Britain

Duke and Duchess of York at
Government House, May 1927 [013141D]

Listed below are some key resources for the whole of Britain. For information relating to specific countries, please select from the links on the left.

Key Resources

Ancestral trails: the complete guide to British genealogy and family history
This book by Mark Herber is a key work for researching your British ancestors.
Tracing your ancestors in the National Archives
This book by Amanda Bevan is an excellent guide to resources for family historians in the National Archives at Kew.

Gateways

Use our SLWA Family History Bookmarks to find websites for Britain recommended by the Family History Subject Specialists. Simply click on any heading of interest e.g. great.britain-gazetteers to see a list of websites relating to this topic. The larger the tag, the more websites appear on the list.

GENUKI: UK & Ireland Genealogy
This is the main genealogical gateway for the United Kingdom and includes information on England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Archives and Libraries

The National Archives
The National Archives, located in Kew in Surrey, is a vast repository of historical archives many of which are useful for family historians. The website includes:

Research Guides
A large collection of online guides which explain the collections of the National Archives and how to use them.
DocumentsOnline
Digitised material which can be downloaded from the website on a pay-per-view basis. Popular content includes:
Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills 1384-1858
World War I campaign medals
World War I war diaries
World War I POWs
Royal Naval Seamen 1853-1923
Domesday Book
Catalogue
10 million descriptions of documents held at the National Archives in Kew.
A2A Access to Archives
Search catalogue records for archives across England and Wales. Some agencies have very detailed records including personal names.
Archon Directory
Searchable listing of contact details for libraries, archives and museums throughout the United Kingdom. Some overseas repositories are also listed.

The British Library
The British Library has a collection of millions of books, journals, newspapers and more. Digitised content can be found in their:

Online Gallery
This includes the Crace Collection of Maps of London and Ordnance Survey drawings.
Archival Sound Recordings
Here you will find Accents and dialects as well as Oral history.

We have subscriptions to some of the newspapers held in the British Library. These e-resources can be accessed within the State Library building or from home using your State Library card.

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
Nearly one million pages of rare 17th and 18th Century material published in Britain and the colonies including pamphlets, broadsides and newspapers.
19th Century British Library Newspapers
Over two million pages from 19th Century newspaper titles held in the British Library. Newspapers were selected from all over Britain including Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as England.
British Newspapers 1600-1900
Combined searching of the 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection and 19th Century British Library Newspapers.
Times Digital Archive
Complete digital edition of The Times of London 1785-2006.
Gale NewsVault
Combined searching of all the e-resources listed above.

Societies

Society of Genealogists
Federation of Family History Societies

Journals

The following journals are available in the Genealogy Centre on the 1st floor:
Ancestors: family history with the experts / The National Archives
BBC Who Do You Think You Are?
Family history monthly
Practical family history
Your family history

Statistics

A vision of Britain through time
This website has statistical information for Britain on various themes such as life and death, work and poverty, learning and language etc.
Histpop - the online historical population reports website
Statistical analysis of population reports for Britain.

Page last updated: Wednesday 18 January 2012