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Seachable Online Data
England & Wales
Genealogy & History
The following websites contain online searchable databases that are of value to those researching their Scottish roots. Some sites are free to use and others charge a fee. We indicate fee based sites with ( $ ) , and free sites as ( free ).
- Flags of United Kingdom images free - (flags can be purchased) globalgenealogy.com
- Peerage of England ( free ) Wikipedia The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. Until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, all Peers of England could sit in the House of Lords. The ranks of the English peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.
- Poor Law Union Database ( free ) Fourbears Research In the 17th century an understanding came about that Society as a whole had a responsibility for the destitute and the disabled, that led to the Poor Law Act in 1601. The Poor Law Union Database lists all Church of England parishes and many additional places and gives the name of the Union that place belonged to and an indication of which Record Office holds the records for that Union.
- England Workhouses ( free ) Rossbret The site lists Workhouses in England by county. There are pages for most counties which include statistical information. The project is not 100% complete for every county.
- Wales Workhouses ( free ) Rossbret The site lists Workhouses in Wales by county. There are pages for most counties which include statistical information. The project is not 100% complete for every county.
- S.O.G. Records ( $ ) Society of Genealogists / Origins.com
Many Society of Genealogists digital records are included in the online databases offered at Origins.com
- Aliens Registration Cards ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK
You can now access the surviving aliens registration cards for the London area, covering the period from 1876 to 1991. Contains the surviving aliens registration cards for the London area. The cards also include British born wives of aliens, who lost their British status upon marriage. The surviving cards represent just over 1,000 cases out of the tens of thousands of aliens resident in London since 1914.
Census and Census substitutes
- Census 1901 England ( $ ) Public record Office - UK
This popular database is now searchable under a variety of categories including all categories and by personal name.
- Census 1901 Extraction Form ( free ) Free Genealogy Forms
- Census 1891 Extraction Form ( free ) Ancestry.com
- Census 1891 Extraction Form ( free ) Free Genealogy Forms
- Census 1881 Extraction Form ( free ) Free Genealogy Forms
- Census 1871 Extraction Form ( free ) Free Genealogy Forms
- Census 1861 Extraction Form ( free ) Free Genealogy Forms
- Census 1851 Extraction Form ( free ) Free Genealogy Forms
- Census 1841 Extraction Form Free Genealogy Forms
- Domesday Book (census substitute 1085 AD) ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK
At Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a great survey to discover the resources and taxable values of all the boroughs and manors in England. He wanted to discover who owned what, how much it was worth, and how much was owed to him as King. There is still some debate about the exact purpose of Domesday Book. One theory suggests that Domesday might be the first written tax document.
Court and Legal
- The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London, England 1674 to 1834 ( free ) The Old Bailey Proceedings Online
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 1674 to 1834.
- The Equity Pleadings Database ( free ) The National Archives - UK
A rich source of information for many aspects of historical study, particularly legal, social and economic history as well as genealogical sources. Discover manorial, domestic and trading disputes, disputes over land purchase, apprenticeship agreements and much more. The Equity Pleadings was a system of justice based on conscience, rather than on the strict rules of common law.
- Victorian Prisoners Photograph Albums ( free ) The National Archives - UK
The National Archives of UK have digitised two volumes of photographs and case details of prisoners in Wandsworth Prison dating from 1872 to 1873. Each case gives the prisoner's physical description, as well as a photograph, their date and place of birth, the crime they committed, their sentence, the place of conviction and often their place of residence.
- Ancient Petitions, Henry III - James I (1216-1377AD) ( free ) The National Archives - UK
You can now search and download 14,000 images of ancient petitions. Generally these fall into two categories; some persue grievances which could not be resolved at common law while others are requests for a grant of favour. There is free access to the images because the project, based at the University of York , was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through its Resource Enhancement Scheme. The first batch of images (up to SC 8/280) are online, with the remainder due to go online during 2007.
- Society & Law ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK This category contains records relating to immigration, crime and disasters, as well as legal documents such as title deeds and depositions. Among the images are photographs of prisoners from the Victorian period, the Magna Carta, convict transportation registers and passenger lists, one of the latter including Charlie Chaplin. A recent addition is a selection of key documents relating to gay and lesbian history.
Newspapers
- Paper of Record. (free) Paper of Record
More than 21 million scanned pages of historic and modern newspapers in the UK, and other countries around the world. Any-word searchable. Now free to use. All you have to do is register your email address for full access. World's largest repository of online newspaper pages!
Directories and Gazetteers
Military:
- The Victoria Cross Registers ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK You can now search and download images from The Victoria Cross Registers. The Victoria Cross is 150 years old. It was instituted by Royal Warrant on 29 January 1856 for award to both officers and non-commissioned ranks of the Royal Navy and the Army who, in the presence of the enemy "shall have performed some signal act of valour". The Victoria Cross is still Britain's premier award for gallantry in face of the enemy and is worn before all other orders, decorations and medals.
- World War Two Medals issued to Merchant Seamen ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK The merchant navy comprises the commercial and trading ships and crews employed in a country. At the outbreak of World War Two, the British merchant fleet came under the control of the Ministry of Shipping. This collection lists the medals awarded to merchant seamen for their service in the war. Each entry gives details of the seaman's name and the medals, ribbons and clasps issued, together with a reference to the medal papers file, held at the Registry of Shipping and Seamen (RSS). Usually, his discharge book number and date and place of birth are listed too. The search is free as is a transcription of some data. To view and/or print a copy of the original document has a fee payable to the National Archives - UK.
- Military & Defence ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK Here you will find records relating to defence policy, research and espionage as well as propaganda. A particularly rich area is the correspondence between Churchill and Lord Selborne concerning Special Operations Executive activities during the Second World War, as well as government files about TE Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and his service in the RAF.
- Royal Naval Division 1914-1919 ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK Search and download the service records of more than 50,000 officers and men who joined the Royal Naval Division (RND) between 1914 and 1919.
- World War One Medal Cards ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK The index was created to enable the AMO to place on one card, all of the details about an individual's medal entitlement, their rank or ranks, the unit or units they served in, the first operational theatre they served in and most importantly, the original AMO medal roll references. There are more than 5.5 million medal cards. The search is free as is a transcription of some data. To view and/or print a copy of the original document has a fee payable to the National Archives - UK.
- Family History: WW1 Prisoners of War Interviews ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK These documents consist of pre-Armistice reports made by repatriated, escaped or interned Officers, Medical Officers and Other Ranks, and occasionally Merchant Seamen and Civilians. Unlike many other records, they often describe what happened after the battle. However, it should be noted that they represent a tiny percentage of the estimated 192,000 British and Commonwealth captives in WWI.
- WW1 Women's (later Queen Mary's) Army Auxiliary Corps ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK You can now search and download the service records of more than 7,000 women who joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (1917-1918), later Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (1918-1920).
- Royal Naval Seamen (1873 - 1923) ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK You can now search and download the service registers of more than 500,000 seamen who joined the Royal Navy between 1873 and 1923. The search is free as is a transcription of some data. To view and/or print a copy of the original document has a fee payable to the National Archives - UK. The search page provides some points to help you understand more about the Registers of Seamen's Services.
- French Muster Rolls from the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK After the Battle of Trafalgar, Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Richard Strachan led a Royal Navy squadron to capture four French ships in the Bay of Biscay on 4 November 1805. They seized documents from the vessels and you can search and download the entries of all those listed in the four muster rolls. You can also download the Helmsman's Log from the Mont-Blanc. The Helmsman's Log provides an eyewitness account (in French) of the Battle of Trafalgar as it happened.
Church Records (bapism, marriarage, burial etc:
- England IGI Batch Numbers (LDS transcriptions) ( free ) Hugh Wallis & FamilySearch.org Think of "Batch Numbers" as the unique identifying number for individual Parish Records of a specific church/parish. Hugh Wallis has set up a site where you can find the parish and the Batch Numbers for the records under Christening, Marriage and Burial, with links to the parish records that have been transcribed by The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. Searchable by surname once the parish is identified.
- The Official Non-Parochial BMDs Service ( free search - $ for documents ) S & N Genealogy
For records of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial. Non-Conformist Records include Methodists, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Protestant Dissenters, Congregationalist, Presbyterians, and Unitarians plus many more. Quakers and Fleet Marriages coming soon [06 Dec 2007]
Civil registration (Birth, Marriage, Death, etc):
- Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes - Civil Registration ( $ ) 1837online.com
Wills:
- Death Duties, 1796 - 1811 ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK
This collection focuses on the wills and letters of administration proved in the "country courts". You can search over 66,000 names.
- Wills online ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK
Find your ancestor's last will and testament from the complete series of more than 1 million copy wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury from 1384 to 1858. Or look at the wills of the some of the famous names, including Nelson, Napoleon, William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, Henry Purcell and Captain Bligh (of "Mutiny on the Bounty" fame).
- Famous Wills ( free & $ ) National Archives - UK
See colour images of the original wills of selected famous people, including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Sir Francis Drake, Samuel Pepys and Christopher Wren. Shakespeare's will contains three of only six surviving signatures.
Searchable online data Listed by Shire/County or region:
Cornwall
- Place-Names of Cornwall (and much more on Cornwall) A Cornish Sourcebook is a site where thse with an interest in the county of Cornwall can find much useful material. Locate Corwall place names, photos, lists and much more on this non-commercial web site. (free - Chris Bond).
- Cornwall Online Parish Clerks Volunters have trnscribed a massive number of Cornwall vital events from parish records. Includes: Baptisms search | Marriages search | Banns search | Burials search
Non-Conformist records | Marriage Certificates | Death Certificates | Birth Certificates
(free - Cornwall Online Parish Clerks).
Derbyshire
- Yesterdays Journey connects people with the documents that may identify where they were born, a trade, an employer, their wages, how long they worked with for each person. Where they got married, which regiment they served in, how many children they had, names, ages and other bits of information to help add real history and detail to your ancestors lives. Dealing primarily with Derbyshire it does however cover the whole of the British Isles as people moved around seeking work, travelled as vagrants through the County or were chased throughout the realm as the responsibility of fatherhood and law caught up with them. There are references to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and America, and more.
London, City of
- London: A Life in Maps (free) (British Library) See London as you have never seen it before.
Maps and views from the British Library collections bring the city's transformation to life.
O R D E R D E S K
1-800-361-5168( 9-5 Tuesday to Saturday )
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