About Me
I'm Antony Marr, I worked as a police officer in London for 30 years, and have now embarked on a second career in Genealogy and Family History Research. I enjoy the challenge of solving family mysteries, tracing missing family branches and helping people uncover the stories that made them who they are.
In addition to many years of researching my own family and my investigative experience from my police background, I have completed the Post Graduate level certificate in "Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies" with the University of Strathclyde and also hold a Certificate in Education from the University of Greenwich.
I am a Member, and very honoured to have previously been the Chair, of AGRA, the Association of Genealogists in Archives, which is the only UK based professional organisation for genealogists that requires applicants to go through a rigorous admissions process to assess their knowledge, experience and the quality and professionalism of their work, and which requires members to abide by its code of practice.
I also have experience working as a Deputy Registrar in Buckinghamshire, dealing with all aspects of the registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages in the county. This has led to my special interest in, and understanding of, the civil registration system, which is so essential in tracing living or missing relatives in more recent records.
My Own Family History
My family has no aristocratic connections, no great inventors, or famous military heroes but even so investigating my own roots has taken me on a fascinating journey through the history and geography of the UK.
I have learnt about the Irish Potato Famine and the exodus that led to my Great Great Grandfather being born in Liverpool in 1859. I have looked into the history of religious persecution and intolerance - including Catholicism in Lancashire and my maternal ancestor's links to the growth of Wesleyan Methodism. I have learnt about illegitimacy in Scotland, cotton weaving in Lancashire, and patronymic naming in North Wales.
I have visited the streets my ancestors walked, seen some of the houses they lived in and visited the churches where they were baptised and married and found the churchyards where they were buried.
I have looked at census records, parish records, military papers, immigration and emigration documents, legal papers, title deeds, maps and wills, and learnt something new from all of them.
I am a regular visitor to The National Archive in Kew, the library of the Society of Genealogists and numerous county archives.
Names I have researched in my own extended family include:
Marr/Maher, Leach, Corless, Cottrell, Hummer, Hardacre, Slater, Wrennall, Jeffs, Edwards, Murphy and many many more.