ONLINE! Key Records pre-1837
Nonconformist Church Records

Family Tree Magazine's Guide to www.BMDRegisters.co.uk

Searching for ancestors before 1837 - the date that the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales was introduced - is set to become much easier. These Non-parochial Nonconformist records are coming online and often provide unique information about the events that they record: the births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials of our Nonconformist ancestors.

Genealogy digitisation experts, S&N Genealogy Supplies, have joined forces with The National Archives and have digitised key records of births and baptisms, deaths and burials, plus marriages. These records cover Non-parochial registers back in some instances to 1567, though the majority date from later. The digitised records at www.BMDRegisters.co.uk cover millions of individuals. These are some of the many people, who for whatever reason (religious conviction, to save money, living overseas) didn't marry of have their children baptised in an Anglican parish church. The first batch of records to be released (RG4 and RG5) covers 6 million individuals from areas all over England and Wales; the other collections help you track down Britons abroad, providing records from pretty much the whole of the British empire, wherever British citizens were born, married or died abroad.

Being non-parochial registers, the information covers key Nonconformist records and provides unique access to details of events, prior to civil registration and outside the established Church of England records. Not only are births and deaths, as well as the baptisms and burials, recorded, the Nonconfirmist records can also provide greater detail about familial relationships - with parents' and even grandparents' details sometimes included - a real boon to family historians.

The denominations covered by www.BMDRegisters.co.uk are Prebyterians, Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists and recusant Roman Catholics.

The registers of dissenting congregations are rare before persecution stopped, so the majority dates from the late-18th century onwards. Once persecution ceased, however, the dissenters' registries were established to try to overcome the authorities' refusal to accept Nonconformist records of birth as legal proof. Dr Williams' Library is probably the best-known collection of dissenters' registries and was the first to gather Nonconformist records. It was set up in 1742 (with retrospective records back to 1716) and kept records of Baptists, Independents and Presbyterians in London and within a 12-mile radius of the city. However, parents from most parts of the British Isles used the registry. Another registry, the Wesleyan Methodist Registry (also RG4) was founded (as the Metropolitan Registry) in 1818.

THE ORIGINALS

The originals of the records available at BMDRegisters.co.uk are in very delicate condition, so only brought out for research purposes on rare occasions. There is microfilm available, but unfortunately even these do not provide very user friendly access to the records, requiring a good understanding of cataloguing of the records before you can have a stab at finding an ancestor. Nevertheless these records remained one of the most popular records to be used in The National Archives Reading Room, indicating how important they are, that people were willing to undertake the challenge. The website, however, provides a route to results that couldn't be simpler, and the transcribed search results are all linked through to images of the originals.

To use www.BMDRegisters.co.uk: The website goes live on 14th September 2007. To use the site, register and then you'll be able to buy credits. It costs five credits to view the full details and another five to view the page image.

The Records Online

The first batch of records to come online at www.BMDRegisters.co.uk will be from Rg4 and RG5, and these records online will go up to 1858. Over the coming months, later years and further records will be covered on the site:

RG 4: General Register Office: Registers of births, marriages and deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commission of 1837 and 1857, and covering 1567-1858.

RG 5: General Register Office: Birth certificates from the Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist Registry and from the Wesleyan Metropolitan Registry 1742-1840.

RG 6: Society of Friends ('Quakers') registers, notes and certificates of births, marriages and deaths, 1578-1841.

RG 7: Registers of Clandestine marriages and baptisms in the Fleet Prison, King's Bench Prison, the Mint and May Fair Chapel 1667 to c1777.

RG 8: Registers of births, marriages and deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers of commission of 1857 and other registers and church records 1646-1970. It includes: - British Lying-In Hospital, Holborn 1749 to c1868 - Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, Hackney from 1713 - Chapel Royal Windsor Castle from c1525 - Chapel Royal Whitehall from c1540 - Chapel Royal St James Palace from 1540 - Victoria Park Cemetary, London from c1853 - New Burial Ground, Southwark from c1840 - Bethnal Green Protestant Dissenters Burial Ground from c1793.

RG 32: Miscellaneous Foreign returns of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials abroad and on British and foreign ships, of British subjects, nationals of the colonies, the Commonwealth amd countries under the British jurisdiction, 1831-1969.

RG 33: Foreign Registers and Returns, includes births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials abroad (also including Lundy Island) and on British and foreign ships, of British subjects, nationals of the colonies, the Commonwealth and countries under the British jurisdiction and come foreign nationals. Includes original registers kept by incumbents of English churches and missions, British embassies and legations and political agents, etc 1627-1960 (mostly 19th and 20th century).

RG 34: Miscellaneous foreign marriage returns: marriage certificates issued by foreign registration authorities and churches, copies of entries in British embassies, incumbents of English churches and chaplains, notification of marriages of servicemen during service abroad and documents deposited for safe-keeping, 1826-1921.

RG 35: Miscellaneous foreign death returns, 1830-1921: as for marriages above, but also includes incomplete collection of certificates of British military deaths in France and Belgium 1914-1921, issued by the registration authorities of those countries.

RG 36: Registers and Returns of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Protectorates, etc of Africa and Asia: notifications forwarded by officials responsible for civil registration under administrative ordnances in Nyasaland, Kenya, Somaliland, Uganda, Sudan, Palestine, Sarawak, Malaya including Johore and Selangor and British North Borneo 1895-1965.

BT 158: Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages of passengers at sea: 1854-1890.

BT 159: Register of Deaths at Sea of British Nationals 1875-1888

BT 160: Register of Births at Sea of British Nationals 1875-1891

www.BMDRegisters.co.uk