TheGenealogist has added over 1.9 million individuals to its parish record collection covering the county of Sussex. Published In association with The Parish Record Transcription Society, this second release of records for the English county more than doubles the number of parish records available for the area.
Sussex scene from TheGenealogist Image ArchiveTheGenealogist now has over 3 million individuals in the Sussex Parish Record Collection.The new batch covers individual records of:
1,278,413 Baptisms
308,746 Marriages
327,091 Burials
The Parish Record Transcription Society (PRTSoc) have worked with TheGenealogist and S&N to make their records available online. With a combined 3 million plus individuals from baptism, marriage and burial records now fully searchable it is easier than ever to discover ancestors from Sussex by turning to TheGenealogist’s parish records collection. These records are published as a result of a major project undertaken by PRTSoc staff and dedicated volunteers to transcribe the parish registers of West Sussex with the aim of preserving them for generations to come. By working with TheGenealogist these are now also searchable by online researchers on TheGenealogist.This release joins TheGenealogist’s Sussex collection including parish records to form a major resource for the county. Read their article here:https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2017/new-release-of-sussex-parish-records-reveals-709/This release adds to the ever expanding collection of parish records on TheGenealogist.
Information just in from the team at TheGenealogist announces that it has extended its UK Parish Records collection with a new and exclusive release of 650,000 parish records for Nottinghamshire. These records can be used to find your ancestors’ baptisms, marriages and burials in these fully searchable records that cover parishes from this important East Midland county of England. With records that reach back to1633, this release includes the records of 56 parishes, including:369,100 individuals in Baptisms, 168,000 individuals in Marriages and 112,800 individuals in BurialsYou can use these transcripts to find the names of ancestors, parents’ forenames (in the case of baptisms), father’s occupation (where noted), abode or parish, parish that the event took place in, the date of the event, and in the case of marriage records the bride’s maiden name and the witnesses’ names.
Lord Byron
Amongst the notable Nottinghamshire people that can be found in these records are the infamous Lord Byron and his brilliant mathematician daughter Ada, Countess of Lovelace. Both are buried in the parish of Hucknal Torkard. As well as nobility, in this collection we also come across the baptism of Amos Hind. He was famous for playing First Class Cricket for the neighbouring county of Derbyshire between 1876 and 1877. Amos died aged 82 in 1931.TheGenealogist says "These additions bring our Nottinghamshire parish record collection to over 919,800 records." To search these records and many more see TheGenealogist.co.ukRead their article: https://www.thegenealogist.com/featuredarticles/2017/a-poet-a-mathematician-and-a-first-class-cricketer-596/Parishes covered in this release are:
Press Release from TheGenealogist.TheGenealogist adds to its growing collection of Parish Records with the release of those for Nuneaton & North Warwickshire.
Released in partnership with the Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society there are over 454,000 new fully searchable records of individuals
Allowing the researcher to discover more than 300,000 people recorded within the baptisms from this area in the heart of England
Family historians can also discover the details of over 90,000 individuals from marriages and nearly 60,0000 people listed in the burials of Nuneaton & North Warwickshire
Nuneaton & North Warwickshire FHS worked with TheGenealogist to publish their records online for the first time, making 454,525 individuals from baptism, marriage and burial records fully searchable. "The officers of Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society are delighted to be working with The Genealogist to bring their collection of baptism, marriage and burial transcriptions for north Warwickshire online…” John Parton (Chairman) With some of the surviving records reaching back into the 1700s this is an excellent resource for family historians to use for discovering Nuneaton & North Warwickshire ancestors. The records are also available on TheGenealogist’s Society website FHS-Online.co.uk where societies get 100% of the income.“This new initiative will provide for those researchers preferring online access, while allowing us to continue offering the data on CD. NNWFHS members have opportunity to take out an enhanced subscription which includes access to the data." John Parton (Chairman)This is an ongoing project with the society working on transcribing many more records.“We’re delighted to welcome NNWFHS to both TheGenealogist and FHS-Online. This release adds to the growing collection of parish records on both websites. These partnerships help societies boost their funds whilst bringing their records to a much wider audience, through online publication.” Mark Bayley (Head of Online Development)If your society is interested in publishing records online, please contact Mark Bayley on 01722 717002 or see fhs-online.co.uk/about.php
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Examples from Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Parish recordsIn these records can be found the famous novelist, poet, journalist and translator George Eliot, under her real name of Mary Anne Evans. She was born in Nuneaton and baptised at Chilvers Coton All Saints church in 1819 - she used the pen name of George Eliot in order to be taken more seriously as a writer.For the settings of the stories, Mary drew on her Warwickshire childhood. Chilvers Coton became Shepperton. Shepperton Church is described in great detail in The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton, and is recognisably that of Chilvers Coton.
Also to be found in these records are members of her family that she used as inspiration for some of her characters. For example the record for her sister Christiana Evans, baptised in 1814, contains a relevant note by the society that reveals: Sister of George Eliot. Christiana, 'Chrissie' as she was known to her family, was the original of: "Celia" in ‘Middlemarch’ & "Lucy Deane" in ‘The Mill on the Floss’.If we search for Mary Anne’s brother, Isaac Pearson Evans who was born in 1816, there is a note which tells us that he was the brother of George Eliot and that he was the basis of Tom Tulliver in “The Mill on the Floss”. Another person to be found in these records is a Henry Harper, born 1830, whose mother Anne has the note:Anne Harper - daughter of Rev. Bernard Gilpin and Mrs Ebdell ("Mr Gilfil" and "Caterina") and was the son of "Mr Farquhar - the secondary squire of the parish" in “Scenes of Clerical Life” by George Eliot.Additionally there is Isabell Adolphine Gwyther born in 1834 and Edward James Wilson Gwyther born in 1837, who share a mention that reveals: The Rev J Gwyther was Curate of Coton. He and his wife were the originals of “Amos & Milly Barton” in ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’ by George Eliot, “Milly Barton” was the mother of six young children.Using these records you would also be able to find the death in 1836 of Christiana Evans, the writer’s mother.
Over 6.23 million new searchable Norfolk Parish Records released in partnership with the Norfolk Record Office
This final tranche includes over 5.95 million records for Norfolk
Plus more than 276,000 records relating to the boundary areas of Suffolk
Adding to the 3.6 million individuals already released earlier
TheGenealogist has successfully completed a project to release over 9.8 million fully searchable records for the registers of baptisms, marriages, marriage banns and burials for Norfolk with images of the original registers.
It is now easier than ever to research Norfolk ancestors in the parish registers of this Eastern English county. With some of the surviving records reaching back as far as the early 1500s, this is a fantastically rich resource for family historians to use for discovering Norfolk ancestors.
Released in partnership with The Norfolk Record Office, the registers of baptisms, marriages, burials and banns of marriage cover the majority of parishes in the Diocese of Norwich. This also includes a number of Suffolk parishes in and near Lowestoft that make up the deanery of Lothingland. Also covered by this release are the parishes in the deanery of Fincham and Feltwell that were part of the Diocese of Ely in south-west Norfolk.
Examples of famous people to be found in these records include:
Edith Cavell, the First World War Nurse executed by the Germans for treason was born in the South Norfolk village of Swardeston. Her baptism can be found in the register of Swardeston for February 1866 where her father was the vicar and performed the christening ceremony. With a single click family historians can see an image of the actual entry in the parish register.
Edith Cavell's baptism record in the Norfolk Parish Registers on TheGenealogist
Likewise, Horatio Nelson - who would grow up to become perhaps Britain’s best known naval hero of all time - was also baptised by his clergyman father. In Nelson’s case it was in the the village of Burnham Thorpe on the North Norfolk coast in 1758.
Horatio Nelson's baptism 1758 in the Norfolk Parish Records on TheGenealogist
Another British seafaring hero, whose baptism can be found in the Norfolk parish records on TheGenealogist, is Henry George Blogg. He would grow up to become known as the “Greatest of the Lifeboatmen” and be highly decorated. In his case, however, it was not his father that baptised him. His entry in the register reveals a less than auspicious entry of this Norfolk hero into the world - the vicar wrote in the parish register of Cromer that Henry was “base born”. Blogg, however, became a skilled seaman and a lifeboatman. For the many rescues, that he took part in as the coxswain of the Cromer lifeboat, he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution no less than three times and also the RNLI silver medal four times. He was also honoured with the George Cross from the King, the British Empire Medal, and a series of other awards.
Norfolk Parish Registers on TheGenealogist: Record of Henry Blogg's baptism 1876
Five years after his birth, Henry’s mother, Ellen Blogg, married a fisherman called John Davies. It was this stepfather that taught Henry how to fish and the skills that he needed to be a highly competent seafarer. The marriage banns for Henry’s mother and stepfather can be found in the Banns book for the parish, within the new records on TheGenealogist. Their actual marriage can also be found recorded in the parish register for Cromer included in this new release.
Banns of Marriage records from the Norfolk Parish Registers on TheGenealogist
To search for your Norfolk ancestors go now to: TheGenealogist
Mark Thomson, Director General of Her Majesty’s Passport Office, has been formally appointed as head of the General Register Office for England and Wales (GRO).
Mr Thomson, who is also Director General of Her Majesty’s Passport Office and sits on the executive management board of the Home Office, becomes the 21st Registrar General since the civil registration of births, deaths and marriages began in England and Wales in 1837.
His appointment to act as head of the General Register Office (GRO), formally agreed by the Queen, has been made following the departure of the previous Registrar General, Paul Pugh, who has taken up a new role outside HM Passport Office.
Registrar General Mark Thomson said:
The General Register Office is a very important part of the services provided by Her Majesty’s Passport Office and I am honoured to be appointed Registrar General.
I look forward to continuing my work with colleagues in GRO on modernising the registration systems and to ensure our customers receive the best, most efficient service possible.
The GRO oversees registration services to the public, including the registration of civil marriage, civil partnerships, births, deaths, stillbirths and adoptions.
It is the Registrar General’s responsibility to make the regulations that govern registrars and the registration processes. He is also required by law to create a free search index of registration records available to the public and to issue certificates on request.
For more information about the Registrar General and the GRO, visit the organisation page of Her Majesty’s Passport Office.
The website change.org which gives people the opportunity to raise petitions for causes they believe in and to gather support is promoting a petition raised by Ailsa Burkimsher Sadler.
Ailsa is campaigning for changes to the format of the marriage certificate. Her petition raises the following points, quoting directly from her petition page on change.org :
"In England & Wales mothers' names are not on marriage certificates.
This is not fair.
This is 2014.
Marriage should not be seen as a business transaction between the father of the bride and the father of the groom.
This seemingly small inequality is part of a much wider pattern of inequality.
Women are routinely silenced and written out of history.
There is space for the name of the Father of the Bride and the Father of the Groom and their occupations. On civil partnership certificates there is space for mothers, and on Scottish and Northern Irish marriage certificates."
Over 20,000 people have already signed the petition. As well as for equality, the more information there is on a marriage certificate will also benefit family historians and researchers in the future who will be glad of the extra family information! If you'd like to get involved in the campaign go to the change.org website
TheGenealogist has now completed transcribing birth, marriage and death records for England and Wales giving a third of a billion fully searchable records. These are also linked into their unique 'SmartSearch' facility taking you through a person’s life events.
This release marks the completion of a hugely successful project for TheGenealogist, now providing family historians with fully transcribed BMD records dating back to the start of civil registration in 1837.
What makes this unique is the linked in ‘SmartSearch’ feature, which makes life even easier for the family historian.
Mark Bayley, Head of Online Content, explains: "The transcriptions allow us to harness the full power of 'SmartSearch' and allow our users to swiftly jump from one record to the next. It's now possible to move through your ancestral line with unparalleled speed. No other site makes searching for your ancestors so straightforward."
There's more details on the completion of this project at www.TheGenealogist.co.uk
Edith Cavell's baptism record in the Norfolk Parish Registers on TheGenealogist
Horatio Nelson's baptism 1758 in the Norfolk Parish Records on TheGenealogist
Norfolk Parish Registers on TheGenealogist: Record of Henry Blogg's baptism 1876
Banns of Marriage records from the Norfolk Parish Registers on TheGenealogist