I have worked as a genealogist and family historian for well over 30 years, having started out by helping my parents Brenda and Geoffrey Copus, who at that time (in the late 1960s and early 1970s) were undertaking research mainly for members of the LDS Church. They retired some years ago, but my father still helps me with searches occasionally and I return the compliment by looking up entries for him when he is preparing talks or local history exhibitions, usually in Tunbridge Wells or Chelsfield.

I became a full-time researcher on my own account in 1976, and have always been especially interested in research in South West Kent - parishes in the general area of Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Maidstone. I also regularly use many of the national resources now readily available on the Internet. These include the IGI; national Census returns and indexes on "Ancestry.co.uk"; and the GRO indexes there and on, for example, "Family Relatives". I have been a member of AGRA since 1989 and abide by its Code of Practice - see the AGRA website for full details.

My indexes, compiled over the past 30 years, give me ready access to a great deal of information, much of it, again, relating to South West Kent. Since I also have copies of the original source material in microformat (microfilms or microfiche), as transcripts or in digital form (CD or DVD etc), I can provide full details of entries found. I have always taken great pains to ensure accuracy in my indexes and research, although it would be foolish to pretend that one can ever be absolutely, 100% accurate - sometimes, for instance, it is simply impossible to decipher names or phrases, especially as the use of microfilm or other copies is now almost invariably the rule.

I do not make any extra charge to clients for making use of my extensive Private Research Collection, including my own indexes, when undertaking research on their behalf. My own indexes (though not, of course, the original sources from which they have been created) are mostly not available elsewhere, although a few have been published by the Kent Family History Society, and I also collaborated with the North West Kent FHS, and with their Census Coordinator Stephen Archer, on their published index to the 1851 Census of Sevenoaks Registration District.

I aim to report on searches in general within 3 months from their being commissioned, wherever possible. However, the results of searches in my indexes and in the other material in my Private Research Collection, or of any other searches which I can carry out from home, should normally be available within one month from their being requested. Like most members of AGRA and no doubt most other genealogists, I am a one man operation and do not have any secretarial or other backup, so there can sometimes be longer delays, although I do naturally make every effort to provide as quick and efficient a service as humanly possible.

I also have access through my parents, Brenda and Geoffrey Copus, to more material, much of it again unique, and including a large volume of original research relating to Chelsfield, Kent, and surrounding parishes. My father, Geoffrey Copus, has been studying the local and family history of that area for over 60 years (with the assistance, even before their marriage at Chelsfield in 1953, of my mother Brenda!) and has recently published his "Chelsfield Chronicles". A few copies of this definitive local history are still available from him (email: geoff@copus31.freeserve.co.uk ) at £11.50 including UK p & p (please enquire for postage costs outside the UK).

Matthew Copus
307 Dale Street
Chatham
Kent ME4 6QR

Email: info@mcopus.co.uk
Web Site: www.mcopus.co.uk