Old-maps.co.uk. with access to a digital Historical Map Archive for Britian. The County Gazetteer features historic county and town names.
Ordnance Survey, Britain's National Mapping Agency. This site offers a free search and download service and access to historical maps of Britain.
A Vision of Britain through Time (1801-2001). A unique site that uses census and other records to present the history of Britain through places. It includes maps, statistics and historical descriptions.
Mapco: Map and Plan Collection Online provides free access to rare and beautiful antique maps and views. A variety of 18th and 19th material for London and the British Isles is available.
Gardiner's Atlas of English History. A series of over eighty five historic maps dating from Roman Britain circa 400 are available online. This site is worth checking out.
Streetmap.co.uk. This site provides address searching and street map facilities for mainland Britain.
Curious Fox is a village by village contact site for UK and Ireland villages, towns and counties. Family history, local history, surname and genealogy contact messages are arranged by place and can viewed and submitted. This site is free to use but the modest fee offers more privileges.
Military and Naval Records
The National Archives (UK) Digital Microfilm allows you
to search and download some of the most popular
records. These files are large (some up to 800
pages) so a broadband connection is essential. These documents are
currently free of charge to download. These records have not been indexed
and so you will need to scroll through the pdfs, much as you would when using a
microfilm. The following series of military and naval records on microfilm have
been digitised and are available to download as pdf files.
Updated
Admiralty Records
ADM 10: Admiralty: Officers' Services, Indexes and
Miscellanea. Additional finding aid: Indexes to officers' services held in ADM
9/281 and ADM 11/78
ADM 13: Admiralty: Supplementary Records, Additional
finding aid: Indexes to passing certificates for engineers held in ADM
13/200205
ADM 139: Royal
Navy Continuous Service Engagement Books. View indexes of the service records of
ratings (not officers) who served in the Royal Navy 1853-1872
ADM 142: Navy Board,
Navy Pay Office and Admiralty, Accountant General's Department: Registers of
Seamen's Wills 1786-1909
ADM
175: Records of service of the Coastguard 1816-1947
ADM 188: Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's
Services. View selected indexes of the service records of ratings (not officers)
who served in the Royal Navy 1873-1923
ADM 196: Royal Naval Officers'
Service Records. View indexes of the service records of officers who joined the
Royal Navy 1756-1917
Registrar General
RG 43: General Register Office: Indexes to Miscellaneous Foreign Returns
of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Indexes to the non-statutory registers and
returns in RG 32 to RG 36, and to certain Army and Statutory registers retained
by the Registrar-General.
War Office Records
WO 42: War Office:
Officers' Birth Certificates, Wills and Personal Papers. Certificates of birth,
baptism, marriage and death, with wills, administrations, statements of services
and personal papers of officers and their families, in cases where the officer
died on service or on half pay and his widow applied for a pension, or
application was made for a child's compassionate allowance.
WO 65: War Office: Printed Annual Army Lists. These
official lists give the names of the officers of the several regiments with the
dates of their commissions, etc. Lists have been officially posted up with
manuscript corrections.
WO 76: War Office:
Records of Officers' Services. This series comprises records of officers'
services. The records give the different ranks held by the officer and his
services, together with certain personal particulars. The dates listed for the
series overlap and may not be reliable.
WO
100: War Office: Campaign Medal and Award Rolls. This series comprises original
lists submitted by regiments and units of officers and men entitled to campaign
medals and clasps.
WO 102: War Office:
Long Service and Good Conduct Awards, Registers
Download registers of
candidates noted for, and recipients of, the Long Service and Good Conduct
awards between 1831 and 1953.
WO 116:
Royal Hospital, Chelsea: Disability and Royal Artillery Out-Pensions, Admission
Books. Registers of the award of out-pensions of the Royal Hospital Chelsea to
soldiers discharged from the Regular Army or the Militia on account of
disability.
WO 117: Royal Hospital
Chelsea: Length of Service Pensions, Admission Books. Service
pensions books relating to pensions awarded to soldiers for length of
service.
WO 144: War Office: Inter-Allied Armistice
Commission: War Diary, and Despatches of Chief of British Delegation
1918-1920
WO 229: War Office: Supreme
Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force and 21 Army Group, 19431945
You can
download copies of documents originating with the Supreme Headquarters Allied
Expeditionary Force and 21 Army Group relating to a variety of headquarters
responsibilities. View the full list of pieces within WO
229
WO 338:
War Office: Officers' Services, Index to Long Number Papers, 1870-1922. This
series contains the indexes used to identify the Long Number by which the First
World War army officer's service records are organised in WO 339 and also some
files in WO 374
WO 373: Recommendations for
Honours and Awards 1935-1990. View whole pieces from WO 373, which contains
recommendations for honours and awards, 1935-1990.
DocumentsOnline Selected First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries offers access to digitised copies of selected War Diaries for British and colonial units serving in theatres of operations 1914-1922. An online guide to these records is available.
Ancestry.com offers access to
the following British Military Records. There is a free name search with subscription or pay to view options available
to access further information or digitised records.
British Army WWI Pension
Records 1914-1920 (WO 364). This database contains service records of
non-commissioned officers and other ranks who were discharged from the Army and
claimed disability pensions for service in WWI. These were also men who did not
re-enlist in the Army prior to World War II.
British Army WWI
Service Records, 1914-1920 (WO 363). This database contains the surviving
service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in WWI
and did not re-enlist in the Army prior to World War II. A large portion
(approx 60%) of the 6.5 million records was destroyed by fire during a WWII
raid in 1940. The surviving service records are known as WO 363 or the
Burnt Documents.
The National Roll of the
Great War, 1914-1918. This database contains 11 volumes of The National Roll of
the Great War as well as the Birmingham Roll of Honour. This series offers short
biographical sketches of British soldiers who served, including some who died,
in World War I. The volumes are arranged geographically.
De Ruvigny's Roll of
Honour, 1914-1924. This data collection contains biographies of over 26,000
casualties of the Great War. Casualties include men (both officers and ranks)
from the British Army, Navy, and Air Force. 7,000 of the biographies include
photographs.
Indian Army Quarterly List for
1 January 1912. This book lists 40,000+ names of British and Indian troops
during the British control of India.
The National Archives. Trafalgar
Ancestors lists 18,000+ who served (on the
British side) in the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805. This ongoing
project is adding service histories and
biographical details as they become
available.
Soldiers of the Queen in the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. This index to soldiers and nurses identifies the unit/regiment in which they served. Once the regiment is known further research can be pursued at The National Archives. This ongoing index currently covers under 50% of the 500,000 soldiers and nurses on the British side.
UK National Inventory of War Memorials. This site offers a search of the records of war memorials, commemorating all wars, located throughout the United Kingdom.
This extensive site by
Peter Davis is dedicated to the naval surgeon William Loney RN. The
Background section contains a vast array of information
including a list of officers in command which details the
Careers of 1500+ Royal Navy
Officers who were in
command of any vessel 1840-1860.
The Army Children Archive (TACA)
Chronicling British army childrens history. This archive aims to collect,
record, preserve and share details of the unique aspects of growing up as the
child of a soldier serving in the British Army, whether that growing up was done
during the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first
century. This site includes an Army Children Graves Register with names arranged
in alphabetical order.
Online Databases
DocumentsOnline offers access to the National Archives'
collection of digitised public records including the Domesday Book; ancient
petitions, Henry III to James I (1216-1625); PCC wills (1384-1858); Death duty
registers (1796-1811); French Muster Rolls (Battle of Trafalgar 1805);
Southwell Union (Nottinghamshire) workhouse (1834-1871) (free); Victorian
prisoners photographs (Wandsworth 1872-1873); aliens registration cards
(1876-1991) and Jamestown (USA) settlement 400th anniversary. New material
is added on a regular basis. Searches of the indexes are free with a fee of
£3.50 to access a digital copy of the original record.
See
Military for details of
military records available.
FamilySearch
by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers
access to the largest collection of free family history records in the world.
This site features free, searchable Historical Record Collections. For details of what is
currently available see CoraWeb - Quick
Sheet 012 FamilySearch Historical Record Collections: England, Ireland,
Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
Updated
London Lives 1690-1800 - Crime,
Poverty and Social Policy in the Metropolis. London Lives
makes available, in a fully digitised and searchable form, a wide range of
primary sources about eighteenth-century London, with a particular focus on
plebeian Londoners. This resource includes over 240,000 manuscript and printed
pages from eight London archives and is supplemented by fifteen datasets created
by other projects. It provides access to historical records containing over 3.35
million names. This site allows users to link together records relating to
the same individual and compile biographies.
Ancestry.com databases
cover census, birth, death and marriage, parish and probate, military,
migration, newspapers, directories plus landed gentry and much more.
The records are indexed with a free surname search. Subscription
options offer access to information or digitised records. Use the Search button, choose Card
Catalogue then Filter by Location
- England to
see what is available.
British Origins presented in association with the Society of Genealogists, offers online databases to 70+ million names (1209-1948). It includes marriage registers, census records, burial records, wills, passenger lists, militia, court and apprentice records plus more. There is a free name search and a range of subscription options.
Find My Past offers access to millions of family history records online. These include birth, death and marriage, census, military, migration and occupations. This site is free to search with a fee to view records and images. A range of subscription options are available.
The Genealogist offers online searches of census, birth, marriage, death & parish record indexes and directories. A range of subscription options offer access to the records and images.
Historical
Directories offers free access to digitised local and trade
directories for England and Wales (1750-1919). Searches are available by
location, decade or keywords. Names, occupations, addresses and other key words
can be located to their exact places on pages within the text of the
directory.
Family
Deeds offers free
transcriptions from old deeds and documents. It is searchable by name and
county indexes. It is also possible to order an original document or
transcription for a fee.
Victorian Crime and Punishment searchable database of 20,000+ prisoners from Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge and Ely gaols. Digitised images of original archive material and photographs are included if available. There is background information on the gaols, life inside a nineteenth century prison and the justice system.
National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions (NAOMI) aims to provide access to UK memorial inscriptions. It currently lists 150,000+ inscriptions from Norfolk and Bedfordshire. New material is added regularly. A fee applies for access to the full inscription, a brief description of the memorial, a photograph of the church or chapel, a plan of the burial ground and historical information.
British
History Online
digital library contains core printed primary and secondary
sources for the medieval and modern history arranged by county. Online
transcripts include
Fasti Ecclesiae
Anglicanae and Gazetteer
of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 plus county histories and ordnance survey
maps.
Cause Papers
Database, a searchable catalogue of more than 14,000 cause papers relating
to cases heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of
York. The original records are held in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at
the University of York.
Historic Hospital Admission Registers Project (HHARP). This site is the home of 19th century childrens
hospital records. It provides access to nearly 120,000 individual admission
records 1852 to 1914. Hospitals include three London hospitals: the Hospital for
Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, Evelina Hospital and the Alexandra
Hospital for Children with hip disease. It also includes the Royal Glasgow Sick
Childrens Hospital with records dating from 1883 when the hospital was opened
until 1903. Registered users (free) get access to more detailed information and
the ability to print and download results of searches.
National Archives
Hospital
Records Database with
information on the existence and location of United Kingdom hospital records.
Searches are available by hospital or town name
.
Royal College of Physicians searchable Index to Munk's Roll, more formally known as Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians. This set of obituaries contains biographical details of Fellows of the College from 1518 to the present day. Some biographies are online.
ThePeerage.com by Darryl Lundy. This site is a
genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain and the royal families of
Europe. This ongoing site currently lists the details of 522,400+ persons.
There is a site search engine available. Updated
Burke's Peerage and Gentry searchable database of one million+ names. Fees apply for access to the records.
Rootsweb United Kingdom and Ireland Records. This database currently contains 265,000+ contributed records with 47,000+ distinct surnames for selected counties and parishes.
Photographs and ImagesBritish Pathe.This digital news archive offers previewing of items from the entire 3500 hour film archive which covers news, sport, social history and entertainment (1896 to 1970).
Images of England with 300,000+ images of England's built heritage from lamp posts to lavatories, phone boxes to toll booths plus thousands of bridges, historic houses and churches.
Wills and Probate RecordsDocumentsOnline. Death Duty Registers (1796-1811). These registers hold details of wills and bequests for estates liable to death duties. They cover the 'country court' death duty registers (ie Courts other than the Prerogative Court of Canterbury). Searches of the index are free and there is a fee of £3.50 to access the original document.
DocumentsOnline
Wills of Royal Naval Seamen offers searches and downloads of the wills
of 35,000+ men who joined the Royal Navy 1786 to 1882. Digital copies of the
wills are £3.50 each.
The National Archives (UK) Digital Microfilm allows you
to search and download some of the most popular records. These files
are large (some up to 800 pages) so a broadband connection is essential. These
documents are currently free of charge to download. These records have not been
indexed and so you will need to scroll through the pdfs, much as you would when
using a microfilm. The following
series of records on microfilm have been digitised and are available to download
as pdf files.
PROB 10: Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Other Probate Jurisdictions:
Bundles of Original Wills and Sentences. These are the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury wills for 1643-6 proved at Oxford, for which there are no copies in
PROB 11. The wills are pieces PROB 10/639-642.
Ancestry.com - National Probate Calendar
(Index of Wills and Administrations) 1861-1941 (with
gaps) for England and Wales. The information given varies over time but will
include the probate date, full name of the deceased, death date and place plus
registry where issued. Other information can include the address of the
deceased; occupation of the deceased; to whom probate was granted, their address
and occupation plus the value of the estate. $$
London Signatures, the online database of the London
Metropolitan Archives (LMA), currently includes 10,000 Archdeaconry Court
of Middlesex Wills 1609-810 and 23,500 for the Diocese of Winchester
plus Commissary for the Archdeaconry of Surrey marriage
bonds 1673-1850. Digital copies of wills are available for £4
each. Please note that London Signatures will be taken
offline in early 2012 when the data will be migrated to the LMA databases
on Ancestry.co.uk. Updated
Surrey
Plus Wills Index lists
38,400+ names of all people appearing in wills of testators residing in County
Surrey (and some other counties). Links are provided to will transcripts where
available
.
British Origins and the Society of Genealogists online databases include Bank of England will extracts index (1717-1845); Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills index (1750-1800); Archdeaconry Court of London wills index (1700-1807); York medieval probate index (1267-1500); York Peculiars probate index (1383-1883); Prerogative and Exchequer Courts of York probate index (1731-1858); Surrey & South London Will Abstracts (1470-1856) and inheritance disputes index (1574-1714). Copies of many of the original wills can be ordered online. There is a free name search and a range of subscription options available.
Cambridgeshire Family History Society Cambridgeshire Wills Surname Index. This index has been compiled from submitted details and currently contains 2,833+ records.
East Cheshire Council - Wills and Probate Records. There are two searchable databases covering Cheshire wills and probate records 1540-1857 proved in the Archdeaconry of Chester and registers of wills proved in the Registry of Chester 1858-1940. These records are held by the Cheshire Record Office. The databases are free to search with copies available for £4 plus postage.FamilySearch by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. This site features free, searchable Historical Record
Collections. The record collections for Europe include:
Cheshire Probate Records 1492-1940
Wales, Probate Abstracts, 1544-1858
National Library of Wales. Online
databases include an index to pre-1858 wills and administrations
proved in Wales. New
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Num 1997-2012. Last updated 10
January 2012