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Religious and Civil Records
Click on the links below and in the side panel to the left to discover more information to guide your research:
The Catholic Emancipation Act (1829)
The consecration of Catholic Churches in the United Kingdom was a gradual process that began with the Emancipation Act of 1829. This allowed Catholics to legally practice their religion, to hold public office and to participate in Parliament.
For more information see: Catholics in the Commons after emancipation
St Peter's Italian Catholic Church, Clerkenwell, London
Saint Peter’s occupies an unusual position in Catholic hierarchy. Although answerable to the diocese of Westminster it has national status that allows for a parish based on ethnicity, not residence. Opened in 1863, St Peter's was at the time, the only church in Britain designed in the Roman basilican style. Irish architect John Miller Bryson worked from plans drawn by Francesco Gualandi of Bologna, modelled on the Basilica of San Crisogno in Rome. Baptism and Marriage records from St Peter’s, have been transcribed by the Anglo Italian Family History Society's volunteers. These can be found in the Searchable Transcription database in the Members Area of the website: Searchable Transcription Database
Jewish people and communities in Britain and its former colonies
This is a guide to records held at The National Archives that document the arrival, settlement, status and activities of Jewish people and communities in Britain and its former colonies over the last 900 years.
Small Jewish Communities in the UK
Free internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records from parish registers, non-conformist records and other relevant sources in the UK. An ongoing project. The recording of baptisms, marriages and burials in parish registers began in England and Wales in 1538 and is separate and distinct from the civil registration process that began in 1837 — civil registration is covered by companion project, FreeBMD. FreeREG is the result of contributions by hundreds of dedicated volunteers around the world who continue to add records daily. An ongoing transcription project containing information on each county, place, church and register in the database. It may also contain information about why there are no records available.
An ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records. It is a part of the Free UK Genealogy family, which also includes FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers). The recording of births, marriages and deaths was started in 1837 and is one of the most significant resources for genealogical research. The transcribing of the records is carried out by teams of dedicated volunteers and contains index information for the period 1837-1997. FreeBMD is a registered charity and its objective is to provide free online access to the GRO Index.
A free, online database of the 19th century UK census returns. The first UK census took place in 1801, and occurred every ten years throughout the 19th century. UK census information can provide the full name, exact age, relationship to head of household, sex, occupation, parish and county of birth, medical disabilities and employment status of an individual. However later census years contain the most thorough information, with marital status and relationship to the head of the household introduced as categories from 1851 onward. When researching your ancestors using census data, please remember that ages in years of individuals were rounded down to the nearest five up until the 1851 Census.
The Official Catholic Directory of Churches: England and Wales
An online directory of present-day Roman Catholic Churches.
Catholic Heritage Archive Catalogue
An online database for searching the archival holdings of institutions in the Catholic Church involved in the Networking Archives and Libraries in the Catholic Church (NALCC) project. NALCC is forging partnerships between diocesan archives, Bishops’ Conferences’, seminaries and religious orders in order to provide a single access point to an online collection of archives databases of value to students and researchers across the world. Catalogues of archival holdings from institutions in the Catholic Church, including Scottish Catholic and Diocese of Westminster Archives: use this to locate physical records.
A wide range of sources relating to individuals and ecclesiastical institutions in the British Isles in the period after the Reformation. The Catholic Record Society was founded in 1904, and through its work and publications makes available to scholars and a more general readership a wide range of sources relating to individuals and ecclesiastical institutions in the British Isles in the period after the Reformation.
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