Following a lengthy search, Louise Mason is finally piecing together her family tree, thanks to the JC's online archive service, which she says gave her some great leads.

Mrs Mason, 55, now has 1,500 names on the tree, which she started after meeting a distant cousin in South Africa.

She tells People: "He said that he was related to us but we couldn't work out how, so I started my research."

She searched the JC's online archives and managed to trace her great aunt and uncle, and their children, and made contact with them.

"Many people don't know what wealth of opportunities there are within the archives. Also, I think that some people think that the archives are just London-based but this isn't the case."

Mrs Mason, who lives in Totteridge, north London, is also now using the archives to help others to trace their family.