Manchester and Lancashire Cotton Towns Ancestry

Dr Dean Kirby is a professional genealogist, family historian, ancestral tour guide, non-fiction author and former investigative journalist with a PhD in urban history. If you're tracing your roots in Victorian Manchester or the cotton mill towns of Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury, Bolton, Wigan and wider Lancashire, he can help find your ancestors in the heart of Cottonopolis – the world's first industrial city region. With 30+ years of research experience starting in Manchester Central Library in the 1980s, Dean brings expertise in uncovering forgotten stories, reconnecting with heritage, and providing personal context to ancestors' lives. In 2016, he wrote a bestselling book about living conditions in Victorian Manchester after discovering his own ancestors lived in Angel Meadow slum, and he now leads walking tours in the area. He has experience researching Mancunian-Irish roots through research trips to Ireland and has cycled across the Somme tracing a World War I soldier ancestor's journey. Dean uses his skills as a genealogist, history author, tour guide, and investigative journalist to help clients make new family discoveries and break through brick walls in their research.