England, Wales and London Family History Sites


Using Strategies to Locate a 19th Century Family in England (16 kb)

Below is a list of websites which can help you with your research some are pay per view others are free.

Black Sheep Index - Pay per view
On this site you can shed some light on the lives (good or bad ) of your ancestors.
Reports cover the usual crimes of  murder, assault and theft etc,  but also government enquiries, reports from naval captains on the capture of slave ships, Great War stories and photos as well as Railway, Mining and Shipping accidents.

British Army in the First World War - Free
Provides information on how to research the service life of a WW1 soldier.

British Library Family History Service - Free
The British Library is the National Library of the United Kingdom. This site offers services to Family Historians

The British Newspaper Archive - Free
Whether you are a researcher, historian or you simply want to know more about Britain's history, take this fantastic opportunity to search this vast treasure trove of historical newspapers from your own home or the library.

Calendar of Prisoners, Birmingham, Coventry and Warwick - Free
An index of over 30,000 prisoners tried at the Warwick Assizes, 1800 - 1900

Connected Histories - Pay per view
Connected Histories brings together a range of digital resources related to early modern and nineteenth century Britain with a single federated search that allows sophisticated searching of names, places and dates, as well as the ability to save, connect and share resources within a personal workspace. Very useful for early newspaper references.

Cumbria - Free
Cumbria BMD is a free website and is part of the UKBMD group of Family History and Genealogy web sites. The Register Offices in the county of Cumbria, England, hold the original records of births, marriages and deaths back to the start of civil registration in 1837. Although the indexes are not yet complete for all years and districts, we hope that the database will eventually cover all Cumbria births, marriages and deaths from 1837.

Curious Fox - Free
The village by village contact site for anybody researching family history, genealogy and local history in the UK and Ireland. Every UK county, town and village has a page for family history, local history, surname and genealogy enquiries. Use the search box to find your village or town.

Deceasedonline.com - Pay per view
Over half a million burial and cremation records for north and central London from the boroughs of Islington and Camden. Two conjoined cemeteries, St Pancras and Islington, form the largest single cemetery in London and, in burial numbers, the largest in the UK.

Essex Family History Society - Free
Society website that contains the names of thousands of people who lived within the County of Essex over hundreds of years.

findmypast.com - Pay per view unless used in Hornsby Central Library only
Findmypast.com is based in London, England and the website has the UK Birth, Death and Marriage Records from 1837-2004

FreeBMD - Free
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.

The Genealogist - Pay per view
A fee based UK on-line site operated ny S & N Genealogy. One of the UK's leading companies offering family history information.

GenUKI - Free
Large collection of genealogical information for England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islans and the Isle of Man.

Hearth Tax Online - Free
Hearth Tax Online is a website dedicated to providing data and analysis of the records of the hearth tax which was introduced in England and Wales by the government of Charles II in 1662.

Historical Directories - Free
Historical Directories is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales, from 1750 to 1919. It contains high quality reproductions of comparatively rare books, essential tools for research into local and genealogical history.

London, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes - Pay per view
Gateway to the LOndon, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes, the offical newspapers of the records of the UK.

London Lives - Free
A free fully searchable database of 240,000 manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets, giving access to 3.35 million names. The online documents include workhouse records, criminal registers, coroners' reports, court orders and papers governing the dispensation of poor relief.

London Metropolitan Archives Family History Services
Archives centre for Family History information relating to persons living north of the River Thames.

National Archives
The National Archives is the UK government's official archive, containing over 1,000 years of history. We give detailed guidance to government departments and the public sector on information management and advise others about the care of historical archives.

Naval-History.net - Free
Website listing the names of Royal Navy personnel who died in both world wars. The site also includes names of seamen who received honours and awards during the First World War. 

Origins.net - Pay per view
Comprehensive British and Irish record collections dating back to the 13th century. Fee based site.

Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674-1913 - Free
A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

Seventeenth-Century Hearth Tax Sources for London - Free
Transcriptions of Hearth Tax returns covering London, Westminster, Middlesex for 1662, 1664 and 1666 via the British History Online website.