Whistler Family Sketches homepage Family History Sources     With a focus on the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, and London. Births, Marriages, Deaths In England and Wales, a national system of registration of births, marriages and deaths began in July 1837. The free BMD (Births, Marriages and Deaths) project gives online access to the quarterly indexes of these registered events. Online search and ordering is available at the General Register Office. Before 1837 parish registers must be consulted. A system for recording weddings, baptisms and burials in parish registers began in 1538 during the reign of King Henry VIII. Searchable indexes compiled from parish registers (with partial coverage only) are:       FamilySearch Historical Records || Description           (old version: the International Geneaological Index (IGI) of baptisms and marriages).       A useful guide to the content is the FamilySearch Guide by Archer Software           (old version: the Hugh Wallis webpage IGI Batch Numbers). Collections built-up by volunteer contributors:       FreeREG, UK Free REGisters       Find A Grave Family history societies with projects for transcribing and indexing parish registers:       Berkshire Family History Society       Hampshire Genealogical Society       Oxfordshire Family History Society Some library collections:       The Society of Genealogists, London       Oxfordshire History Centre, Cowley, Oxford             (merger of the Oxfordshire Record Office and Oxfordshire Studies). Websites (pay-for-view) with online access to family history databases:       Ancestry       FindMyPast || List of United Kingdom Records           (British Origins records moved to FindMyPast in 2014)       Irish Family History Foundation: online databases for Ireland       Deceased Online: burials       BMDregisters: non-conformist records and more As a general rule, the original parish records should be checked. Some archives and record offices:       Berkshire Record Office, Reading       Hampshire Record Office, Winchester       London Metropolitan Archives, London       City of Westminster Archives, London Census Returns Census returns provide a fascinating view of the members of a household and their community. In England, the 1841 census was the first to collect detailed family information. A census followed every ten years. Online access to census returns is offered by the National Archives (previously named the Public Record Office) and the family history website: Ancestry. Nostalgia: The "old" method of access to census returns was by searching from microfilm copies at the Family Records Centre in Islington, London. This centre was closed in March 2008 and its services transferred to the National Archives in Kew in West London. A useful reference source was the Hampshire Genealogical Society Record Series name indexes, by census parish, for the 1851 census. Wills Wills can provide an informative record of family relationships. For people who died in or after 1858: Search for Wills (England and Wales) For wills made before the legal reforms of 1858, locating a will is not routine. A practical guide to using wills for family history is in the Berkshire Family Historian, December 2001. The Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) was the senior probate court for wills of relatively wealthy people living in the south of England. The Snell Berskhire collection at the library of the Society of Genealogists, London, includes name indexes and abstracts of Berkshire wills proved in the PCC for the years 1391–1737. A description of the Snell Collection is in the Berkshire Family Historian, September 2000.     Glossary of Terms for Wills from the Surrey Plus Wills Index     Glossary of Probate Terms from FindMyPast Online resources for wills:     National Archives online records: PCC Wills 1384–1858     Hampshire Record Office (search the online catalogue)     Wiltshire Wills     Oxfordshire Wills - Transcribed Wills     Assorted Links Archives Online     UK Archives Discovery: online catalogue for     The National Archives and     the former UK Access to Archives (A2A) Portcullis: Parliamentary Archives catalogue Hampshire Record Office Oxfordshire Heritage Search Essex Archives Jersey Archives || Online Catalogue Canada || British Columbia Archives More Archives Waltham Forest Archives, Walthamstow Data Online Historical Directories (University of Leicester Special Collections) The Clergy of the Church of England Database The Old Bailey The Records of London's Livery Companies London Lives Newspapers Online   The British Newspaper Archive London Gazette The Guardian and Observer Digital Archive Last Chance to Read Pictures Online     Images of England - English Heritage Historic England Archive Geograph British Isles Guildhall Art Gallery - image database The Wellcome Library - image database Lambeth Landmark History Online British History History of Parliament Oxoniensia Mayors of Oxford by Stephanie Jenkins Thames Valley Papists by Tony Hadland Royal Berkshire & May Family by David Nash Ford BBC History - English Civil War London Libraries The British Library The Wellcome Library - for the History of Medicine Institute of Historical Research The Guildhall Library || Manuscripts – Companies of London More The Federation of Family History Societies Newsletter GENUKI - UK and Ireland genealogy Maps - Online Maps to Everywhere Abebooks - New and Used Books Miscellaneous Notes Spelling: Standard spelling is somewhat recent. Therefore, a variety of spelling variations of names may appear in historical records. That is, spelling variations may have no official meaning. Dates: Discussion is at the Wikipedia page Old Style and New Style Dates. Revision Date: 2017. The background is the Strawberry Thief pattern by the great Victorian designer William Morris (William Morris Gallery).