Genealogy resources in the UK

Are you researching your family history? There are many resources available to you.There are a few on the World Wide Web, although I am afraid you are going to have to investigate other sources if you really want to get accurate detail.

To start, the main sources to consider are:

• national registers of births, deaths and marriages;
• parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials;
• census information.

These are generaly reliable resources, although you have to be aware of the possible pitfalls, including people changing or simply misspelling their names, and inaccurate dates (either accidental, or deliberately disguising an illegitimate birth).

Registers of births, marriages and deaths

In England and Wales, registration of births, deaths and marriages began in 1837, although it was some years before it was universally adopted. Prior to 1875, when the authorities got a bit more serious about enforcing registration, many births, deaths and marriages simply went unregistered.

FreeBMD is a voluntary project which provides free Internet access to a copy of the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales. It is far from complete but, being free, is a good starting point. You will still have to contact the register office to order, and pay for, any certificates you require.

Parish registers

Parish registers can take you back as far as 1538 when a law was passed requiring the clergy to keep records. Naturally, there was a deal of apathy and reluctance to change, and some registers have been lost or destroyed, so again the coverage can be patchy, especially for the early years. Nowadays, the registers are generally kept in County Record Offices, although there are still a few kept in their original parishes, so searching these registers can mean travelling around, unless your ancestors all conveniently stayed in one place.

The good news is that there is now a FreeREG project to provide free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records that have been transcribed from parish and non-conformist registers.

British census information

Apart from during the second worls war, censuses have been taken every 10 years since 1841. Until the census information is 100 years old, it is not available to the general public. The latest available census (1901) is now available online. For other censuses, you will have to consult the General Records Office (GRO) at Southport or the Family Records Centre. You can also search the FreeCEN database.