Top 20 English Genealogical Web Sites – 2007
Nathan W. Murphy, MA, AG®
Try our NEW Expert Links page for England
Our research experts have scoured the Internet to identify what they judge to be the top 20 English genealogical web sites online in 2007. They frequently use these sites to help others trace their English family trees. Here is the list they created:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
IGI Batch Numbers – British Isles and North America
Below you will find additional details explaining why these sites are important. Our researchers have access to many of the fee-based sites and are available to assist you upon request. Call 1-800-288-0920 to request research services.
1837 Online (fee-based)
- Complete index to births, marriages, and deaths in England 1837-2003
- Overseas English births, marriages, and deaths (incomplete)
- Compare with BMD Index, Free BMD, and UK BMD
Access to Archives (free)
- Online catalogues to hundreds of archives in England and Wales
- Searchable by keyword
Ancestry (fee-based and free)
- Every-name indexes and scanned images of the 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses of England and Wales
- Probate record indexes
- Parish register indexes
- Pallot’s Marriage Index (London) 1780-1837
- Heraldry indexes
- Surname and Locality Message Boards
- Family Facts (plots the distribution of surnames on a map of England and Wales based upon the 1891 Census)
- Databases added frequently
BMD Index (fee-based)
- Complete index to births, marriages, and deaths in England 1837-2003
- Compare 1837 Online, Free BMD, and UK BMD
British History (free)
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/
- Digital version of over 75 volumes of the Victoria County Histories of England
- Keyword searchable
- 1891 Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales, scale 1:10,560
- Compare Old Maps and Vision of Britain
- Databases added frequently
British Origins (fee-based)
http://www.britishorigins.com/
- Boyd’s Marriage Index 1538-1840
- London Apprenticeship Abstracts 1442-1850
- Boyd’s London Burials Index 1538-1853
- Marriage License Allegations Index 1694-1850
- Apprentices of Great Britain 1710-1774
- York Medieval Probate Index 1267-1500
- York Peculiars Probate Index 1383-1883
- Census indexes
- Databases added frequently
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (free)
http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/
- Biographical information on 1.7 million men and women in Commonwealth forces who died during WW1 and WW2
- Biographical information on 67,000 Commonwealth civilians who died during WW2
Family History Online (fee-based)
http://www.familyhistoryonline.co.uk/
- National Burial Index
- Census indexes
- Probate indexes
- County-wide marriage indexes
- County-wide marriage license indexes
- County-wide quarter sessions indexes
- Poor law records indexes
- Databases added frequently
Family Search (free)
- International Genealogical Index, v5.0
- Ancestral File
- Pedigree Resource File
- Family History Library Catalog
- Index and transcription of the 1881 Census of England and Wales
- Research Outline: England
- Names added frequently
Free BMD (free)
- Index to millions of birth, marriage, and death certificates covering England and Wales, beginning in the year 1837, based on the nationally-produced indexes (incomplete)
- Civil registration district jurisdiction finder (identifies which parishes belonged to which civil registration districts)
- Compare 1837 Online, BMD Index, and UK BMD
- Names added frequently
Genes Reunited (fee-based)
- Largest database for networking with UK genealogists
- Contains over 46 million names with contact info for researchers
- 250,000 names added weekly
Genuki (free)
- Guide to everything of interest to online English genealogists
- Many useful databases
- Information added frequently
Guild of One-Name Studies (free)
- 7000 registered surnames (mainly English)
- Contact information for those leading one-name studies
- Online records contributed by one-name studies
- Information added frequently
IGI Batch Numbers – British Isles and North America (free)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm
- Aid that identifies the batch numbers used to create the International Genealogical Index
- Enhances searching capabilities of the International Genealogical Index by allowing searches for names in specific parishes
- Use in conjunction with Family Search
The National Archives (free and fee-based)
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
- Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills Index 1384-1858
- PROCAT (catalogue of the holdings of the National Archives)
- Index and scanned images of the 1901 Census of England and Wales
- Research leaflets
- E 179 Database (identifies hundred jurisdictions of parishes and surviving medieval tax lists)
- Manorial Documents Register (identifies manorial court records that survive for England and Wales – incomplete)
- Military pensioners index (search PROCAT for names of pensioners and limit the search to the WO 97 or WO 121 collections)
- Royal Navy 1853-1923
- WW1 Campaign Medals
- National Register of Archives
- Equity Pleadings
- Access to Archives (see separate section)
National Archivist (fee-based)
http://www.nationalarchivist.com/
- Index to Death Duty Registers 1796-1903 (tax on creating a will)
- Index to English births, marriages, and deaths at sea 1854-1890
- Index to English divorces 1858-1903
- Index to English births, marriages, and deaths in India
- Several military indexes
- Index to passport applications, c1850-1900
- Databases added frequently
Old Maps (free)
- Nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey maps of England and Wales, scale 1:10,560
- Gazetteer of place names and addresses
- Compare British History and Vision of Britain
Roots Web (free)
- World Connect (millions of names arranged in family trees)
- Contributions from thousands of English and Australian genealogists
- Surname Mailing Lists
- Surname and Locality Message Boards
- Names added frequently
UK BMD (free)
- Index to hundreds of thousands of birth, marriage, and death certificates, beginning in the year 1837, based on the locally-produced indexes (incomplete)
- Provides more detailed information than the national indexes
- Compare 1837 Online, BMD Index, and Free BMD
- Names added frequently
Vision of Britain (free)
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/
- Digital version of John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales (1872)
- Digital version of John Bartholomew’s Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)
- Nineteenth- and twentieth-century English maps
- Compare British History and Old Maps