Information Pages

• • National Archives - is the English national archives network - there are similar projects in Scotland and Wales and for British universities and colleges.

  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) - The CWGC is a joint governmental organisation which looks after graves, memorials and records of the Commonwealth military forces. Debt of Honour Register - a searchable online database giving details of 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First or Second World Wars.

  • Imperial War Museum (IMW) - The Imperial War Museum features military vehicles, weapons, war memorabilia, a library, a photographic archive, and an art collection of 20th century and later conflicts, especially those involving Britain, and the British Empire.

  • National Library of Wales (NLW) - The main centre for family history research in Wales.

  • National Archives of Scotland (NAS) - The main archive for sources on the history of Scotland. Indexes to the 1841 to 1901 censuses plus images of the original census pages are available on the ScotlandsPeople website - a pay-per-view website which includes indexed digital images of the statutory registers of births (1855-1906), marriages (1855-1931) and deaths (1855-1956) for Scotland, Wills and Testaments (1513-1901) and the Old Parish Registers of baptisms and marriages (1553 to 1854).

  • Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) - The official place of deposit for all public records in Northern Ireland. Also available are the Census returns for 1901 on microfilm. The original returns and the 1911 census are held by The National Archives of Ireland.

  • Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) - An electronic catalogue to the holdings of more than 50 Scottish archives.

Parish Registers:

In England, most original parish registers are held locally, usually in the local record office, rather than held at the parish church. See the Genuki website section on Church Records.

In Scotland the records are held by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) and microfilm copies are available in many libraries and family history centres worldwide.

Most parishes in Wales have deposited their registers (apart from recent volumes) either at the National Library of Wales or at one of the county record offices.

Some returns of baptisms, marriages and burials, relating mainly to European and Eurasian Christians in India, Burma and other areas administrated by the East India Company and the Government of India are held by the British Library - copies of the contemporary indexes and microfilm of many of the registers may be consulted directly in the Reading Room.

Wills:

The National Archives has the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, which cover mainly the southern half of the country. Digital images of wills are available from GOV.UK - downloads cost approx £3.50 per will. The records of the Prerogative Court of York are held at the Borthwick Institute of the University of York.

The records of the minor Probate Courts are deposited in county record offices or other local archives. The courts of Canterbury and York only dealt with the wills of the very wealthy so most people are more likely to find a will in one of the minor probate courts. Information about records held locally can be found at the Familia website. Some of these records are also described in the National Archives Discovery database.

The National Library of Wales holds the original Welsh probates up to 1858.

Wills from 1858:

Copies of the index to wills from 1858 to 1943 are available on microfiche at The National Archives. The National Library of Wales holds volumes of copy wills after 1858, up to 1940.