Free access to family history websites
01 Feb 2022 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
Ancestry and Findmypast are two of the most popular online family history resources and you can access them both, for free, from the public computers in your local library.
Ancestry Library Edition is the most comprehensive online collection of family history records in the world, covering the United Kingdom, North America, Europe, Australia and more.
Collections available on Ancestry Library Edition include:
- Census records
- Birth, death and marriage records
- Court, wills and land records
- Immigration and travel records
- Schools, directories and church histories
Findmypast is a UK-based family history website with over 8 billion records to search. Records available through the library include:
- Access to the 1939 Register - The 1939 Register represents one of the most important documents in 20th century Britain. The information it contains not only helped toward the war effort, it was also used in the founding of the NHS.
- Census records - Census records from England, Wales and Scotland, 1841-1911
- BMDs records - Easy-to-search birth, marriage and death records
- Parish records - UK's largest collection of parish records, dating from 1538
- Travel and migration records - Travel and migration records including 24 million passenger list records
- Military records - Military, armed forces and conflict records from WWI, WWII and more
New to Findmypast this year is the 1921 census. For the time being this census is not available through the library. You can only access the census through a personal Findmypast account. It is free to set up your account and search the indexes but there will be a pay-per-view charge on viewing the transcriptions (£2.50) and the original records (£3.50).
Both Findmypast and Ancestry Library Edition are excellent tools to help your family history research and allow you to explore your family story in even greater detail. We have a
collection of guides on our website to help you get started if you are new to family history. Books on local history are available through your local library to add context to your research.
Why not join the discussion on our
Family History Facebook group to share your story and get help and advice.