From FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):
New podcast brings Britain and Ireland’s past to life through the real families who lived it
- Historian Lucy Worsley is first guest exploring her grandmother’s life in new podcast which offers a radical retelling of the events that shaped Britain and Ireland
- A brand-new original podcast, A Family History Of... launches on Spotify and Apple Podcasts today, exploring defining moments of British and Irish history through the eyes of real families who experienced them.
Each four‑part series follows one real person’s life through a major historical event, using original records, historical newspapers, and contextual sources to uncover how ordinary people experienced extraordinary times. It focuses on the stories not told in history books, blending gripping storytelling, archival research and intimate personal reflection, showing how individual lives illuminate the wider history of Britain and Ireland.
Regular host Jen Baldwin — genealogist and research specialist at UK family history platform, Findmypast — is joined each month by a special guest whose family history or area of expertise connects to the story being told.
The series weaves in Census records, birth, marriage and death records, crime, school, military records, historical newspapers and more, all available on Findmypast, to showcase how genealogical detective work can be pieced together to create a compelling life story.
The debut series A Family History Of Wartime Women, features historian Lucy Worsley, who revisits the life of her grandmother, Edna, uncovering a woman shaped by two World Wars, seismic social change, and long‑buried family secrets.
The series opens in industrial Birmingham, where Edna is born just days after the 1911 Census records a nation on the cusp of transformation. Listeners are drawn into the smoky streets and tight communities that define her early childhood as Britain entered the First World War. Rationing, civic duty, and upheaval are the forces that shape her formative years.
As the 1930s unfold, Edna steps into adulthood as a boot shop assistant, navigating new freedoms and lingering societal pressures. Against the backdrop of the Blitz during the Second World War — aged 30 and pregnant — she marries Lucy’s grandfather. But wartime Britain is full of hidden complexities, and Lucy reveals a shocking family discovery about the marriage which she believes her grandmother never knew.
Host and genealogist, Jen Baldwin, says: ‘History is most powerful when it’s personal. Every family has stories that reveal what life was really like during the biggest moments of our past. With this podcast, we wanted to bring those stories to the forefront, using amazing historical records and newspapers on Findmypast, real people and the voices of those who carry these histories today.’
First guest and historian, Lucy Worsley, says: ‘Exploring my grandmother’s life has shown me how much of women’s history remains hidden in plain sight. Her story is dramatic, painful, surprising — and yet in many ways completely ordinary for her generation. A Family History Of Wartime Women shows just how much we can learn when we take the time to uncover the lives of the women who came before us. I’d encourage everyone to have a listen to this unique take on British and Irish history, wherever they get their podcasts.’
The next series, launching in April, will explore the Irish Famine through the eyes of the MacKenzie family, with special guest Trinity Dublin historian and founding member of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Fiona Fitzsimons. Further episodes will follow lives through the 1926 General Strike and The American Revolutionary War.
Listeners can discover more about the research behind the stories and explore fascinating historical records and newspapers discussed in the episodes on the podcast website, as well as in special bonus episodes.
The podcast is the newest offering from longstanding media company DC Thomson Media, whose portfolio includes hit true crime podcasts Was Justice Served? and Who Killed Annalise? as well as top golf podcast Bunkered.
The first series of the podcast, A Family History Of Wartime Women, is available to listen on all major steaming platforms from Tuesday 3 March 2026.
(With thanks to Madeleine Gilbert)
Chris
Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.
