Family History Web Links

Below are links to useful web sites which have information relevant to UK genealogy and family history research. These are listed as an aid to those wishing to do their own research into their own family tree. When you click on a link, the linked record will be displayed in a separate window.

General sites with nationwide coverage are listed first, followed by those which are organised by county or local area. Although many of these sites cover the whole of the UK, others cover only England (or England and Wales). Sites which are specific to Scotland and Ireland (or where the coverage is different for these countries) are listed at the end.

I have tried to keep abreast of any changes by updating the links below, but please let me know if any of the links don't work or take you to the wrong place.

General and nationwide family history sites

Ancestry.co.uk

Ancestry provides subscription-based and pay-per-view access to census and genealogical records. The UK site has the complete census records for England and Wales from 1841 to 1911 and the GRO index of births, marriages and deaths, all searchable by name. Its parish register collection includes many for relevant areas such as London, Liverpool and Dorset. There is also the National Register of 1939, some electoral registers and records relating to military service, immigration and probate. Ancestry also has an international site, and a library edition which is free to use in some public libraries and record offices.

Find My Past

This site provides subscription-based and pay-per-view access to the GRO index of births, marriages and deaths and the complete census records for England and Wales from 1841 to 1921. It has a growing collection of parish records, including many for Devon and Kent. The site also includes the National Register of 1939, a variety of military, legal and travel records, and a large newspaper archive.

FamilySearch

The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a large collection of genealogical data. Their web site provides free searching of many of the records transcribed by the LDS Church and the facility to browse images of some original records. They have a wide range of data extracted from church and civil registers, census records and other sources.

Free UK Genealogy

This is a is a charity working with volunteers to provide free transcriptions of family history records. The projects supported are:

FreeBMD

This provides searches for births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales from July 1837 to the 1980s (you can check the current coverage here).

FreeCEN

This provides searches of census transcriptions from various UK counties and census years (you can check the current coverage here).

FreeREG

This provides searches of baptism, marriage and burial records compiled from parish and non-conformist registers and bishops' transcripts (you can check the current coverage here).

General Register Office

The GRO holds records of births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales since 1837. Certificates can be ordered on-line from the GRO web site, which also contains a searchable index of births to the 1930s, deaths to 1957, and both births and deaths from 1984.

The National Archives

The range of official documents held here includes census and military records and copies of some wills. Scans of some documents can be can be purchased on-line from the web site.

National Archives: Discovery

This is a central search facility including the catalogues of many record offices, museums and archives.

Probate Service Will Search

The Probate Service provides on-line access to the index of wills and administrations proved since 1858.

Family History Federation

The Federation organises and supports projects that are of benefit to family historians, and has a number of useful resources on its web site.

Deceased Online

This site holds a searchable database of many burial and cremation registers from the UK and Ireland.

Find A Grave

Billion Graves

These sites provide transcriptions of memorial inscriptions from cemeteries worldwide, some with a photograph.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

This site holds records of all Commonwealth forces and some civilians who died in the two World Wars.

Historical Directories

The University of Leicester maintains a digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales.

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet

Cyndi Howells has a huge categorized and cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.

WorldGenWeb

This is an on-line repository for genealogical resources, with links to other on-line information sources. There is a specific GenWeb section for many countries, with varying amounts of detail.

RootsWeb.com

RootsWeb, run by Ancestry, provides facilities for users to help each other and to share genealogical research.

Web sites which are organised by county or locality

Find UK Archives

The National Archives directory includes links and contact details for record repositories in the United Kingdom.

Family History and Genealogy Societies

The GENUKI site lists the main family history societies in England with links to their web sites.

Family History Federation Societies

The Federation site lists their member societies in England, Wales and Ireland with contact details.

GENUKI: England

The aim of the UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service is to provide a "virtual reference library of genealogical information that is of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". The extent of the service varies from county to county, but most English counties have a GENUKI page or section which lists relevant reference sources.

On-line Parish Clerk Projects

Some English counties operate a free service provided by volunteers who have detailed resources for individual parishes. A few counties have a searchable database of transcriptions.

UKBMD: Births, Marriages, Deaths Indexes

This provides links to web sites that offer on-line transcriptions of UK births, marriages, deaths and census records.

Scotland's People

This is the main site for Scottish genealogical records and census returns. It gives pay-per-view access to civil registration records, which started in 1855 in Scotland, and many parish records for earlier years. The site also has original images of census schedules from 1841 to 1921 (both Ancestry and Find My Past allow you to search some Scottish census returns, but they have only transcripts rather than images).

National Records of Scotland

This is the official site for the National Archives of Scotland and the General Register Office for Scotland.

GENUKI: Scotland

The GENUKI site contains information and links for Scotland and for each Scottish county.

Family History and Genealogy Societies

GENUKI also lists the main family history societies in Scotland with links to their web sites.

Irish Genealogy

This is an official web site providing access to civil registration records of births, marriages and deaths and to some church and other records.

The National Archives of Ireland

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

These contain various Irish public records, including the surviving census returns (1901 and 1911) and some wills.

Ireland General Register Office

General Register Office of Northern Ireland

These hold information relating to the registration of births, marriages and deaths. Civil registration in Ireland started in 1845 for non-Catholic marriages and became universal in 1864.

RootsIreland

The Irish Family History Foundation is the co-ordinating body for genealogy centres in each Irish county. Their web site provides subscription-based access to church, civil and other records (the range of records which are available on-line varies by county).

GENUKI: Ireland

The GENUKI site contains information and links for Ireland and for each Irish county.