How to find photographs of your ancestors

Photos are a fantastic way of bringing you a little closer to your ancestors, giving you an insight into the people who made you what you are today. Photographs have the power to add a wealth of colour to your family history, and you might be surprised by how many you can find right here at Findmypast.

Your relative doesn't even have to have committed a crime or made headlines to have their likeness documented (although that can certainly help!). There are certain record sets that are much more likely to have photos than others. 

Another approach is in our collection of millions of pages of historic newspapers. If your ancestor served in the military during World War I or II, start with a search for their name, with the option of narrowing the search fields to newspapers from the local area. If that doesn't return any results, try searching for the name of their battalion for group photos.

It's a long shot, but simply searching for the area your relatives lived during certain dates could turn up a surprising result. Photos of local residents often appear under ambiguous headlines such as "Fun in the Snow" or "A Day at the Races", and you may just recognise a certain upturned nose in your searches.