The following websites provide
genealogical information and are intended as a brief guide to just
some of the vast number of sites which are available for the family
historian.
CENSUS RETURNS
1911 Census Released
in 2009 and is currently only available via this website. Vouchers
to access either scanned images of the household returns or
transcripts can be obtained from Suffolk Record Office
1841-1901
Census Contains searchable indices of the above censuses
for the British Isles (the only exception being Northern Ireland)
and these are available to use free of charge in all Suffolk Record
Offices and Libraries. Scanned images are available of the original
census records and there is a
charge for
printouts. This website also provides full access to the census
returns for the USA for the period 1790-1930 and various other
countries around the world
1881 Census The
1881 census is available online via the Church of Jesus Christ of
the Latter Day Saints website and full access is free. This website
also provides free access to the 1880 census returns for the USA
and the 1881 Canadian census. This site does not currently
provide access to digital images of the census
CIVIL
REGISTRATION
General Register Office Index to Births, Marriages and
Deaths Contains a complete index of birth, marriage and
death certificates issued in England and Wales from 1837 to
2005
Free BMD A free
index to births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. It is
however an ongoing project and although currently incomplete it is
a substantial index and as of 9 March 2009 it comprised of 375,628
entries. NB – These 2 websites only provide access to the index -
you will then need to purchase the relevant certificate(s) to
obtain full details of the birth, marriage or death
Other Indexes to Births,
Marriages and Deaths Includes:
British births, marriages and deaths overseas, 1761-2005
British births at sea, 1854-1887
British marriages at sea, 1854-1883
British deaths at sea, 1854-1890
Armed forces births, 1761-1994
Armed forces marriages, 1818-1994
Armed forces deaths, 1796-1994
General Register Office for
England Provides details as to how to obtain copies of
certificates for England and Wales, costs, methods of payment
etc.
General Register Office
for Scotland
General Register Office for
Northern Ireland
Suffolk Register Offices Provides the addresses, opening hours
and contact details for the six Suffolk Register Offices located at
Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Stowmarket, Sudbury and
Woodbridge.
COUNTY RECORD OFFICES Your local Record Office
will provide a wealth of material for family history research and
details of the local offices, opening times, locations, holdings
etc can be found on their web pages:
Cambridge
Record Office
Norfolk
Record Office
Suffolk Record
Office
FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES Contact the relevant
local family history society and exchange ideas with like minded
people who may well be tracing the same family:
Cambridge Family History
Society
Essex Society for Family
History
Federation of Family History
Societies
Guild of One-Name
Studies
Norfolk Family History
Society
Society of Genealogists
Railway Ancestors
Family History Society
Romany and Traveller Family
History Society
Suffolk Family History
Society
MIGRATION These databases include records relating to both
emigration and immigration:
Moving Here Offers a
practical guide to tracing Caribbean, Irish, Jewish and South Asian
ancestry
UK Incoming Passenger
Lists, 1878-1960 These are recorded in the immigration
section of this website. It is a database of passenger lists of
ships arriving in the UK from foreign ports outside of Europe and
the Mediterranean. Entries include the name of the passenger, their
date of birth or age, port of departure, port of arrival, date of
arrival and the name of the vessel
UK Outward Bound Passenger
Lists, 1890-1960 These are recorded under the migration
section of this website
UK Passport Applications,
1851-1903 These are recorded under the migration section
of this website
MILITARY
DATABASES
British War Graves Project This is a voluntary project to
build an online international photographic war memorial to service
personnel from 1914 to the present day
Commonwealth War Graves
Commission Covers both military and civilian deaths for the UK,
Australian, Canadian, Indian, New Zealand and South African forces
in WWI and WWII
Suffolk Roll of
Honour A roll of honour for the men and women of Suffolk
who died in World War One
Victoria
Cross Registers Search by name, rank, regiment, campaign
and location. Containing information such as when the award was
made, by whom and whether it was a posthumous award
ARMY:
Army
Lists Roll Calls, 1656-1888
Army
Records Centre Provideing information about the relevant
contact addresses for obtaining details about Army service records
post 1920. Earlier service records are held at The National
Archives
Waterloo Medal Roll,
1815
Women’s
Army Auxiliary Corps, 1917-1920 Covers c.7000 women who
joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, later known as Queen
Mary’s Auxiliary Corps. Contains information such as name, age,
address, parent’s nationality, marital status, service statement
and employers references.
World
War One Campaign Medals
ROYAL
AIRFORCE:
Women’s Royal Air Force, 1914-1919
ROYAL
NAVY:
Royal Marine Service Records, 1842-1936
Royal
Naval Volunteer Reserve [World War One]
Royal
Navy Officers’ Service Records, 1756-1917
Royal
Navy Seamen Records, 1853-1923
Trafalgar
Ancestors A database of men who fought at Trafalgar
compiled from the musters, which list the names of the crew (but
not usually the officers and Royal Marines) and provides the name
of the ship on which they served and their pay. These also provide
place of birth and age on joining the ship
World
War Two Merchant Seaman Medals
Women’s’
Royal Naval Service [WRENS], 1917-1919
THE NATIONAL
ARCHIVES
The National Archives was formed in April 2003 as a result of
the merger of the Public Record Office and the Historical
Manuscripts Commission. It contains millions of documents and
t
heir holdings are searchable via their website. The leaflets
compiled by the National Archive on subjects from A–Z are extremely
useful and cover a diverse number of genealogical topics. A large
number of documents are also available to search and download
directly from this website for a small fee
WILLS AND
PROBATE
Death Duty Registers Index, 1796-1811 This index focuses
on the wills and letters of administration proven in the country
courts for those estates liable to death duties and contains
c.66,000 names. It lists the names of the deceased, occupation or
status, parish and county where he/she lived and date of
probate
Wills
of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1384-1858 Prior to
1858 the Prerogative Court of Canterbury [PCC] was the senior
ecclesiastical court for the whole of England and Wales and this
site contains more than a million wills covering the period
1384-1857. Any of the wills on this site can be viewed and
downloaded for a set fee
Probate
Service Provides contact details for the Probate
Registries for England and Wales
GENERAL
WEBSITES
Ancestry.co.uk The
largest UK commercial genealogical site. The Library Edition is
however available to use free of charge in all Suffolk Record
Offices and Libraries
BBC and Who Do You
Think You Are? A comprehensive site for the beginner
providing guidelines on how to conduct your research as well as
providing numerous links to other sites
British
Origins Contains various searchable databases but of
particular note is Boyd’s Marriage Index, 1538-1840
Cindy’s List Provides
links to genealogical websites worldwide
Genuki A general
reference website for family history in the UK
International Genealogical
Index (IGI) The IGI is compiled by the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is an index to millions of names
gathered from records worldwide. It contains mainly baptism and
marriage entries pre 1900 and is a very useful tool for family
research. Nevertheless it is worth noting that it is not complete,
many parishes are not covered and some have only partial coverage.
It is known to be inaccurate
National Burial Index,
1535-2005 This index was originally compiled by the
Federation of Family History Societies but is now available via
this website as part of their parish records collection
Nonconformist Ancestors,
1534-1865 An index to nonconformist birth, marriage and
death records, including Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist,
Quaker and Unitarians religions
Northern Ireland
Ancestry The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
holds many records for family history and this website has a large
number of useful online leaflets to help you pursue your Irish
ancestry
Scottish
Ancestry The official government site for tracing Scottish
ancestry and includes indexes to census returns, civil
registration, parish registers, wills etc
Society of
Genealogists This society runs courses in genealogy for
beginners and publishes a quarterly magazine and a wide range of
books on family history to help you further. The library has the
largest collection of copies of parish registers in the UK along
with an extensive collection of family histories and one-name
studies
Welsh Ancestry The
National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth is the principal centre
for researching Welsh ancestry
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