A Family History Of...

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 labour politics. They explore how danger, community, and responsibility shaped Will’s life long before the chaos of the 1926 General Strike. How does a childhood forged underground prepare a young man for leadership during one of Britain’s most historic moments?Host: Jen BaldwinResearchers: Jen Baldwin and Barry KlineOral History Credits: Northumberland ArchivesGuest: Jonathan Kindleysides (Beamish Museum)Editor: CM87EditsScript Editors: Niall Cullen, Madeleine Gilbert, and James PlumbProducers: Madeleine Gilbert, Ellie Ayton, and James PlumbDesigner: Michael McCoshExecutive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 labour politics. They explore how danger, community, and responsibility shaped Will’s life long before the chaos of the 1926 General Strike. How does a childhood forged underground prepare a young man for leadership during one of Britain’s most historic moments? Host: Jen Baldwin Researchers: Jen Baldwin and Barry Kline Oral History Credits: Northumberland ArchivesGuest: Jonathan Kindleysides Editor: CM87Edits Script Editors: Niall Cullen, Madeleine Gilbert, and James Plumb Producers: Madeleine Gilbert, Ellie Ayton, and James Plumb Designer: Michael McCosh Executive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 extraordinary moment in British history. Together, they uncover how a week‑long national strike redefined identity and the meaning of standing together. Listen to Part 1 from 28 April - follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 families who left no trail behind. Host and Researcher: Jen Baldwin  Editor: CM87Edits Script Editors: Niall Cullen, Madeleine Gilbert, Daisy Goddard, and Ellie Ayton Producers: Madeleine Gilbert, Ellie Ayton, and James Plumb Designer: Michael McCosh Executive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 evidence. What does survival look like for an Irish family forging a future in the iron valleys of Wales? Host and Researcher: Jen Baldwin Guest: Fiona Fitzsimons Editor: CM87Edits Script Editors: Niall Cullen, Madeleine Gilbert, Daisy Goddard, and Ellie Ayton Producers: Madeleine Gilbert, Ellie Ayton, and James Plumb Designer: Michael McCosh Executive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 moment. What drives an ordinary man to risk everything in this changing world? Host and Researcher: Jen Baldwin Guest: Fiona Fitzsimons Editor: CM87Edits Script Editors: Niall Cullen, Madeleine Gilbert, Daisy Goddard, and Ellie Ayton Producers: Madeleine Gilbert, Ellie Ayton, and James Plumb Designer: Michael McCosh Executive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 loss prepare him for the catastrophe still to come?  Host and Researcher: Jen Baldwin Guest: Fiona Fitzsimons Editor: CM87Edits Script Editors: Niall Cullen, Madeleine Gilbert, Daisy Goddard, and Ellie Ayton Producers: Madeleine Gilbert, Ellie Ayton, and James Plumb Designer: Michael McCosh Executive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Across three episodes, host and genealogist Jen Baldwin — Archibald’s descendant — and Irish genealogy expert Fiona Fitzsimons piece together a life shaped by fear, migration and endurance. Through parish records, newspapers, court entries and census lines, they explore how hunger, displacement and survival reshaped one family — and how those pressures echoed through the generations that followed.  Part 1 drops on 31 March - follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 life during war. By placing each detail within the world she lived in, Jen shows how context helps us hear stories that were never written down. What might you discover when you read the women in your family, not just for what’s recorded, but for what the records quietly imply? Host and Researcher: Jen Baldwin​Editor: CM87Edits​Script Editors: Niall Cullen, Daisy Goddard, Madeleine Gilbert, and Ellie Ayton​Producers: Madeleine Gilbert and Ellie Ayton​Designer: Michael McCosh​Executive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 guest, historian Lucy Worsley, explore the burdens carried by mothers on the home front. Host and Researcher: Jen BaldwinGuest: Lucy WorsleyEditor: CM87EditsScript Editors: Niall Cullen, Daisy Goddard, Madeleine Gilbert, and Ellie AytonProducers: Madeleine Gilbert and Ellie AytonDesigner: Michael McCoshExecutive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 morality, and a truth hidden in the marriage register that carries legal and emotional weight. Join host and genealogist Jen Baldwin and her guest, historian Lucy Worsley, as they bring the records to life, revealing how women navigated respectability, secrecy and survival in a world where war upended everything. Host and Researcher: Jen BaldwinGuest: Lucy WorsleyEditor: CM87EditsScript Editors: Niall Cullen, Daisy Goddard, Madeleine Gilbert, and Ellie AytonProducers: Madeleine Gilbert and Ellie AytonDesigner: Michael McCoshExecutive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 pressure.Join Jen and Lucy - Edna's granddaughter - as they uncover the archival clues that reveal the bigger picture. What did childhood look like for a girl growing up in Britain’s industrial heart, as it transformed into a wartime powerhouse? Host and Researcher: Jen BaldwinGuest: Lucy WorsleyEditor: CM87EditsScript Editors: Niall Cullen, Daisy Goddard, Madeleine Gilbert, and Ellie AytonProducers: Madeleine Gilbert and Ellie AytonDesigner: Michael McCoshExecutive Producers: Helen Kaye and Steve James Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 defining British and Irish moments shaped, and were shaped by, the people who lived them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.