Step into the fascinating world of Britain’s theatrical past and uncover the stories of ancestors who worked on the stage. This immersive day combines practical research skills with on-the-ground exploration, helping family historians, theatre enthusiasts, and researchers bring the lives of theatrical forebears to life.

The day begins with a hands-on workshop at the Society of Genealogists in Wharf Road, where you’ll learn how to trace performers, theatre workers, and entertainment professionals from the Georgian and Victorian eras. In the afternoon, we step out into the historic streets of Covent Garden, an area long associated with actors, playwrights, market traders, and colourful characters, to explore the places where many of these lives unfolded.

Together, the workshop and walking tour offer a unique opportunity to learn the research methods in the morning and experience the historic theatrical landscape in the afternoon.

Morning: Theatre Ancestors: Researching 18th–19th Century Performers
A Practical Two-Hour Workshop with Mish Holman

This hands-on session introduces participants to the rich world of 18th and 19th century theatrical history and the tools needed to trace ancestors who lived and worked on the stage. Blending guided exploration with independent searching, the workshop equips family historians, theatre enthusiasts, and researchers with practical strategies for uncovering the lives of actors, dancers, singers, stagehands, and other performance professionals from the Georgian and Victorian eras.

Participants will learn how to navigate key online resources, including biographical dictionaries, theatrical directories, digitised playbills, theatre calendars, memoirs, and period newspapers. The session highlights major digital repositories such as the Internet Archive and HathiTrust, and introduces important overseas collections - most notably the Lewis Walpole Library, and other specialist archives that preserve rare theatrical materials. 

Through demonstrations and guided exercises attendees will practise locating and interpreting sources, understanding the structure of historical theatre records, and piecing together the careers and movements of stage ancestors. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a toolkit of research methods, a curated list of reliable resources, and the confidence to continue their investigations independently.

Afternoon: Performers, Pineapples, Courtyards and Courtesans 
Historic Covent Garden walk with Diane Burstein

Covent Garden has undergone many changes over the years. Once a market garden tended by the monks at Westminster Abbey, the area was London’s first West End development with the first London square called a Piazza due to architect Inigo Jones’ love of all things Italian. Known for its bustling fruit, vegetable and flower market which flourished here until 1974, the area attracted actors, artists and writers. 

Three hundred years ago you could buy your fruit and veg, visit one of the many theatres, and drink at the taverns and coffee houses which often doubled up as brothels.  Today Londoners visit to drink, eat and shop but there are still many quiet corners, courtyards and alleyways to discover. We’ll uncover the history, hear about some scandalous behaviour and conjure up pictures of the busy market which operated every day except Christmas Day. View the Actor’s Church, discover a former auction room which is now a luxury tea shop, walk down a hidden alley which remain unchanged from the 18th century, and hear about the colourful characters who inhabited this area in the past.

By combining archival research skills with historic storytelling on location this special day offers a richer understanding of the theatrical world your ancestors may have inhabited. You’ll leave not only with practical tools for researching stage professionals, but also with a vivid sense of the neighbourhoods where performers lived, worked, socialised, and made history. 

• Not a Member yet? Find out more here and get a 20% discount on the day.