Family heritage site locks out Sheffielders after hitting 5,000 download limit

Sheffield City Archives gave the password to its Find My Past account, so people could trace back their family tree while its buildings are closed for lockdown.

However, it proved so popular it has reached its limit and locked everyone out.

Peter Evans, archives and heritage manager at Sheffield City Archives, said: “I think because a lot of people are at home and I think some have decided to trace their ancestors and do their family tree and those that have already started doing it have found they've got even more time now to dig even deeper.

“Because we were fortunate enough to get free access to Find My Past - which has billions of names on it - lots of people have been able to log in and start tracing their family tree.

“And because we’re so popular, we’ve reached its maximum download limit quite quickly, but we’re hoping we can resolve that and access will be restored pretty soon.

“It's a great way for families to connect and although people can't do that physically, they can share it through the internet and share their family's memories."

In an automatic email response, Sheffield City Archives said it was working with Find My Past to increase the daily and monthly allocation so people can continue their research.

Sheffield City Archives has also given free access to its account for the British Newspaper Archive - which has nearly 37 million pages dating as far back as the 1700s.

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