Major family history databases

TheGenealogist.co.uk

BMD indexes for 1837 to 2005 are included. Pages missing from the microfiche/microfilm used for indexing have been seperately filmed and added so entries should be complete. The first section is easy to search by quarter and from 1984 to 2005 individual results are given. From 1984 to 2005 there is also a SmartSearch, which allows you extra options such as finding a death by using the month and year of birth. Overseas BMDs, marine deaths and World War I and World War II deaths are available.

TheGenealogist.co.uk is an excellent source of censuses with complete coverage for 1841/1851/1861/1871/1891/1901. The 1881 census is currently being re-transcribed and added. Channel Islands and Isle of Man censuses are available. All the censuses are transcribed and the level of accuracy is high, thanks to careful checks, so results are well-matched with 'include variants' helping to pick up spelling variations. Only results that match your search criteria are returned but if a common name returns lots of matches there's the useful option of clicking on a column heading and re-ordering the list, for example in order of age. You can view a digitised image of the page of each entry.

You can search across the whole of England and Wales using the Master Search option at the top of the page or by county under the Census Transcripts option. The county search option offers an advanced search, which includes occupation and street address. One interesting and useful little extra on this site is that when your search returns details of the person you searched for, you can click on the occupation and a window opens, giving information about that occupation.

Parish Registers are well represented with some parish from Cornwall, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire transcribed and indexed. Twenty-six counties plus some London parishes have entries from printed books. These are mainly early registers from the 1500s to 1812 and they provide a major resource.

Not all families were baptised, married and buried in the parish church, and just over a year ago, in conjunction with The National Archives, TheGenealogist.co.uk launched the Nonconformist records database. This is a very important resource, which includes records from non-parochial register 1567-1858. Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist and Wesleyan records, Society of Friends (Quakers) records, records from the Fleet Prison, the King's Bench Prison, the Mint and Mayfair Chapel. Entries in these records often include welcome additions such as the names of the parents and grandparents! Many further registers are to be released including those of the British Lying-in-Hospital, Holborn.

There is a useful range of directories and the Military, Landowner and Electoral Roll section offers a selection from Army Lists, English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Landowner records for 1873, the intriguing Knights of England 1127-1904, and the 2005 London electoral roll.

The Roll of Honour of other ranks and officers who fell in both World Wars has recently been added, with some records having linked biographies and pictures. Indexes to Britsol, Edinburgh, Leicestershire, Northampton and Yorkshire wills are available, and an index to Irish wills. Finally there is a range of free volunteer census indexes available.

Four searches at the top of TheGenealogist.co.uk search page provide ingenious ways of finding individuals and families. Keyword Master Search allows you to search across all censuses, BMD and parish records for an individual. House and Street search means you can view residents or a particular street in the censuses and Classic Master Name Search tells you where this name can be found across all records - particularly useful if you have an uncommon name. Family Forename Search allows you to search with up to six forenames in a family group, including dates of birth, with or without a surname - very useful for finding an elusive family in the censuses!

The 'Research View' page has all the search options available, including the four master searches. The 'My Subscriptions' tab at the top of each page takes you back to the 'Research View' page so it is easy to start again. Results usually appear below the search box so you need to remember to scroll down the page to view these. Results are neatly presented and digitised images are clear.

Try a FREE TRIAL at www.thegenealogist.co.uk/freesub