Occasionally Fraser and Fraser’s researchers encounter evidence of the almost unbelievable damage wrought to families by two world wars.

This is precisely what happened when we set out to trace the relatives of William Faber. Not only had the life-long bachelor lost three serviceman brothers during the Second World War, we also discovered that both his parents and several of his cousins had fallen victim to the bombing raids of the London Blitz.

A similar fate had befallen his mother’s family. She was one of eight siblings, but all of her four brothers had lost their lives during the First World War, either in Europe or the Middle East.   

Other families suffered similar catastrophe. Of the 6 million British men who were mobilised between 1914 and 1918, around 700,000 were killed, with many others dying in the years that followed from the injuries they had suffered on the battlefield.

Some of the estates we encounter still retain mementos of this period, including medals, memorabilia and letters written to and from those who were serving on the front line.

It is always very sad to realise that these treasured family heirlooms, carefully preserved for decades to help keep alive the memory of a loved one, have already lost so much of their significance. All too often, even when such family treasures are relayed to heirs, the precise story behind them will have been lost, replaced by the generic information that can be extracted from history books or websites.

The world wars provide other challenges for genealogists. Records were burned, mislaid or never created, towns and villages were destroyed or damaged beyond recognition and whole communities became refugees, with relatives losing touch for decades or potentially forever. 

Researches that venture into this volatile era can prove highly frustrating, especially when a seemingly promising avenue comes to an abrupt end, but they can also be incredibly rewarding when, through the chaos of garbled identities, missing documents and vague recollections, the parts of an intricate puzzle finally fall into place.

Of course, we have to accept that some records are lost forever, but if people share the stories behind their family heirlooms either directly with their relatives or via their will then the sacrifices of people such as William Faber’s three soldier brothers will be remembered for generations to come.

Names, dates and places in this article have been changed to preserve client confidentiality.