Today I’m sharing the best free UK Genealogy websites. When I began tracing my family tree, I realised very quickly it was going to be an expensive hobby.
Between site subscriptions and buying birth, marriage and death certificates, the costs mounted quickly. So it should come as no surprise that I decided to see which UK genealogy records were available online for FREE.
Best Free UK Genealogy Websites
These are the free sites I found the most useful.
Familysearch.org
Familysearch.org is provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s one of the best free UK Genealogy websites for finding religious records in particular.
It offers free searches & results for the England & Wales 1881 Census, as well as free searches for the other Census’ – you have to pay to view the original documents though, and users are redirected to find my past, if they want to do so.
Familysearch also have a lot of Parish Records transcribed on the website. This means you can sometimes find out information like Baptism dates, Marriage dates and funeral dates, without paying for the original documents – this is only available if the Parish Records for the Church have been available to transcribe though – a lot were lost over time or destroyed during World War Two. So while there are millions available, lots have been lost. That said, don’t give up hope if the search comes back empty. There’s other places to look…
Lancashire BMD
Lancashire Births, Marriages & Deaths is an index of all the Records available in the Lancashire area, since registration became compulsory in 1837. It has over 7 million births listed – dating from 1837 to 1950. This is a useful when you need to find relatives from Lancashire.
There are also over 3.7 Million Marriages listed, dating from 1837 to 1950. The site also has over 3.4 Million Death Records listed, again from 1837 to 1950. It is worth noting these records are still being added, so if you cannot find the person you’re looking for, the site may not have added the file yet. It’s one of the best free UK Genealogy websites for finding relatives in the North West of England.
Many other Counties have similar websites – view the list of other BMD websites HERE. I haven’t had much cause to use those though, so can’t comment on their effectiveness.
For each search you do on Lancashire BMD, you can view the following information.
Birth searches show:
Surname, Forename, Mother’s Maiden Name, Year, Sub District, Registers At, Region & Reference.
Marriage searches show:
Surname, Forename(s), Spouse’s Surname, Spouse’s Forename(s), Year, Church/Register Office, Region, Registers At & Reference.
Death searches show:
Surname, Forename(s), Age At Death, Sub-District, Registers At, Region & Reference.
This information can be all you need for your records, but if you are curious to know more, you can use the GRO reference to order a copy of the original certificate.
A Birth Certificate will tell you the Father’s name (If Legitimate), Both Parents’ place of birth, occupations and their Father’s names.
A Marriage Certificate will tell you the Bride & Groom’s addresses at the time of marriage, their Father’s names and occupations, and who the witnesses were.
From a Death Certificate, you can find out the cause of death.
Free Irish Genealogy Records
In recent years, I have found Irish Genealogy to be an amazing free resource in my Irish genealogy research. This free website has free images and transcripts from thousands of Church and Civil birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records. It helped me get over 100 years further back with one of my lines, after being stuck for almost a decade.
Buying Certificates
I personally only bothered buying certificates if I was struggling to find the next generation, due to their names being very common – Walker & West were both in the top 10 Surnames in the North-West in the 1800’s. For example, if you need to know a person’s parental information, ordering the person you know’s marriage certificate will reveal their date of birth, their father’s details and place of birth too. This information makes it easier to get another generation back in your UK or Irish genealogy search.
Where to Save Your Family Tree Online for Free
I found Genes Reunited was the best website to store and edit my family tree. You can do this for free, and you can search for other relatives using their hot matches service. If you want to view any records or send messages to other users, you do have to subscribe, though. I think it’s the best free UK Genealogy websites for data storage and sharing.
I will post another genealogy blog post soon – this time outlining some of the chargeable sites I have used & which to avoid. In the meantime: Let me know in the comments if you can think of any other services you’d include in this best free UK Genealogy websites round up. Until next time… Happy Hunting!
