Latest news

TheGenealogist announced the following on 25th December 2015:

TheGenealogist has now completed the launch of searchable Tithe Maps and Schedules for England and Wales with the release of more maps covering 40 new counties. These maps link to the searchable schedules which contain over 14 million records. The schedules contain detailed information on land use with linked maps that jump to the plot for an individual from the records. The maps can contain hundreds of individual plots with varying levels of detail. They can reveal buildings, fields, houses, rivers, lakes, woods and cities.

They have just announced (2017) that they have digitised the maps for Northumberland (and many other counties).

Web site address is: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/

The society has a subscription and the records can be examined on the public computers at our Research Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne.

[Thanks to Pat Storey on Northumbria list for this].

One of the improvements to the revised Scotland’s People website is that you can now search the indexes, including the Old Parochial Registers indexes, for free. It only costs you credits if you want to look at the actual records. You need to register to use the site but you can then look at the OPR, statutory registers, and will indexes etc.

If you are using the OPR indexes particularly, set the surname search option to phonetic and the forename to “names that begin with” (and depending on the name, don’t necessarily spell all of it, e.g. use “Is” for all the Isobel/Isabella variants or “Marg” for Margaret).

Web site address is: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

The General Register Office (GRO) has extended their search form for births so that you can now include the mother’s maiden name. Applies to records pre-1915.

You need to register with them in order to use the search facility. It is a cumbersome registration process; and the search process is equally cumbersome. You can only search in five-year blocks AND you have to give the gender of the child.

Web site address is: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp

From 2020 the mother’s maiden name is also available at FindMyPast, and is shown in the transcript option.

Their Web site address is: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

Historic Irish Civil Records are now available.

[Thanks to John Stobbs for reporting this]

Heather Humphreys T.D. Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Leo Varadkar T.D. Minister for Social Protection have officially launched the historic records of Births over 100 years ago, Marriages over 75 years ago and Deaths over 50 years ago of the General Register Office (GRO).

Web site address is: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/

The National Library of Scotland has released scanned images of British Military lists. These give details of officers who served during the First and Second World Wars.

The British Army lists are arranged either by regiment or by officers (in order of seniority), and sometimes both. Some lists include retired officers, and officers of the Royal Flying Corps.

The British Royal Navy lists have alphabetical lists of active and retired officers, and lists of active and retired officers according to role. Includes Royal Marines, Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service. Also lists ships and other vessels.

The British Royal Air Force lists have lists of officers arranged according to their role and rank. There are lists of officers in order of seniority, retired officer lists, and alphabetical indexes.

Web site address is: http://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/pageturner.cfm?id=97343435

[Thanks to Colin Chater on Northumbria list for this].

The National Library of Scotland has scanned maps as high-resolution, colour, zoomable images. The maps date between 1560 and 1964 and relate primarily to Scotland, although they also have maps of areas beyond Scotland, including England and Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, and Jamaica.

With this web link you can access and view all their maps. The easiest way of finding material relating to any particular location is to find by place. The boundaries and extents of all the map images are shown as clear coloured overlays that you can select and view. The screen images can then be saved as pdfs.

Web site address is: http://maps.nls.uk/

ScotlandsPeople have just announced:

Over 2.5 million indexed names are now available. Fully searchable by name and address, the new records provide a window into the lives of every owner, tenant and occupier of property in Scotland in 1930, and a glimpse into the industrial and economic landscape between the two World Wars, almost 20 years after the last published Census of 1911.

Web site address is: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

Newcastle City Library has just announced:

Launching of 11,000 images from the Illustrated Chronicle on flickr.

These are images that were sent in to the Illustrated Chronicle by family or friends of soldiers or sailors who served in the Great War and were wounded, killed, decorated, or when they enlisted.

They are also looking to find some background information to some of the images.

The images are searchable by surname – use the magnifying glass at the top right hand side.

Web site address is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/illustratedchronicleww1

Findmypast, in association with The National Archives, have just announced:

Today, the newly digitised records of the 1939 Register are online. Dubbed ‘The Wartime Domesday Book’, The 1939 Register is the most comprehensive survey of the population of England and Wales ever taken. In September 1939, World War 2 had just broken out. 65,000 enumerators were employed to visit every house in England and Wales to take stock of the civil population.

The information that they recorded was used to issue Identity Cards, plan mass evacuations, establish rationing and co-ordinate other war-time provisions. In the longer term, the 1939 Register would go on to play a central role in the establishment of post-war services like the NHS.

Note: The index is free, but you will need to pay to see the data. The normal Findmypast subscription does not cover this database.

Web site address is: http://www.findmypast.co.uk/1939register

ScotlandsPeople have just announced:

We’re delighted to announce that the Valuation Rolls for 1855 have just been added to the ScotlandsPeople website.

The new records are FREE to search until 31st October 2015. Fully searchable by name and address, the new records provide a detailed snapshot of Scotland in a time of industrial expansion and economic growth, and offer a fascinating window into the lives of Victorian Scots.

Web site address is: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/