The 1921 census is now on Ancestry

Today we are rejoicing in Local and Family History because the 1921 census is available on Ancestry!  Regular readers will know that you can use Ancestry for free at any Leeds Library as part of our digital offering.  Here’s some reasons why you should be excited about the 1921 census too. It reflects changes in…

Great War Territorial Volunteer – Frederick Luff

The third and final post in Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill’s series exploring the lives and careers of some Leeds soldiers during World War I. You can see all the articles in this series by clicking here, or read the original article that sparked this research here. Fred Luff is mentioned in the diary…

Great War Territorial Volunteer – Eric Stowell

We welcome Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill back to the Secret Library Leeds this week, for another short biography of a Leeds soldier in World War I. Keep a look out for one more article in this series coming soon… Eric Stowell is mentioned in the diary of William Smith.  I found two links…

Great War Territorial Volunteer – Percy Longfield

We welcome Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill this week on the Secret Library Leeds, who follows up her superb three-part investigation of a First World War diary with a short biography of another Leeds soldier of the time. Keep a look out for two more articles in this series coming soon… Percy Longfield is…

A mysterious diary from the Great War (Part 3 of 3)

We welcome Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill back to the Secret Library this week, for a brilliantly-researched story to mark Armed Forces Day on June 29. This is the third and final part of a three part series that has run throughout June, alongside a full programme of Leeds Libraries events. You can find…

A mysterious diary from the Great War (Part 2 of 3)

We welcome Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill back to the Secret Library this week, for a brilliantly-researched story to mark Armed Forces Day on June 29. This is the second part of a three part series that will run throughout June, alongside a full programme of Leeds Libraries events. You can find all three…

A mysterious diary from the Great War (Part 1 of 3)

We welcome Library and Digital Assistant Becky Bavill back to the Secret Library this week, for a brilliantly-researched story to mark Armed Forces Day on June 29. This is the first part of a three part series that will run throughout June, alongside a full programme of Leeds Libraries events. You can find all three…

The Leylands in Poetry

We welcome local poet Sally Michaelson this week on the Secret Library Leeds, who offers some poignant poetry about the Jewish community of Leeds and the Leylands area of the city centre. We are publishing these poems as part of Local and Community History Month. We hope you enjoy these poems. You can find out…