Anglo-Celtic Connections

Sourced from the Borthwick Institute for Archives, transcribed records may include: name, place of residence, relationship to head of household, will date, and probate date. Additional information is in the linked images, the majority written in Latin.

The newly released titles include:

• Calendar of Chancery Proceedings, Bills & Answers: 1625–1649
• Calendar of Chancery Cases During Reign of Queen Elizabeth I 1558-1603
• Exchequer Deponents: 1559–1695
• List of Proceedings in the Court of Star Chamber 1485–1558
• List of Proceedings in the Court of Requests 1509–1603
• Courts of Requests for the City of London, Southwark, Palace Court &Tower Hamlets, 1831
• Ducatus Lancastriae (Duchy of Lancaster) – Calendar to Pleadings: 1503–1603 

Find disputes, petitions and everyday conflicts that brought your ancestors before the courts. They typically record bills, answers, depositions and pleadings that can reveal relationships, occupations, property ownership and even personal disputes.

http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

Britain, The Medical Registers

Year covered: 1859-1895
Records added: 393,288

London (and Provincial) Medical Directory

Years covered: 1847-1869
Records added: 511,311

Nine more newspaper titles now online

Bolton Guardian, Linlithgow Advertiser and Times Illustrated are among the latest publications to join our ever-growing newspaper collection.

What’s the weather going to be?
It’s one of the most asked questions.

We take it for granted that we can find the answer in a matter of seconds at the touch of a mobile phone screen or flick of the television switch.

But behind each forecast are millions of observations, crunched through thousands of processors in the extraordinary and unique global network coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

23 March is World Meteorological Day. Read more here.

The 2026 edition of Beechwood Cemetery’s Annual Irish History Night is scheduled for Wednesday, 25 March at 6:30pm

Beechwood welcomes Dr. Laura Smith, who will present her acclaimed research: “Unsettled Settlers: Irish Catholics, Irish Catholicism, and British Loyalty in Upper Canada, 1819-1840.”

Dr. Smith’s work explores the complexities of loyalty, faith, and identity among Irish Catholic communities in early 19th-century Upper Canada. Her analysis sheds light on how these settlers balanced religious convictions with colonial expectations, shaping the cultural and political landscape of their new homeland.

Register here.

Guidance for LAC, pointing to deficiencies as well as acknowledging achievements.

http://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/corporate/transparency/reports-publications/audits-evaluations/evaluation-public-services-online-access.html

Key Recommendations

• ​Prioritize High-Value Content: Focus digitization and metadata efforts on materials the public actually wants to see.
• ​Adopt Modern Systems: Replace the aging “MIKAN” archival system with one that supports AI-driven indexing and “Linked Data.”
• Improve User Autonomy: Integrate help tools, tutorials, and simplified research guides directly into the search applications.

College of Preceptors, Student Registers and Diploma Examinations

Years covered: 1881-1931

Records added: 20,014

University of London School Register

Years covered: 1831-1890

Records added: 87,119

When an ancestor dies in war, the family expects clarity. Yet, for the families of British personnel aboard the HMT Rohna, hit by a German glider bomb in November 1943, the truth was obscured by decades of official secrecy by US and British authorities.

Ann Good, a BIFHSGO member, discovered a lack of British representation in the trailers for the American documentary Rohna Classified. Her subsequent involvement helped shift the narrative. Working with a dedicated researcher in London who accessed and scanned critical documents from the British National Archives, Ann bridged the gap between official records and family memory.

Her research has provided closure for families who, for over eighty years, knew little of their ancestors’ fates. In one instance, Ann located the family of an survivor who remained entirely unaware of this chapter of their father’s life until provided with the archival copy of his eyewitness report.

Event Details

• Documentary Viewing: Rohna Classified is available for online streaming starting March 23.
• Q&A Panel: A live Zoom discussion will take place on March 26, 2026, at 12 noon ET / 5 pm GMT.
• The Panel: Features members of the film team and three representatives from British Rohna families, specifically addressing the British perspective and information not included in the original film.

This event offers a rare insight into how archival research can dismantle military secrecy and provide long-overdue answers for descendants of the “forgotten” casualties of the Rohna.

Click here for more details and to register for the screening and panel.

It appears as if user services are planned to take the major hit going forward. I’m only able to scan the newly tabled document while away.

Providing access to documentary heritage is bearing the brunt of cuts falling from a projected $95 million this year to $76 million in 2026-2027, $31  million (sic) the following year and $28 million in 2028-2029.

The new indicator “Amount of digital material newly available online through self-service access.” is projected to be 500,000 by 31 March 2027. Among those will be about 550 Killed in Action service records for Kores.

It’s unclear how the new indicator, of 500,000 images relates to the 10 million digitized images recorded last year.

It’s also unclear whether and to what extent LAC is harnessing AI. especially full text search, to facilitate access to existing and recently acquired datasets such as the 1940 National Registration.

These disproportionate cuts to services appear to represent a move toward hoarding the collection rather than access.

The Drouin Institute is once again holding a giveaway offering 5 participants a one-year subscription to Généalogie Québec.

The contest will run from Thursday, March 19 to the 30th of March.

To register, simply enter your e-mail address in the form at https://mailchi.mp/institutdrouin/genquebecgiveaway

Except for a few meeting notices scheduled in advance, expect no posts for the next three weeks while I take some time away.

If you need a Canadian genealogy blog fix, I recommend Gail Dever’s Genealogy à la carte.

In the past month, Newspapers.com updated hundreds of titles across Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Here are some highlights.

Canada (28 titles updated) includes major papers now running through 2026, led by the Toronto Star (1900–2026, 3.9 million pages), Calgary Herald (1888–2026), and all three main New Brunswick dailies. Three titles are brand new to the collection: Oakville Beaver, The Stayner Sun, and The News (Grimsby, Ontario).

England (200+ titles updated) ranges from the mighty Guardian (1821–2026, 2.8 million pages) down to dozens of local weeklies. Standouts for older research include the Salisbury Journal (1745–2024), Berrow’s Worcester Journal (1753–2024), and the Daily Graphic (1890–1922) — all valuable for pre-20th-century ancestors.

Wales (20 titles updated) is anchored by the South Wales Argus (1892–2024, 672,000 pages) and the Pontypool Free Press, which stretches back to 1861. North Wales researchers should note the Wrexham Evening Leader (400,000+ pages).

Scotland (23 titles updated) is headlined by The Herald, Glasgow (1820–2024, 446,000 pages) — one of the oldest English-language newspapers still publishing — alongside the Greenock Telegraph (1857–2024) and East Lothian Courier (1859–2024).

Ireland (5 titles updated) packs a punch: the Irish Independent (1891–2025, 1.56 million pages) and Evening Herald (1892–2025, 1.2 million pages) together offer comprehensive Dublin coverage, while the Impartial Reporter from Enniskillen (1849–2024) is the gem for Northern Ireland and Fermanagh research.

The year range shown does not mean there’s complete coverage.  For example, the local papers I’ll be reviewing when I return from vacation — the Great Yarmouth Mercury (1934, and 1952-2024), the Lowestoft Journal (1952-1996 and 2023-2024), and the Eastern Daily Press (1870-1929 and 1952-2024).