England Project Research Resources

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England Project | England Research Resources

Births Marriages & Deaths

• FamilySearch for parish records, census, births, marriages, deaths and much more.

• UKBMD links to nearly 1500 sites that offer online transcription of UK BMD and census material.

• General Register Office Civil registration for births, marriages and deaths started in 1837 for England and Wales. The GRO maintain the national archive of all births, marriages and deaths dating back to 1837 and further information can be found on their site.

• FreeBMD is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records.

• Deceased Online The central database for UK burials and cremations. Search registers by Country, Region, County, Burial Authority or Crematorium free of charge.

• Gravestone Photographic Resource If you are lucky enough to find an ancestor listed here, then you're guaranteed a photo of the grave. Everyone listed on the site has had a photo taken of the headstone.

Census

• FreeCEN is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to provide a "free-to-view" online searchable database of the 19th century UK census returns.

• UK Census Online

• Find My Past although this is a pay to use site it is FREE to search and view the 1881 England and Wales census.

Censuses at Familysearch

• England and Wales Census, 1841
• England and Wales Census, 1851
• England and Wales Census, 1861
• England and Wales Census, 1871
• England and Wales Census, 1881
• England and Wales Census, 1891
• England and Wales Census, 1901
• England and Wales Census, 1911

But you have to go to FMP or Ancestry for the images

Parish Registers

• Guide to parish registers.

• Church Heritage Record The Church Heritage Record contains over 16,000 entries on church buildings in England covering a wide variety of topics including architectural history, archaeology, art history and the surrounding natural environment. It is continuously being updated and should not be regarded as complete.

• DustyDocs Links to Free websites in the British Isles containing Parish Records.

• FreeREG stands for free registers, their aim is to provide free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records, which have been extracted from parish registers and non-conformist church records in the UK. The recording of baptisms, marriages and burials in parish registers began in England in 1538 and is separate and distinct from the civil registration process that began in 1837.

• Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial BMDs for records of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial taken from non parish sources.

• Parish Finder a brilliant parish search tool for genealogists. You can search for a parish, calculate distances between parishes, list surrounding parishes and see the Chapman codes ( set of 3-letter codes identifying the traditional administrative divisions in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands)

• Clandestine Marriages At one time up to half of London marriages were Clandestine and there is a wealth of information in these documents, but note the salutary warning “It must be emphasised that the information in the Fleet documents (particularly those before 1714) should be treated with extreme caution as dates given are unreliable and names or indeed whole entries may be fictitious.”

County Resources

• The England County Resource Pages

Reliable resources

• England Reliable Sources Pre-1700. A summary of what are generally considered to be reliable sources for pre-1700 profiles in England.

Images

• Galleries and Collections which have given Permission for use of Images. Some galleries and collections which permit WikiTree to use images found on their websites.

Medieval

• Index of English Heraldic visitations that have been published online

• Another Index of Heraldic Research archives published online, by James Dempster of the Heraldry Society of Scotland. The erroneous link to Volume 5 of England and Wales on some sites is corrected on this site. (See also the internal WikiTree resources below)

• Pedigree names of the Visitations by Volume (A WikiTree resource) [Volumes 1-15, 18,20 completed so far]

• Master Index of Pedigree names of the Visitations for all volumes. (A WikiTree resource) [Volumes 1-15, 18,20 completed so far]

• Index of Pedigree names of the Visitations by County for all volumes. (A WikiTree resource) [Volumes 1-15, 18,20 completed so far]

• Inquisitions Post Mortem A useful source for English medieval genealogy. Lists people who held land directly from the King (which obviously wasn't every big landowner, but many gentry families can be found in these records). Basically, when somebody died, a list of his (or her) land holdings was made, together with a list of heir or heirs to the land. Of course, in simple cases the eldest son was the sole heir, so younger siblings wouldn't get mentioned. But there are lots of more complicated cases with additional information.

Military

• Royal Navy Database

• Find a Soldiers Will Search for the will of a soldier who died while serving in the British armed forces between 1850 and 1986. Free to search, £6 for a digital copy of the will.

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Details of servicemen and civilians killed during the two world wars.

• The Gazette Official record of the British government (and the English government before 1801), with records of military commissions, promotions, medals, and also legal notices.

• A Naval Biographical Dictionary Short biographies, listing each ship they had served on, of every living officer in the Royal Navy, ranked lieutenant or higher, as of 1849.

• Royal Naval Biography Short biographies, listing each ship they had served on, of every living officer in the Royal Navy, ranked captain or higher, as of 1823.

Jewish

• JCR-UK Jewish Communities and Records - United Kingdom

Maps

• English Jurisdictions 1851

• History of English Piaces Smartphone app

• Historic Maps of England

Other

• The Workhouse information on all the workhouses in England.

• UK Fairground Ancestors if you have showmen, circus and fairground ancestors then this site is a must.

• Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835

• Lost Hospitals of London if you have ever had someone die in a London Hospital.

• Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records

• Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents preserved in the Public Record Office

• Honors and Knights' Fees

• Testamenta Vetusta

• The New Chronicles of England and France

• The Victoria History Of The Counties Of England

• National Coal Mining Museum Library. The Library holds record on not only the geographical and technical aspects of mining coal, but also the social, economic and political aspect of the industry and the communities it touched.

• National Railway Museum Family History Resources

On Wikitree

• For early research material for Name Studies and Surnames see Visitations Of England and Wales for a surname index and Visitations Cross-reference by County for a county index.
• Rick Pierpont's Sources for England

Travel

• Castle Garden to find your ancestors that emigrated from 1820-1892

• Ellis Island 1892-1924 passenger lists of those that emigrated to United States via the port of New York.

Reference

• Registration Districts in England and Wales This is an index, by county, of the registration districts of England and Wales.

• A Vision of Britain Through Time powerful search engine for huge database of Gazetteers, historical maps, travel writing of earlier centuries, sponsored by U. of Portsmouth & others; this one site has helped me find the right place out of misspelled locations in Britain more than any other aid.

• British History Online British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles and was created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust.

• Historical Directories Large range of digitised UK directories.

• Index of Old Occupations meanings of terms and abbreviations for occupations used on census returns.

• FamilySearch Wiki for England is an excellent resource to help you with all areas of your research.

• Genuki for England this page has lots and lots of links relating to the whole of England and helpful information.

• The National Archives The UK government's official archive, from Domesday Book to websites. The National Archives is home to millions of documents, files and images that cover 1,000 years of history.

• The Archon Directory contact details for archives throughout the UK.

• Cyndi's List Vast list of genealogy links, worldwide.

Societies and Guilds

• Society of Genealogists Britain’s premier family history society.

• The Guild of One-Name Studies the world's leading organisation for one-name studies.

• Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) contact details for local and regional Family History Societies

County Record Offices

• Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, Chester

• Cornwall Record Office, Truro

• Devon Record Office, Exeter

• Durham Record Office, Durham

• Lincolnshire Record Office, Lincoln

• Somerset Record Office, Taunton

• Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, Chippenham

• East Riding of Yorkshire Archives and Local Studies. Treasurers House, Beverley.

• North Yorkshire County Record Office.

• South Yorkshire Archives are held at 4 centres. Experience Barnsley - Barnsley Archives and Discovery Centre, Doncaster Archives, Rotherham Archives and Local History, Sheffield City Archives & Local Studies Library

• West Yorkshire Archive Services There are five District Offices, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.

Other Offices, Libraries etc

• Borthwick Institute, York

• Durham University Library, Palace Green

• York Minster Library

If you would like further help why not post a question on G2G Q&A

Please help other researchers by adding/editing any links