The Top British Genealogy Websites

England and Wales are generally considered some of the best places in the world for historical and genealogical research.

Britain has a long tradition of creating, preserving and organizing records over many centuries. English law generated enormous amounts of documentation: wills, deeds, court cases, military records and more. Many church records date back to the 1500s, and Britain’s national and local archives have generally taken preservation very seriously.

Now, many of the most important records for English and Welsh genealogy are online. In this article, I’ll give you an overview of key resources for researching your family history in England and Wales. A dollar sign ($) indicates that at least part of the website is fee-based.

British Genealogy Megasites

Ancestry.com $

A global search from the home page covers most resources on the site, but it’s well worth checking individual collections, some of which aren’t indexed. Click on Search > All Collections, scroll down to Explore by Location, and England, Scotland or Wales from the map. Be sure to browse what’s available for individual counties. Notable collections include an index to wills and administrations in England and Wales from 1858 to 1966, British phone books from 1880 to 1984, incoming passenger lists from 1878 to 1960 and outward passenger lists from 1890 to 1960.

FamilyRelatives.com $

Some of the largest record collections on this British site include 5 million parish records of baptisms, marriages and burials dating from 1538 to 1900 and probate registers from many counties of England and Wales.

FamilySearch

Click on Search > Records to search all the indexed records. On the same page, click on Browse All Collections and select United Kingdom and Ireland under Place to explore individual collections. If it says Browse Images, the collection is not indexed. Click on Search > Catalog to find more records, including many that are online.

Findmypast.com $

This British-based site is positioning itself as the source for British genealogy, launching a British and Irish Roots collection and related subscription packages. Key records include newspapers from the British Library and the National Burial Index for England & Wales with more than 12 million burial records, mostly from 1813 to 1850. To find record collections for a particular county, click on Search > All Record Sets, select a country such as England or Wales and search on a county name. For example, select England and search on Norfolk. Matches will include several collections of Norfolk baptisms, marriages and burials.

The Genealogist $

Notable collections on this British-based site include tithe records of landowners and residents from 1837 to the early 1850s, WWI casualty lists and memorials, and Nonconformist records of Quakers, Baptists and other faiths. SmartSearch technology lets you jump between related records. For example, the site links marriage records to the couple’s children and census and death records to birth records.

Genes Reunited $

Owned by the same parent company as Findmypast, Genes Reunited also has parish records, census records, civil registration indexes and other historical records. You can build your family tree for free. User-contributed family trees with strong coverage of British families are the big draw on Genes Reunited. Unfortunately, however, all the trees are essentially private. You can search only an index of names in the family trees and you have to contact a tree’s owner for details.

MyHeritage $

In addition to civil registration indexes and census records, MyHeritage has many English and Welsh parish records licensed from FamilySearch. To find record collections from England and Wales, select Collection Catalog under the Research tab. Scroll down to Refine by Location on the left. Select Europe, then Refine Further and select United Kingdom. If you like, click Refine Further to narrow collections to England, Isle of Man or Wales. User-contributed family trees from around the world have many ties to Great Britain.

Libraries and Archives

National libraries and archives for England and Wales have published key historical record collections online. Their catalogs can also help you locate digitized or offline books and manuscripts.

The National Library of Wales

The main catalog indexes many individual records. Try searching on a person’s name and parish of residence. You can refine the results by collection, such as marriage bonds or wills, and by a range of years. My ancestor Thomas Morgan lived in the parish of Llanigon, Breconshire. The first match in a search on Thomas Morgan Llanigon is an 1819 bond granting administration of his estate to his widow Mary and bearing the signatures of two of his children. You can use a screen capture to save record images or download files for a small fee.

The UK National Archives

Access many guides to wills, census records and other resources on this site by clicking on Help with Your Research > Family History. Another click—Search the Catalogue—will let you explore more than 37 million descriptions of records at The National Archives and more than 3,500 archives across the country.

Civil Registration

In 1837, the UK government began recording each birth, marriage and death in civil registers. These form a remarkably consistent set of records that track individuals throughout their lives:

• Birth records include the father’s name and mother’s maiden name.
• Marriage records provide the names of the bride and groom (plus their ages and occupations), as well as their father’s names and occupations.
• Death records give the deceased’s name, age and occupation, plus the date, place and cause of death.

Start by searching online indexes of these records, rather than ordering a certificate right away. Commercial websites with BMD indexes back to 1837 include Ancestry.com ($), Findmypast ($), TheGenealogist ($), Genes Reunited ($) and MyHeritage ($).

Keep in mind that the indexes don’t give the exact date and place an event took place. They mention just a quarter for date (e.g., “Jan–Mar 1860”) and district for place. Use UK BMD’s Registration Districts in England and Wales to find the parishes within a registration district.

Accordingly, these collections don’t include the actual certificates. But they do provide the information you’ll need to order them: the GRO reference number. With that in hand, you can contact the General Register Office ($) for copies of records; digital images are available only for births from 1837 to 1923 and deaths from 1837 to 1857.

The major genealogy websites also have collections of birth, marriage and death records from various sources. For example, FamilySearch has birth and christening indexes spanning 1538 to 1975, some 39 million records.

Other websites include:

BMDIndex.co.uk ($)

This website includes birth, marriage, and death records all the way from 1837. You can choose a subscription model that suits your needs.

FreeBMD

A free-to-search volunteer project to transcribe the English and Welsh civil registration indexes, FreeBMD covers more than 290 million records. All years are not yet available, but more transcriptions are added regularly.

FreeReg

This terrific site provides free access to transcribed church baptism, marriage and burial records from parish registers, Nonconformist records and more. Operated by volunteers and regularly updated, FreeReg has more than 58 million records and should be one of the first websites you check for UK ancestors before 1837.

General Register Office

Order birth, marriage and death civil registration certificates online for mail delivery for about $12, including postage. You can also order a birth or death certificate as a PDF download for about $8.

The Joiner Marriage Index $

You can search transcriptions of over 3.2 million marriage records from English and Welsh church parish registers before 1837, many of which are not indexed anywhere else.

UK BMD

Find birth, marriage, and death indexes for free.

Church Records

Beginning in 1538, each parish was required to keep a register of baptisms, marriages (including banns, published notices of upcoming weddings) and burials. Together, these records are known as parish registers.

The information in these records varies considerably, with earlier records typically containing less detail:

• Baptism (or christening) records include the names of the child and parents, the date and sometimes the date of birth and place of residence.
• Marriage records give the bride and groom’s names, ages and occupations, plus their places of residence and marital status (single or widowed).
• Burial records provide the deceased’s name, age, place of residence, occupation, and date of burial.

Parish registers are incomplete; some survive back to the 1500s, but others have been damaged or lost. Each parish was supposed to send a copy of that year’s register to the local bishop and/or archdeacon, meaning there may be a second set of records. These tend to be less complete than the original parish registers, but they’re still worth checking if the latter are missing or difficult to read.

All the major genealogy websites include extensive collections of English and Welsh parish registers, but coverage varies by county and denomination:

Ancestry.com ($)

Ancestry.com ($) has parish records linked to images for both England (over 300 million records) and Wales (over 14 million records), as well as 53 million index-only records from London.

BMD Registers

BMD Registers ($) has records from churches other than the Church of England, such as Methodists, Baptists and Quakers.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch has a variety of church records. Some have links to images on Findmypast, and some can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center (i.e., not from home). Others are not indexed, but you can browse them.

Findmypast $

Findmypast ($) has the largest collection of British parish records online, including many you won’t find anywhere else. Some link to images, while others just have transcriptions.

FreeReg

FreeReg has transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials from parish registers in England and Wales—all contributed by volunteers.

TheGenealogist ($)

TheGenealogist ($) has both transcriptions of parish registers and images of the registers themselves, plus records from Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and other churches. All of them are searchable.

MyHeritage ($)

MyHeritage ($) has records licensed from FamilySearch, plus Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic and other Nonconformist records licensed from the UK National Archives.

UK BMD

UK BMD has a directory of free, searchable collections created by volunteer “online parish clerks” who transcribe parish records.

Norfolk Family History Society ($)

The Norfolk Family History Society ($) has a database with about five million records.

Censuses

The UK government has conducted a census every 10 years since 1801 (with one exception: 1941 during World War II). Most records from the 1801 through 1831 counts don’t survive; the ones that do list only the head of household by name.

The 1841 census was the first to name each resident, and it also asked for age (rounded down to the nearest five years) and if each person was born in their county of residence. Later censuses provided finer detail, giving an exact age and the parish and county of birth.

Note that records of England and Wales in the 1931 census were destroyed. The 1939 England and Wales Register (taken for ration books and to issue identity cards at the outset of the war) thus fills a large gap between the 1921 and 1951 censuses.

Several sites have English and Welsh census records:

Ancestry.com ($) and Findmypast ($)

Both websites have all the censuses from 1841 to 1921 (plus the 1939 Register) with images.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch has transcriptions from 1841 to 1911 along with record images, some of which are hosted on Findmypast. You can also search the 1921 census, but the results are incomplete.

TheGenealogist ($)

TheGenealogist ($) has transcriptions and images from 1841 to 1911 and a transcription of the 1939 Register.

MyHeritage ($)

MyHeritage ($) has transcriptions linked to images from 1841 to 1911, plus transcriptions of the 1921 census and the 1939 Register.

Newspapers

Search for a term—surname, village, occupation, street, etc.—anywhere in millions of newspaper pages held at archives:

The British Newspaper Archive ($)

A joint effort between the British Library and Findmypast, this website has papers dating back to the 1700s. A Findmypast “Everything” subscription gives you access to the same newspapers, but the BNA has more-advanced searching and receives new pages before Findmypast.

Welsh Newspapers Online

A website from the National Library of Wales, Welsh Newspapers Online has more than 1.1 million pages from newspapers published before 1910.

NewspaperArchive ($)

This tool boasts over 8.6 billion names to search. Explore newspaper archives from 1607 to the present day and over 108 million obituaries.

Newspapers.com ($)

Newspapers.com ($) boasts over a billion newspaper pages from 1690 to the present day.

OldNews ($)

With over 484 million pages from over 41k newspaper titles to search, OldNews ($) from MyHeritage is a valuable resource. There are over 90,000 pages for the United Kingdom alone.

Archive Websites

These archives have online catalogs that not only describe the historical records in their care, but also index the names in many of them. Search on a place, a person’s name or a combination of the two:

The National Archives

The National Archives (home to military records, censuses, helpful research guides and more) catalogs the collections of it and 7,500 other archives here. Read Family Tree’s tutorial for more guidance.

The National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales holds newspapers, wills, marriage bonds and more. Click Resources to access these (and more) or Catalogue to find other records.

Help Resources

If you’ve hit a dead-end in your English or Welsh research, try consulting these websites and groups:

Facebook Groups

Facebook groups provide forums to discuss topics related to UK and Irish genealogy and history. GENUKI has compiled a list here.

Family History Societies

Family history societies at the county and regional levels are treasure troves of local parish records and gravestone inscriptions, as well as volunteer-led research assistance. The Family History Federation has a tool for locating a society of interest to you.

Societies include:

• Association of Family History Societies of Wales: Most Welsh family history societies cover a county created in 1974. So, for example, the Powys Family History Society focuses on the historical counties of Breconshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire. This site will point you to the ones you need: just click Member Societies.
• Association of Genealogists & Researchers in Archives: This organization promotes high standards for professional genealogists and historical researchers in England and Wales. You can find a researcher by specialty or location. The UK National Archives also has a list of independent researchers. Click on Help with Your Research > Pay for Research > Independent Researchers.
• Federation of Family History Societies: This site has a directory of more than 180 member societies in England, Wales and Ireland.
• GENFair $: This vendor serves as a storefront for many British family history societies, making it easy to pay for a society membership, publications on CD or DVD and digital downloads.
• Parish Chest: You can explore many family history societies.

The FamilySearch Research Wiki

The FamilySearch Research Wiki has thousands of how-to articles. Its pages on English and Welsh genealogy are both good places to start. From there, follow links to articles on specific counties and topics, such as Church Records, Online Genealogy Records and Probate Records.

GENUKI

GENUKI provides a range of reference tools, including maps, gazetteers and guides to historical records for the British Isles. Check out the pages for England and Wales, plus those for each county and parish where your ancestors lived.

National Archives

The National Archives’ research guides cover many topics, such as the American Revolution, prisoners and convicts, and wills.

ChatGPT

AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT) can explain record types, suggest research strategies, interpret historical documents, and plan future research. Always verify the information chatbots give you.

Maps and Historical Buildings

You shouldn’t start researching English or Welsh ancestors by looking for records. You first need to identify the parish or town where they lived (and, ideally, the parish where they worshiped). Parishes are especially important because church records are the best sources of genealogical information prior to 1837.

Obituaries, old letters, and family Bibles can offer clues. Major British genealogy databases (free website FamilySearch and subscription websites Ancestry.com, Findmypast and TheGenealogist can help, too, provided you remember that multiple people in the same community can have the same name.

Don’t fret if you can’t determine a specific parish; a county name can still point you to promising record collections. England was historically divided into 39 historic counties and Wales into 13, though they don’t serve an official purpose today. And counties may have different names and boundaries now than they did in previous centuries, particularly after major administrative changes went into effect in 1974.

Online maps can help you locate a parish and identify neighboring parishes where you might find family connections. Keep in mind that most records in England and Wales are organized according to historical (i.e., pre-1974) county boundaries.

The following resources will help you learn more about these administrative districts (for example, what church parish served a village or city district):

Ancestry ($)

Ancestry.com ($) has an atlas and index of parish registers from Great Britain, showing parish boundaries and probate jurisdictions. Maps in this collection lack grids, so you’ll need to browse to find a parish.

FamilySearch Research Wiki

The FamilySearch Research Wiki has detailed information on record jurisdictions, plus maps showing border changes. Check for articles on both counties and parishes.

Findmypast

Findmypast ($) has the same Phillimore Atlas and Index as Ancestry.com, but does offer grids.

TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist ($) has a Map Explorer that lets you overlay different maps of the same area, allowing you to compare boundaries and features over time. Here, you can also display county and parish boundaries on any map, such as “Landranger” maps that show geographic features and farm names. You can also easily access records from a selected place—for example, the site’s tithe apportionment maps (created in the mid-1800s) are linked to records showing the plot’s owner and occupier.

GENUKI

The GENUKI Gazetteer, like other gazetteers, provides a description and map of each place, plus a guide to records.

Streetmap

Streetmap allows you to search for a town, parish or farm, then view it on a Landranger map.

Tithe Maps of Wales

Tithe Maps of Wales from the National Library of Wales can be found using the name of a parish, occupier, landowner or farm.

British Listed Buildings

This site describes almost 500,000 buildings of special architectural or historical interest in England, Scotland and Wales. That includes most buildings built before 1840 and some later. A search for Llwynfilly, the farm my ancestor Samuel Jones leased in 1788 in the parish of Llanigon, Breconshire, Wales, produces a detailed description of the farmhouse. It includes its history and construction, plus a map and an aerial view.

England & Wales Jurisdictions 1851

Start your search here for information on the parishes where your ancestors lived. For example, I’m researching the Pennington family of Wiggenhall St. Mary Magdalen, Norfolk. A search on Wiggenhall produces matches on four churches. Select St. Mary Magdalen and it shows that the parish registers begin in 1562; and bishop’s transcripts, in 1601. You’ll see that it’s in the civil registration district of Downham and the probate jurisdiction of the Archdeaconry of Norwich. A detailed map shows adjacent parishes. From the Options tab, do a radius search to find nearby parishes within a specified distance. You can also follow the links to the Catalog, Historical Records, and FamilySearch Research Wiki for even more information on the parish.

Ordnance Survey

Enter a place name in Search Locations and select the correct place from the suggestions. A search on the Breconshire, Wales parish of Llanigon shows the location of Llwynfilly and other farms where my ancestors lived. (You can’t search on a farm name.)

Other Records

The aforementioned genealogy megasites have many census and military records. All have indexes and record images for UK censuses from 1841 to 1911. FamilySearch has indexes to English and Welsh censuses from 1841 to 1911, census images from 1841 to 1891, and links to Findmypast.com for the census images for 1901 to 1911. (As of this writing, Findmypast has exclusive images for the 1921 census.)

Ancestry and Findmypast.com both have British WWI service records. FamilySearch has them, too, but access is limited to researchers at FamilySearch Centers. For help finding military records, see guides on the UK National Archives website and in the FamilySearch Wiki.

The British Newspaper Archive $

The British Library has digitized more than 68 million newspaper pages dating back to the 1700s from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. They’re also available through The British Library’s partner, Findmypast.com. More newspapers are added regularly.

FreeCen: UK Census Online

The British government has taken censuses every 10 years since 1801, except for 1941. The 1841 census was the first to list every person by name and the 1921 census is the most recent open to the public. (As mentioned previously, Findmypast has exclusive publishing rights for that enumeration; FreeCen only goes to 1911.) Starting in 1851, the census lists each person’s parish of birth. That’s helpful for locating the origins of people born before civil registration began in 1837. UK Census Online volunteers have transcribed more than 32 million names in the census records of England, Scotland and Wales from 1841 to 1891.

Forces War Records $

Military records provide biographical details of soldiers and their families, in addition to information about military service. This subscription site has more than 10 million British military records from the 18th century to the present, including 2 million records not available elsewhere online. The site adds about 250,000 new records each month.

Note: Ancestry.com acquired Forces War Records in 2021 and relaunched the service in 2023. It now supports millions of records from collections at Ancestry.com and sister site Fold3.

The Gazette

Search all three editions of The Gazette, the official government newspaper published in London, Edinburgh and Belfast. Dating back to 1665, it includes useful information for family history research, such as estate notices, bankruptcies, military appointments, name changes and naturalizations.

A version of this article appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Family Tree Magazine. Last updated June 2023.

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