UK Origins Yorkshire England

Yorkshire and Northeast England

Gareth Watkins is one of the leading professional genealogists in the North of England.

He is the only East Yorkshire-based member of AGRA (the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives, the body which examines and regulates UK researchers) and is a signatory of their Code of Practice, which stresses the need for a high professional standard of work along with complete confidentiality. He is also a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (USA), the Society of Genealogists (London) and various regional family history societies.

Since graduating from Hull University in 1972 with a degree in history, Gareth has spent nearly 30 years in the region as a professional historian, working in the fields of archaeology, local and family history. He has lectured and taught widely in these subjects, and has published many books and articles on various aspects of the history of the region, including “Wilberforce and Hull”, the award-winning story of Hull’s most famous son (co-author, published by Kingston Press 2000).

Since 1997 he has been employed by Hull City Council as a full-time professional genealogist, running the Family History Unit at Hull Central Library; the Unit provides a free advice and education service for the residents of the city of Hull. Over this period he has helped more than 1400 people with their family history projects. He specialises in the records of Hull of the 19th and 20th centuries, but has extensive expertise of all aspects of family history work including: wills and probate research, tracing birth parents of adopted people, tracing living relatives, parish and non-conformist register searches, tracing burial places, and the production of pedigrees and presentation copies (popular as birthday or Christmas presents).

Areas Covered
All depositories in Hull and East Yorkshire, including Hull Libraries, Hull City Archives, Hull University Archives, East Riding Archives and local private collections. Other depositories in Yorkshire and Northeast England can be visited by arrangement.