Many of our ancestors had brushes with the law and, inevitably as result, courts of various forms. Whether it was probate, divorce, a sudden death, criminality or a dog licence there are many reasons for people to appear in court records.
Let our experts guide you on a journey of discovery into the legal past of your ancestors!
The 10-week course covers:
- Church Courts
- Manorial Courts
- Reading Court Documents
- Chancery and Exchequer Courts
- Changing Face of Chancery Courts Cases
- Delving into 19th-Century Chancery Suits
- Minor Courts
- Unlocking Law Archives
- King’s Bench and Common Law Courts
- Using the Feet of Fines
- Civil Litigation: The Civil Side of Quarter Sessions
- C20 & Late C19 Civil Litigation
- Coroners Records
- True, Public & Notorious: A Case of Georgian Abuse & Victorian Divorce
- The High Court of Parliament
- People and Petitions
- Livery Company Courts
- Ethnic Minorities Court Records
- 20% Discount for all Society of Genealogists Members
- Recordings available until 25 April 2027 for everyone who pre-books
Click here for information about our events. Contact events@sog.org.uk if you have any questions.
Programme details
| Church Courts | Online | 21/01/2027 | 19:00 - 21:00 | |
| Manorial Court Records - But which one is my ancestor? | Online | 28/01/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| Reading Court Records | Online | 28/01/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| Chancery and Exchequer Courts | Online | 04/02/2027 | 19:00 - 21:00 | |
| The Changing Face of the Chancery Courts Cases | Online | 11/02/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| Bleak House Revived: Delving into 19th-Century Chancery Suits | Online | 11/02/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| Minor Courts (Star Chamber, Requests, Palatinate and Duchy of Lancaster Courts) | Online | 18/02/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| Unlocking Law’s Archives: Negotiating the Labyrinth | Online | 18/02/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| King’s Bench and Common Law Records | Online | 25/02/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| Using the Feet of Fines: An Obscure Key to English Land Records in the Court of Common Pleas | Online | 25/02/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| Civil Litigation: The Civil Side of Quarter Sessions | Online | 04/03/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| C20 & Late C19 Civil Litigation | Online | 04/03/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| Coroners Records C19/C20 | Online | 11/03/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| True, Public & Notorious - A Case of Georgian Abuse & Victorian Divorce | Online | 11/03/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| The High Court of Parliament | Online | 18/03/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| People and Petitions: How to use petitions made to the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes for genealogical research | Online | 18/03/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 | |
| Livery Company Courts | Online | 25/03/2027 | 19:00 - 20:00 | |
| Rich pickings! Gleaning for information in court records, in connection with ethnic minorities, the Caribbean and the Americas, and Africa | Online | 25/03/2027 | 20:00 - 21:00 |
About the Speaker
Else Churchill
Else Churchill is the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists in London. Formerly a professional genealogical librarian and researcher, Else has worked for the SoG since 1994. She is the Society’s subject lead, working across the organisation and runs the publishing programme. She was the recipient of the IHGS Julian Bickersteth Memorial Medal in 2023 for her exemplary contribution to family history studies.
About the Speaker
Sarah Pettyfer
Sarah Pettyfer holds the IHGS Higher Certificate and Diploma in Genealogy and is a professional family and house history researcher and a solicitor (no longer practising). It is therefore not surprising that her specialist areas of interest are legal records, such as court records, both civil (manorial, chancery, etc) and criminal and deeds. Sarah prefers to undertake pre-C19th research. She is a Member and Chair of AGRA. She is also a member of RQG, and APG. Sarah is also the author of "Tracing your Surrey Ancestors: A guide for family historians" published by Pen & Sword.
About the Speaker
Caroline Adams
Dr. Caroline Adams is a palaeographer and historian. She was formerly an archivist, and then ran her own research business, Key to the Past, for ten years. She is now mostly retired but teaches palaeography and archival studies. She is particularly interested in manorial records and has published an Elizabethan manorial survey.
About the Speaker
Nicholas Dixon
Dr Nicholas Dixon is a professional genealogist and historical researcher in London. He studied history at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and was awarded a PhD degree in 2019 for a thesis concerning the Church of England in the early nineteenth century. He is an external contributor to the History of Parliament project and undertakes research projects for clients. He is also a director of the Register of Qualified Genealogists and a representative for the Britain, Ireland and the Isles Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
About the Speaker
Charlotte Smith
Dr Charlotte Smith is a lawyer and legal historian specialising in ecclesiastical, legal, and imperial history, and the intersections between them, in the (very) long nineteenth century.
About the Speaker
Dan Gosling
Dr Daniel Gosling is an archivist and historian, specialising in the records created and received by the central law courts of common law and equity, c. 1450-1850. He previously worked as Archives Assistant at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn and as Archivist (Catalogue Data) at The National Archives, where he now works as Principal Legal Records Specialist. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, sits on the council of the List & Index Society, and is a member of the Archives & Records Association and the Selden Society.
About the Speaker
Helen Rutherford
Dr Helen Rutherford is a non-practising solicitor and an Associate Professor at Northumbria University Law School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Her research focuses on coroners, trials, punishment, and the law in the nineteenth century – particularly in the North East of England. She teaches an undergraduate course on inquests and supervises student projects using local and national archives. Her collection of three volumes of primary sources on the nineteenth-century coroner will be published by Routledge in December 2026, and her co-authored book on Newcastle Gaol was published by Tyne Bridge Publishing in 2025. Her current research explores the use of maps and plans in murder trials. She has carried out research for several episodes of the BBC series A House Through Time.
About the Speaker
Susan Swalwell
As caretaker of the family archive, Sue has studied her ancestors and their communities for over forty years. She manages a Swalwell One-Name Study, which explores the family surname, its origins, and its place within history. Sue loves sharing forgotten stories and is an experienced speaker and writer on family and local history matters.
About the Speaker
Jennifer Aston
Dr Jennifer Aston is an Associate Professor of Law at Northumbria University Law School. Her academic work focuses on gender history, particularly the role of women in 19th-century Britain and their engagement in legal and financial systems. She has recently completed an ESRC-funded project on petitions made to the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes 1858-1923 and is especially interested in how women navigated traditionally male-dominated spheres. Her research has been featured on television and radio programmes for the BBC and More4.
About the Speaker
Joe Saunders
Joe Saunders is a freelance researcher, focussing primarily on the early modern period (c.1500-1780). He is also working on a PhD at the University of York researching a social history of the print trade in seventeenth century England. He teaches for Pharos Tutors, is a Trustee of the British Association for Local History, an Associate of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives, and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
About the Speaker
Yetunde Abiola
Yetunde Abiola has been researching her family history for 13 years. As a Black British woman of Nigerian and Jamaican descent she has lived in Nigeria, Jamaica, Switzerland, Togo and Egypt. She travels extensively for family history research and networking and is conversant with the interplay of histories and politics in today’s multi-cultural world. Her areas of expertise include the impact of ancestor stories on the lives of future generations and the complexities and intricacies of African, Caribbean, Diaspora and Colonial genealogies.
