General family history and genealogy
Information about individual areas of Britain from every census back to 1801, presented both as maps of the whole country and as graphs showing change in a specified area.
A2A includes archives held throughout England and dating from the tenth century. Searchable records include catalogues of the Cornwall Record Office, the Devon Record Office, and the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
The Ellis Island Archives searchable database lists 25 million immigrants to America, 17 million of whom arrived in New York, giving names, hometowns and ages, and details of ships and passenger records.
Pages from the BBC, with an interactive element and various guides, and supporting BBC programmes including Who Do You Think You Are?
Directory of both male and female first names from around the world, including each name's source, etymology, and popularity in America and various other countries, including the UK.
Help and advice for people researching a British family history.
Extensive resource including information and advice, lists and databases, and covering a range of topics including censuses, immigration, aboriginal and ethno-cultural groups, and births, marriages and deaths.
The National Archives' searchable Catalogue (formerly PROCAT) describes 9.5 million documents from government, courts of law and other national bodies, including records on family history, medieval tax and criminal trials. The documents are held and can be viewed at the National Archives in Kew.
Information about and illustrations of Local Authority coats-of-arms, both current and obsolete, in England and Wales.
News and information from and about the College of Arms, the repository of the coats of arms and pedigrees of English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Commonwealth families and their descendants.
The CWGC's website includes the
Debt of Honour Register listing the 1.7 million Commonwealth servicemen and women who died during World Wars I and II and the 23,000 cemeteries and memorials where they are commemorated. The register also includes the names of the 67,000 Commonwealth civilians killed during the Second World War.
An Australian gateway family history site by Cora Num, a professional family history researcher, lecturer and writer about Australian genealogy. The regularly updated gateway contains links to over 1,800 websites organised into over 100 categories, including New Zealand genealogy and family history sites.
Huge family history and genealogy gateway linking to over 262,000 websites and databases worldwide in over 180 categories, and including how-to guides and tutorials.
Documents Online is the National Archives' free-to-search (charge to view) collection of digitised public records, including World War I campaign medals, World War II merchant seamen's medals, and Wills proved by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury between 1384 and 1858.
Information about and examples of handwriting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and a free online course of 28 lessons.
Information, help and advice about accessing government records and other family history resources. The Topics section includes subsections headed Births, Deaths and Marriages, Religious records, Census, Wills, Immigration, Emigration, Military and Adoption. The Partners section links to consortium members responsible for the website. Family Records includes various guides to family history research.
Huge online resource of over 4,000 pages containing over 40,000 links to free family history and genealogy websites and databases worldwide, including over 6,000 for the UK and Ireland.
The GRO administers the registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales, and retains copies of those registrations. This website provides news and information about the GRO and its work, and includes an online certificate ordering service.
The GRO administers the registration of births, marriages and deaths in Northern Ireland, and retains copies of those registrations. This website provides news and information about the GRO and its work, and includes an
online certificate ordering service.
The GRO administers the registration of births, marriages and deaths in Scotland, and retains copies of those registrations. This website provides news and information about the GRO and its work, and includes information about how to order certificates.
[Back to top]
Register on "the UK's largest family tree and genealogy website" to search and build a family tree.
Huge "virtual reference library" for the UK and Ireland providing links to websites covering all aspects of family history and genealogy, at national, regional, county and parish level. The website includes pages dedicated to Devon County and towns and parishes in Devon, Cornwall County and towns and parishes in Cornwall, and Wiltshire County and towns and parishes in Wiltshire, and a section titled Getting started in genealogy and family history.
News and information from the Guild, whose members carry out one-name study.
Information about Heraldry online research, including links.
Passenger lists and information about immigrant ships, covering destination and arrival ports in many parts of the world, particularly (but not limited to) from Britain to North America.
Website of the Imperial War Museum includes a Family History section with information and advice about tracing forces personnel.
Extensive website for Jewish genealogists worldwide includes information and articles, various databases including Family Finder, containing 380,000 names and towns, and discussion groups.
Information about the society and its work promoting genealogy and records preservation, with resources and databases, articles and publications, and news about projects and research interests.
Linking to websites useful to those researching Jewish roots and ancestry.
Extensive information about and guides to records and where to find them, for those researching English genealogy covering the medieval period up to about 1600.
Fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts ever published detailing the lives of non-elite people, containing accounts of over 100,000 trials held at London's central criminal court from April 1674 to October 1834, searchable by defendant's name, crime, sentence etc, with transcripts of cases.
Huge amounts of free information, including family trees submitted by individuals. Most useful for its geographical, surname and occupation mailing lists and message boards. The mailing lists are archived and searchable.
Information on Scottish clans, including their tartans, crests, homelands and clan histories.
Gateway to over 450 websites providing parish records, births, marriages and deaths indexes and census returns. The extent of information contained on each site linked to varies from very local and partial to national and complete.
Historical and geographical descriptions of English and Welsh counties, transcribed from "The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales" (1894 to 1895), and a number of communities, transcribed from various sources including "White's Devonshire" (1878).
Compiled and maintained by volunteers, the World Gen Web project is a huge resource providing worldwide genealogical and historical records and resources. The website is organised by continent, country and region, and includes extensive information within British Isles Gen Web, England Gen Web, Cornwall Gen Web, Devon Gen Web and Wiltshire Gen Web.
[Back to top]
