Finding your English and Welsh ancestors

First, find the parish

The national indexes are free, but they give a registration district, not a village. A district covered several parishes, and parish registers are kept county by county. So the name of the parish, or at least the county, is what opens the older records.

Inside England and Wales, the best clue is the census. From 1851 it gives the county and parish of birth of everyone born in England or Wales.

Civil records from 1 July 1837

Births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales have been registered by the State since 1 July 1837. The local register office keeps the original register; the General Register Office (GRO) holds a central copy of every entry.

To find an entry, search the index first. Each index entry gives the year, the quarter, the registration district, and a volume and page number: this is the reference you quote when you order.

• GRO online index: free after registration. It covers births more than 100 years old and deaths from 1837 to 1957.
• FreeBMD: a free volunteer transcription of the national index from 1837, not yet complete for every year.
• From the September quarter of 1911, the birth index also shows the mother's maiden name.

Order a certificate or a PDF

Copies are ordered from the GRO, online, by phone (0300 123 1837) or by post, or from the register office of the district. You need to register on the GRO website first. Prices from GRO's official price list:

A standard certificate is sent 4 days after you apply. Without an index reference, it takes 15 working days. PDFs and Online View exist only for births from 1837 up to 100 years ago and deaths from 1837 to 1957. A PDF has no legal value, but for family history it shows the same entry for less.

Before 1837: the parish registers

Every parish in England had to keep a register of baptisms, marriages and burials from 1538, though many early books are lost. From 1598, ministers also sent a yearly copy to the bishop or archdeacon: these bishops' transcripts can fill gaps.

• England: most Church of England registers and bishops' transcripts are in the county record office. Some parishes still keep their books. Use Find an archive (The National Archives) to locate the right office.
• Wales: nearly all parishes have deposited their registers either at the National Library of Wales or in the local archives.
• Nonconformists (Methodists, Baptists, Quakers and others): most of their registers are at The National Archives, some in county record offices.

Online: free transcripts on FreeREG and free indexes on FamilySearch; many county collections are on Ancestry and Findmypast (paid).

Census returns, 1841 to 1921

A census was taken every ten years. The returns from 1841 to 1921 are open; later ones stay closed for 100 years. The 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire in 1942, and no census was taken in 1941.

• 1841: ages over 15 rounded down to five years; birthplace only as born in the county or not, or S, I or F for Scotland, Ireland or foreign parts.
• 1851 onwards: exact age, relationship to the head of household, and county and parish of birth.
• 1921: released on 6 January 2022 on Findmypast. Searching is free, viewing is pay-per-view, without subscription.

Free options: FamilySearch has free indexes of the censuses to 1911; FreeCEN has some free transcripts. Images of 1841 to 1921 are free at The National Archives in Kew, and the 1921 census is also free on site at Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales. Online, 1841 to 1891 are on Ancestry and 1901 to 1921 on Findmypast.

What is open, what is closed

• Indexes and images online: births more than 100 years old, deaths from 1837 to 1957.
• Certificates: the GRO holds births and deaths up to six months before today, and marriages to the present. For events from the last 6 months (18 months for marriages), apply to the local register office.
• Census: closed for 100 years. The most recent open census is 1921.

Leaving England and Wales

The National Archives estimates that around 25 million people emigrated from Britain and Ireland between 1600 and 2000, mainly to the USA, the West Indies, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Emigration from England increased after 1815 and peaked in the 1880s.

• Passenger lists: lists of passengers leaving the UK survive from 1890 to 1960 (series BT 27), for voyages to ports outside Europe and the Mediterranean. They are on Findmypast and Ancestry (paid).
• Before 1890, records of people leaving Britain are few. The arrival records in the destination country are usually the better source.
• Wills: probate records from 1858 can be searched free on gov.uk; a copy costs £16.

Sources