UK Generations

For many people, knowing "where you came from" means looking back at least four generations. All too often that can be very difficult if your family didn't discuss great grandparents or you don't have photos or certificates - or a treasured family bible - and so with such a seemingly difficult starting point to overcome, the opportunity to explore your heritage ends.

If you live outside the UK and your distant relatives came from here, you may find that the Internet doesn't meet all your needs - such as visiting UK churchyards, or researching in Records Offices, or visiting towns and villages. Typically, we can help you to see more of where your family lived and worked by visiting locations within our local counties of Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. With our commissioned services, we can venture further afield. 

Whether you are new to family history or are an enthusiast looking to do more, we know the difficulties and we are here to help you.     

This page shows our current selection of genealogy services tailored for family historians at any stage. Alternatively, if you have something else in mind and you think we could help then please click on Contact Us and we'll try to accommodate you. 

1.  Genealogy Starter Packs*

Researching family history may seem a daunting task if you are new to it and especially if you have little information to hand, so we want to help you make a start by taking small steps, beginning with a proven starting point known to you (eg. yourself, your parents or a grandparent).

Our Starter Packs can contain birth, marriage and death certificates, plus Census Returns sheets from 1841-1901 as appropriate. Pack prices are fixed and structured so that you can make affordable steps at any time to suit your needs.

Please click here to see more about Starter Packs.  Also, see our vouchers within the Special Offers page.

By concentrating on the period from 1837, where there are the greatest number of available records, we can maximise your chances for some initial discoveries. However if, after an initial start, you want us to do more and there is an opportunity to go even further back, we can as part of our research and commission services shown below.

2.  Genealogy Progress Packs*

Progress Packs are for those of you who have begun your own research and would like a little help - at a known price. We conduct standard searches in specific areas of interest to you - perhaps where your own research has stalled or where you don't have spare time from your busy working or home life.

We try to keep Progress Packs as simple as possible, so they are priced per person within a generation.  (A "generation" refers to individuals who are siblings or a husband and wife). You can then contact us as many times as you wish when you are ready for us to find more relatives, one by one - at a pace to suit you. So that we can offer you the most suitably priced options, our Progress Packs come in two types - post 1841 (national UK mainland) and pre 1841 (within 3 local counties).

Post- 1841    For the period from 1841, we will research one male or female and provide you with a report containing either a Birth or a Marriage or a Death certificate for that person from the General Records Office where possible, together with basic details of other persons we discover and believe may be useful. If appropriate and possible, the report will also contain relevant Census return images from between 1841-1901. We can include a GEDCOM file via email if you require one.

Total cost per person (including England/Wales certificate)  £30  +P&P  

Scottish certificates are more expensive to obtain, so total cost per person would be £35 +P&P

(If we are unable to obtain a GRO certificate, we will discount the above charges by £5.) 

Pre- 1841         Before 1841, census and births/marriages/deaths information is much less standardised than it became after this date. It may be geographically patchy and less readily available to researchers. Nevertheless, your ancestry may still be traced (for instance via parish records)  back into the 16th and 17th centuries, albeit with potentially greater research effort.  Therefore, the type and extent of documentation from research earlier than 1841 will depend upon the variability of sources available and where they are located.

In order to provide fixed price research for this category, we only offer pre-1841 Progress Pack services within our 3 counties area. Pre-1841 research outside this area can be provided by our Specific Commissions shown below.

For the period c.1550 though to 1840, we will research one male or female and provide you with a report containing any significant documents/images/references we discover for that person.  Where possible, we will include basic details of other persons we discover and believe may be useful. If appropriate and possible, the report will also contain relevant Census return images from between 1801-1831. We can include a GEDCOM file via email if you require one.

Please note that certificates for births/marriages/deaths are unlikely from pre-1841 research.

Cost per person  £30  + receipted expenses +P&P  

(Receipted expenses here refer to admissions, parking and printing charges levied by information sources. Travel costs are included within the main charge, based upon an overall maximum of two visits to carry out research.)

3.  Special Events charts*

Are you puzzling over how to give something different as a present at a wedding, anniversary, retirement or another special occasion ? 

We have the answer - a unique family tree chart that you can frame or mount.  Each chart includes a photograph of the person(s) being presented and suitable text to describe the occasion. Each tree contains the person(s) for whom the event is being commemorated, plus up to 3 earlier generations. The charts are printed in full colour on high quality photographic papers or in greyscale on parchment paper.

Please click here to see some examples. You do not need to have the exact designs shown in the examples, as the style can be adapted for any type of event. Headings and layout can be tailored to suit your requirements.

Assuming either that you can provide the relevant names and dates, or we have previously researched them for you, the cost of the charts are :-

A4 size  -  £25        A3 size  -  £35      +P&P

Why not buy someone a voucher for one of our charts ?  See the Special Offers page for more details.

4.  Research* within Warwickshire / Leicestershire / Northamptonshire

UK Generations is ideally placed within the heart of a middle-England area that borders the Cotswolds to the south, industrial Coventry and Birmingham to the west, Leicester to the north and Northampton to the east. The majority of this area consists of a patchwork of countryside fields and villages, plus an abundance of historic buildings and places such as Stratford upon Avon, Warwick Castle, Althorp House, Royal Leamington Spa, Coventry Cathedral, the battlefields of Naseby and Bosworth, 18th century canals and Roman ruins.  Please see county maps here.     

We can reach most places within these counties in approximately 1-2 hours. That means we can spend several hours per day on your behalf seeking out local records from local sources such as county records offices, village churches and village libraries. It also means we can offer you location photography to update records-based information and show you how places that are important to your family's past look today.  In this respect, villages and small towns offer you the best chance to see where your ancestors lived, worshipped, worked and socialised.

Research charges  -  £50 for 4 hours (half-day) or £90 for 8 hours (full day).

Charges include time for travel and cost for fuel but do not include receipted costs such as parking, entrance fees, reading room fees, photocopies, documentation of research or any agreed purchases.

Photography is charged at the "Photography" rate shown in item 6 below. 

Reporting of research findings, production of a family tree (where applicable) and collation with any photographs is chargeable at a flat rate of £12.50 per hour (min 1 hour per report).  

GRO Certificates will be charged at £8.00 each (England and Wales) and £11 for Scottish certificates. Orders for certificates will not be placed without your prior consent.

Would your research be complete with some photographs of a particluar house, street or general location ? 

The high quality of digital photography offers a wonderful opportunity to enhance basic family records information with current images of places that are special to your UK ancestry. All photographs are taken at 8 Megapixel resolution and are in jpeg format.   We offer two packages - Local and UK. 

Once we've identified what you want us to find, all we need is your confirmation of  the location (using Google Map or Microsoft Visual Earth Map) and then we're off !  We will take up to 10 photographs per location (more photos can be added at extra cost). The images will be emailed to you - either as zipped files using Winzip or lower-quality email attachments (you specify what is best for you).   Click here for examples of our location photographs (please note that the website images are deliberately lower resolution in order to allow the site to function properly. Images we send to you will be at full resolution). 

Local  -  Warwickshire / Leicestershire / Northamptonshire 

£20 for first location then £15 per location for up to 4 more locations per day within a total 20 miles radius (plus receipted charges such as parking and entrance fees). Our basic charge includes travel and fuel costs. Each location beyond 20 miles radius of an initial location will be charged at the "first location" rate.

UK  -  potentially anywhere within the mainland of England, Wales or Scotland. Because of the time and distances involved, charges have two basic elements :-

- Location photography  -  £10 per location

- Travel / fuel expenses   -  £12 per hour, plus receipted charges such as parking, entrance fees, accommodation expenses, etc.

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 * PLEASE NOTE - Complete prices are shown for Packs. Commissions can be agreed either as fixed prices or daily rates, according to the content and extent of the work you wish us to carry out. Please see the Conditions of Sale tab for further charges information.  

We ask for a non-refundable deposit payment of £25 before commencing work valued under £50. We ask for a £50 non-refundable deposit before starting work with a value between £50 to £250. 

Deposit and payment details for orders and commissions over £250 will be agreed before we commence work.  

For items that require us to place orders and make payments to third parties, (for example certificates or prints), we request full payment from you in advance. In such cases, we will contact you to confirm agreement before placing orders.