A Family History Of...

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 Baldwin

Guest: Lucy Worsley

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.

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 Baldwin

Guest: Lucy Worsley

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.

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.