Every Family has a story to tell……….Welcome to mine
When we begin exploring our family history, we often start with the basics, simply collecting names, dates, and records. A tidy pastime, perhaps. A way to give shape to the past and connect us to our ancestors. What we don’t always realise at the outset is that genealogy has a habit of quietly rearranging the … Continue reading We Are Not Always Who We Think We Are: What Family History Teaches Us About Identity
It recently occurred to me that many of you might not know that I write a regular column in Family Tree magazine here in the U.K., called ‘Dear Paul’. What is ‘Dear Paul’? Well, it’s a genealogy miscellany column, a bit of a treasure chest, really, where I get to share some of the quirky, surprising, moving, or … Continue reading ‘Dear Paul’ Where The Genealogy Magic Happens
Discover the dark tales of the past in my brand-new series: "Stories From The Grave." Betty Corrigall’s grave is reputed to be the loneliest in the UK, yet it is probably one of the most visited in the Orkney Islands. In the late 1770s, a young woman named Betty Corrigall lived at Greengairs Cottage near Rysa … Continue reading Betty Corrigall: A Woman the Church Would Not Bury
Discover the dark tales of the past in my brand-new series: "Stories From The Grave." Some family history stories announce themselves quietly, while others arrive and take hold of the heart. The story of Little Merrit Beardsley belongs to the latter. It is brief, tender, and heavy with the kind of love that refuses to let … Continue reading When Love Shines Through: The Story of Merrit Beardsley
Discover the Dark Tales of the Past in My Brand-New Series: “Stories From the Grave” Sometimes history grows in unexpected ways, like roots pushing through stone, or a story taking on a life far larger than the truth behind it. Few places in London better capture this gentle entanglement of fact and legend than the Hardy … Continue reading The Hardy Tree – A Tree That Remembered the Dead
Discover the dark tales of the past in my brand-new series: "Stories From The Grave." Tucked away in the peaceful churchyard of St John the Baptist Church in Pinner, Greater London, stands one of the most curious monuments you’re likely to encounter, a tomb with what appears to be a coffin floating above the ground. Its unusual design has … Continue reading The Truth Behind Pinner’s Floating Coffin
During a visit to the Western Front in the summer of 2025, I was told a story that has stayed with me ever since. It was not a story of sweeping offensives or celebrated generals, nor one that fits comfortably into the familiar narratives of the First World War. Instead, it was a small, human … Continue reading Beaumont-Hamel: A Fragment Returned
Discover the dark tales of the past in my brand-new series: "Stories From The Grave." In 1705, an Irish woman named Margorie McCall (sometimes recorded as McCat or McCool) was believed to have died suddenly from a fever and was hastily buried in Lurgan, County Armagh, a common practice at a time when contagious illness was feared, and medical … Continue reading Lived Once, Buried Twice
The land is silent now, peace prevails where once there was chaos. There was a time when the earth here was ripped apart by bombs and tanks, when men were torn apart by machine guns, shrapnel, bayonets and barbed wire. Today, crops and trees grow once more on soil that was once barren, a landscape … Continue reading Walking the Great War: My Journey to the Western Front
Private William Richards Crump was born in Birmingham in 1893, the youngest of two boys born to Minnie Crump. His baptism, alongside that of his older brother Francis, took place on 11 August 1894 at St James Church, Wandsworth. The brothers shared the unusual middle name Richards, which was almost certainly a quiet clue to the identity of their biological … Continue reading Before the Guns Fell Silent: The Final Days of Private Crump
The Chiddicks Family Tree 