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This section outlines the main sources of information in family research and provides some additional basic information.

More information about the main records will be found via the Resources Topic Selection menu.

What records exist?, who is resposible for them and how you we acces them?

What are the key records?

This section outlines the primary sources of information:

• Census Records - from the early 19thC onwards
• Statuatory Registation of Births Deaths & Marriages - from the mid 19thC onwards
• Parish Records - baptisms, marriages , deaths & burials from 16thC onwards

In additional there are secondary sources such as shipping lists, military registers etc. These can usually be found via links on the main search sites.

Who is responsible?

The census will normally be undertaken by the national statictics body eg ONS in E&W in collaboration with the UK Statictics Authority.

Most nations will have a national records or register office for statuatory records, eg the GRO in E&W, NI and Ireland, or NRS in Scotland

Parish records have been maintained at church/religious institution level. These are generally less formal than the census and statuatory documents.

What is in the records?

Record Type	Information	How often
Census	Name Age Relationship Address Occupation		Decadal
Registation [E&W}]	Name Spouse name* Mothers name**		On birth , marriage or death [*later marriage editions, **later birth]
Registration [Scot]	Name Age Informant Parents Relationship Address Occupation		On birth , marriage or death
Certificate	Name Age Informant Parents* Relationship Address Occupation Witness		On birth , marriage or death [* birth]
Parish Register	Name Parent[s]* Address Occupation*		On birth/banns , marriage, death or burial [* in some cases]

How do we access the records?

the records can be accessed in one of two ways:

• Commercial Websites eg FindMyPast | This subset includes the bodes that provide all authenticted copies of Certificates
• Free to use sites such as FreeBDM, FreeCEN etc

The free to use sites use volunteers to transcribe census records, paper registers or parish records into a seachable list of references. The completeness of ther database will be dependent of the level of support they receive [donations and or volunteers]. They are unlikely to have permission to reproduce facsimilies of census forms or certificates.

The links below open pages that will provide more information about:

• CENSUS population snapshots | location | occupation
• NATIONAL REGISTERS births | deaths | marriages
• PARISH RECORDS baptism | banns/marriage | death/burial