, brought into focus by the fragments that remain. In this special episode, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin turns to a wartime story that’s closer to home - one discovered within the family tree of her guest, Harvey Henson, Somme specialist and volunteer with the Commonwealth Graves Commission. Harvey joins Jen to trace the story of his ancestor, Pri
What Remains? | The Somme (Part 4)
Three brothers. A legacy of love and loss. The war has transformed life on Druid Street. After the Armistice, how does the Attenborough family navigate the lasting impact of years of conflict? In this final chapter of their story, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin and her guest Harvey Henson, Somme expert and Commonwealth War Commission Communications Coordinator, explore some poig
Two Tragic Telegrams | The Somme (Part 3)
The Somme offensive unfolds, and life upends for the Attenborough family. September 1916 marks another devastating chapter for the Attenborough family. As the fighting on the Somme intensifies, the war’s reach into one Midlands household becomes impossible to escape. Host and genealogist Jen Baldwin is joined by Somme specialist and Commonwealth War Commission Communications Coordinator
The War Comes Home | The Somme (Part 2)
With the Battle of the Somme almost a year away, tragedy hits the Attenborough family for the first time. One Attenborough brother faces weaponised gas at Loos – the biggest battle of the war so far. Will he make it home? Join host and genealogist Jen Baldwin and her guest Harvey Henson, Somme specialist and Commonwealth War Commission Communications Coordinator, to examine t
What really happened at the Somme? | Part 1
Did the headlines tell the whole story?In this episode, we’re joined by Somme specialist Harvey Henson to uncover the real stories behind one of the First World War’s deadliest battles.Using British military records, wartime evidence and expert insight, we follow three Leicestershire brothers who went to war - and reveal what happened to them beyond the history books.Start listening now.Host and r
A Family History Of... The Somme | Trailer
One family. A battle that would shape generations.History remembers battles. Families remember absence. Over the course of a single year, three telegrams arrived at the Attenborough family home on Druid Street, Hinckley. Three brothers - Walter, Arthur and Richard Attenborough - were swept into the upheaval of the First World War, serving in different regiments as the conflict intensifie
What Naval Records Reveal | Gallipoli (Part 4)
Gallipoli may dominate the history books. But the records tell the rest of the story. Gallipoli is one of those moments in history that can seem enormous when we look back at it now. But when we delve into the naval records of the men who actually experienced it, something surprising happens – it barely interrupts the page at all. In this bonus episode, host and expert genealogist Jen Ba
Aftershocks of the Campaign | Gallipoli (Part 3)
Gallipoli is over. But its effects ripple on. After the chaos of the Dardanelles, HMS Prince George limps into Malta, a harbour strained by wounded men, damaged ships, and the unrelenting work of repair. For Nelson Langsford, the danger gives way to a different kind of pressure, as engineers and dockyard crews work around the clock to keep the fleet afloat. Joined by naval historian Charlotte Ward
Into the Dardanelles | Gallipoli (Part 2)
The battle for Gallipoli begins. As war comes knocking, Nelson Langsford moves from routine service into active conflict aboard HMS Prince George. Tasked with carrying troops and patrolling hostile waters, the ship turns toward the Dardanelles, a narrow strait Britain hopes to force open and end the war quickly. But it won’t be that simple. Joined by naval historian Charlotte Ward‑
The Calm Before the Storm | Gallipoli (Part 1)
A childhood shaped by industry. A Navy on the brink of change. Nelson Langsford grows up at National Trust’s Cotehele Mill, as part of a family rooted for generations in skilled work. Beyond the mill, Britain is entering a new industrial age, and the Royal Navy is transforming with it. Joined by naval historian Charlotte Ward‑Kelly, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin explores how Nelson’s
A Family History Of... Gallipoli | Trailer
Gallipoli thunders on the waves. The engine room endures below deck. Gallipoli was one of the First World War’s most devastating campaigns; it’s a story usually told through strategy, maps, and failure. But for thousands of families, Gallipoli was experienced through service in the Royal Navy, far below deck and far from the history books. In this series of A Family History Of..., follow
The Battle for Public Opinion | The General Strike (Part 5)
The General Strike wasn’t just fought on the picket line. It was also fought in the headlines. In this bonus episode, host and expert genealogist Jen Baldwin explores how newspapers shaped public understanding of the 1926 General Strike as it unfolded. Drawing on contemporary press coverage and the words of union leader Will Lawther, she examines how competing narratives influenced opinion, l
The Strike's Long Shadow | The General Strike (Part 4)
In the wake of defeat, one man does what he’s always done: he keeps going. In the long aftermath of the 1926 General Strike, the banners are folded away, but the hardship isn’t over. As unemployment bites and the Means Test humiliates families across the country, Will Lawther steps once more into the halls, meetings, and street corners where miners gather to make sense of a world that suddenl
Enemy of the State | The General Strike (Part 3)
The General Strike begins. Britain comes to a standstill. It’s 1926, and the nation is unrecognisable. Trains idle, newspapers fall silent. In the middle of it, Will Lawther, councillor and trusted voice of the miners, finds himself pulled into confrontations charged with fear. Joined once more by historian Jonathan Kindleysides (Beamish Museum), host and genealogist Jen Baldwin fo
The Gathering Storm | The General Strike (Part 2)
A boy raised in the shadow of the mines. A world forged in defiance.Will Lawther grows up in Northumberland, in a vast mining household where every day begins and ends with the rhythm of the pit. But his life will take an unusual turn. Joined by historian Jonathan Kindleysides (Beamish Museum), host and genealogist Jen Baldwin walks us through terraced streets, dark mines, and the rise of early la
Born to the Pit | The General Strike (Part 1)
A boy raised in the shadow of the mines. A world forged in defiance. Will Lawther grows up in Northumberland, in a vast mining household where every day begins and ends with the rhythm of the pit. But his life will take an unusual turn. Joined by historian Jonathan Kindleysides (Beamish Museum), host and genealogist Jen Baldwin walks us through terraced streets, dark mines, and the rise of ea
A Family History Of... The General Strike | Trailer
One working-class mining family, and nine days that reshaped a nation’s history. Humble miner Will Lawther rose from the pit to face the frontlines of the 1926 General Strike, swapping coal dust for politics. Across four episodes, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin is joined by historian Jonathan Kindleysides (Beamish Museum) to trace how one family and one determined young man met an extraordi
Evidence, Absence, and Stories from Silence | The Irish Famine (Part 4 - Bonus Episode)
When records are fractured, biased, or simply gone, how do you tell a true family story? In this final part of A Family History of the Irish Famine, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin steps into the silences surrounding Archibald MacKenzie’s life. Through the archives, the missing lines, and the traces that remain, she asks what survival really meant, and what it cost the countless famili
Escape and Aftermath | The Irish Famine (Part 3)
One Irish family fights to rebuild after the Famine.By the mid‑1850s, Archibald MacKenzie has crossed the sea to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, trading the barren fields of Cork for the roar of furnaces. The MacKenzie family rebuilds in a world thick with smoke and prejudice. Host and genealogist Jen Baldwin, and her guest, Irish genealogy expert Fiona Fitzsimons, trace his footsteps through the evidenc
Riot and Ruin | The Irish Famine (Part 2)
Hunger spreads. Tempers ignite One man swept into a riot. It’s September 1845 in Coolderrihy, and hunger is beginning to bite. As fear and anger are on the rise, Archibald MacKenzie finds himself in the thick of a desperate riot. Join host and genealogist Jen Baldwin, and her guest, Irish genealogy expert Fiona Fitzsimons, as they unpick the records behind this momen
Before the Hunger | The Irish Famine (Part 1)
A boy at the edge of famine-era Ireland. A world about to break. Archibald MacKenzie is 11 years old in Coolderrihy, County Cork, when the world he knows suddenly shifts. Joined by Irish genealogy expert Fiona Fitzsimons, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin traces the records that reveal what life looked like for a boy growing up in a land already restless with tension. How did a childhood shaped by
A Family History Of... The Irish Famine | Trailer
One family faces famine, fear and exile — and forges a future that spanned oceans. The Great Famine cast a long shadow across Ireland, hollowing out towns, devastating families, and driving thousands to the brink. It’s a familiar tale, but one not often told. Follow the story of Archibald MacKenzie, a man whose life veered from riot to imprisonment, and then across the sea to smoke and furnaces.
The Women Who Left No Trace| Wartime Women (Part 4 - Bonus Episode)
Why do women rarely appear in WW2 records?Many wartime women left no diaries or letters, only the sparse traces of addresses, occupations, and brief entries in civil records.In this bonus episode, host and expert genealogist Jen Baldwin explores how those small clues — a line in the 1939 Register, a registrar‑office marriage, a maternity home address — can reveal the pressures shaping a woman’s li
Grief and Resilience in the Blitz (with Lucy Worsley) | Wartime Women (Part 3)
Lucy Worsley returns to discover the next part of her grandmother's story - during the Birmingham Blitz. In 1942, Edna Bourne becomes a mother during the Birmingham Blitz. Amid blackouts, bombing raids and disrupted maternity care, she endures grief with little space to rest or speak of it. Through death registers, wartime diaries and Mass Observation accounts, genealogist Jen Baldwin and her gues
Love, Work and Wartime Secrets (with Lucy Worsley) | Wartime Women (Part 2)
Lucy Worsley returns to discover her grandmother's dramatic Second World War secrets... By 1939, Edna Bourne is a young working woman in a Britain preparing for war once again. Her days in a Birmingham boot shop unfold against air‑raid drills, rationing, and uncertainty. But behind the everyday routines lie private complexities: a whirlwind marriage, a pregnancy under the pressures of wartime mora
Born Into a World at War (with Lucy Worsley) | Wartime Women (Part 1)
Historian Lucy Worsley joins host and genealogist Jen Baldwin to discover how two world wars shaped one woman’s life – and the generations that followed.Edna Bourne takes her first breath in Birmingham, 1911, as Europe braces for war. With her father working to feed the munitions machine and her mother navigating rationing queues and civic duty, Edna's earliest memories are shaped by a city under
Trailer: A Family History Of...
Ordinary lives told through extraordinary moments.Findmypast's genealogist and research specialist Jen Baldwin is joined by guests to unravel remarkable family tales uncovered in the archives.Each month, one moment in history is explored through a single true family story, unfolding several interconnected episodes. Human, empathetic, and driven by real stories, A Family History Of.. reveals how de
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