Ancestry Premium membership and fold3
 

I have recently come back to Ancestry after a year's break, taking out a Worldwide membership.

I have just had an email from them detailing new records which include UK, Naval and Military Courts Martial Registers, 1806-1930. There is something there about my gt grandfather's court martial in 1864 but when I try to view the page it tells me I need to have access to something called "fold3" for which I need to have a premium "access all areas" subscription. I thought I had this but apparently not and I can't find out from the site how much extra they want for it. A LostCousins newsletter a few weeks ago suggested that this kind of subscription costs a whopping £229.99! There is an option to have a 7 day free trial which would let me see the vital record but I am loathe to start it in case cancelling at the end of the 7 days would also cancel my Worldwide membership and I certainly don't want to be billed for an extra £50! I think this is all very, very naughty of Ancestry.

Has anyone any experience of this please? Was it easy to cancel without jeopardising your existing Ancestry membership?

Edit: Also meant to ask: does anyone know exactly what info is in these records? I know what the outcome was (guillty, imprisoned and demoted) from his army record but want to know what the charge was.

If you google for Fold3 free trial, it takes you to the Fold3 website and you can create a Fold3 account using your email address. You could make sure to use a different email address from the one that you use for ancestry if you are worried about them linking the two?

I haven't looked at the court martial records since I haven't got a Fold3 sub or an ancestry "all access" one, but there is an article in the latest issue of WDYTYA magazine which says that the Court Martial Register will give details of the man being charged, the place of trial, the charges, the verdict, the sentence (if guilty) and a "Remarks" column.

Thanks Kite. Those are the details I want so, tomorrow, I will try the Google route to the free trial.

Tried going to fold3 via Google but, when I investigate the 7 day free trial it immediately links to my Ancestry account... presumably through my IP address as, at that stage I hadn't entered an email address.

After giving it some thought I went to TNA website and have asked them to do an initial page search for me as I have all the details they need for that. I will then buy a copy from them. I know I could get a free trial of fold3 through Ancestry but I am prepared to cut off my nose to spite my face here on a matter of principle. I would rather pay a small amount to our own National Archives because I think it is so wrong of Ancestry to charge what is not a small amount for what is advertised as premium access membership and then suddenly move the goalposts by hiding records behind another pay wall.

I think it will be via cookies on your computer rather than your IP address.

Yes, either clear your cookies or use a different browser.