Kerrywood Research is managed by Judy Lester.
I am a qualified, experienced and full-time family historian based in London, providing a friendly and reliable research service to clients in the UK and overseas.
After graduating BA (1st Class Hons.) and MA from the University of Cambridge in the 1970s, I pursued a 20-year career in UK publishing as an Editor and Researcher of encyclopaedias and reference-books on historical subjects. Choosing to specialise in family history, I then gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Family & Local History from the University of Dundee.
I have experience in Palaeography (the study of old handwriting), and I transcribe and interpret medieval and early modern documents, in both English and Latin.
With a special interest in English poor-law and workhouse records, I enjoy volunteering at the National Archives as part of a team of record specialists surveying and transcribing letters for the project In Their Own Write.
Since 2012 I have been a fully accredited Member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA). I joined the AGRA Council in 2022. AGRA is the only professional body for genealogists in England that assesses its members on their research skills and professional conduct. I have appeared as a London expert on the TV series 'Who Do You Think You Are?', and I contribute regularly to family history magazines.
I enjoy my work enormously, pursuing other people's elusive ancestors with the same commitment and enthusiasm as if they were my own. Most of all, I relish the challenge of finding and identifying all the missing pieces that are needed to complete the jigsaw puzzles of our ancestry.
If you would like some help with your ancestors, please take a look at my Research Service.
I am a qualified, experienced and full-time family historian based in London, providing a friendly and reliable research service to clients in the UK and overseas.
After graduating BA (1st Class Hons.) and MA from the University of Cambridge in the 1970s, I pursued a 20-year career in UK publishing as an Editor and Researcher of encyclopaedias and reference-books on historical subjects. Choosing to specialise in family history, I then gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Family & Local History from the University of Dundee.
I have experience in Palaeography (the study of old handwriting), and I transcribe and interpret medieval and early modern documents, in both English and Latin.
With a special interest in English poor-law and workhouse records, I enjoy volunteering at the National Archives as part of a team of record specialists surveying and transcribing letters for the project In Their Own Write.
Since 2012 I have been a fully accredited Member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA). I joined the AGRA Council in 2022. AGRA is the only professional body for genealogists in England that assesses its members on their research skills and professional conduct. I have appeared as a London expert on the TV series 'Who Do You Think You Are?', and I contribute regularly to family history magazines.
I enjoy my work enormously, pursuing other people's elusive ancestors with the same commitment and enthusiasm as if they were my own. Most of all, I relish the challenge of finding and identifying all the missing pieces that are needed to complete the jigsaw puzzles of our ancestry.
If you would like some help with your ancestors, please take a look at my Research Service.