Ron's Intro to Parish Registers (PRs)

PRs of course are still being used after 1837 but they are basically the main research place for BMD prior to 1837 - see UK_BMD
Note: not usually Births but Baptisms (some registers also record birth date) - a baptism may be within a short time of birth but could be months or years later.

Many UK churches are available on LDS (Direct to IGI) but not all - that is where the real research comes in - learn more from Genuki and perhaps join discussion lists for your areas of interest. You can select counties on LDS but searching by parish requires knowing a batch number.....  burials not shown on IGI but should be on LDS film of registers which you can order by a visit to their office.

Many registers are available through Local FHS and may be around on fiche or CD

Dates in registers before 1752 in England, the year began on 25 March (Lady Day) so dates 1 Jan to 24 March are often shown with 2 years example 1609/10. A 25 Feb in the old 1609 is 1610 in modern terms for details see Calendar Reform in England, 1752

ARTICLE - Parish Records in England and Wales - ENGLISH & WELSH ROOTS, June 11, 1999 Vol. III, No. 09 a very good page from Canada - goes into all manner of problems why prior 1558 is difficult - what happened in 1600s and some law impacts in 1700s - do read

Try web searches for your parishes - it is surprising what can be found and do visit UK Online Parish Clerks - very helpful people 

http://www.dustydocs.com/  found this in 2017 and it may help... it says Free sites

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Hugh Wallis has lists of parishes on LDS IGI with easy search - https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/  

If any problems getting to Hugh's site Click here for an Archive copy of Hugh's site - you can click through for the list of batch numbers but the click a number to search does not work. So you will have to insert the batch number into IGI your self. 

2011 LDS actually recognise Hugh's work A Hugh Wallis Alternative: Using Filtering Features to Customize Your Searches in FamilySearch.org and LDS have this help IGI Batch Number Descriptions | Learn | FamilySearch.org

And their new search is https://familysearch.org/

LDS also Parish etc maps see England Jurisdictions 1851 - http://maps.familysearch.org

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More on parish registers here http://www.british-genealogy.com/resources/registers/home.htm

9/2006 FreeREG search is now available http://www.freereg.org.uk/

 - NOTE no wildcards or soundex - search is exact.. FreeREG is a similar project for Parish Registers - as FreeBMD for GRO index - check coverage when there - BUT it is Free

This site has lots of actual PRs that are shown as out of copyright - up and down England - do check
Internet Archive Search: the parish registers of England

UK Online Parish Clerks - a few counties covered - they are very helpful - do check

 

very useful for 1780-1837 is Pallot's Index to Marriages and Baptisms
also http://www.britishorigins.com/ have various Index to Marriages including Boyd's - a pay to view site but you can search to check and you really should look at British Origins

County FHS usually have PR services - I know Oxfordshire has a lot of resources and I have some of their CDs - see English Counties

When looking for a parish always try a search in www.google.com 

Parish Locator is a download (a major tool)  now at http://www.parloc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Frame.htm (was http://web.onetel.net.uk/~gdlawson/parfind.htm)

Perhaps you will find a PR here (recommended by someone - but I have not found anyone I wanted)  http://www.parishregisteruklook-upexchange.co.uk/index.htm

Is the church still there try A Church Near You

Burials

Look also at my page Cemeteries and Burials - London and Beyond

check all also my page on English Counties

Commercial sites

Do keep an eye on Commercial sites of Major Interest  

especially Findmypast who are have loading parish records many came from Familyhistoryonline.net

And Ancestry should have London parish registers some time in 2009/2010

http://www.britishorigins.com/- perhaps you can do some search before needing to pay. Aussies can get there as National Library has Free registration for any Australian - they will post your membership card
http://www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/

BMD Registers: 

The Official Non-Parochial BMDs Service  www.bmdregisters.co.uk  Non-Conformist Records
Methodists, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Protestant Dissenters, Congregationalist, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Quakers (Society of Friends), Dissenters and Russian Orthodox. Maternity Records plus various other BMD records.

London Registers 

(London often looks like Middlesex MDX but also includes areas of Kent Surrey and Essex)

Cliff Webb's Research Aid (RA49) to the baptism registers of London & Middlesex has a section relating to the LMA registers scanned and indexed by Ancestry.com and is available free the West Surrey FHS website http://www.wsfhs.org/publications.htm.

Friends of City Churches  -- http://www.london-city-churches.org.uk/

Simon Fisher has an very good and detailed page on London and Surrey registers
<http://www.sjfisher.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Def-London(Surrey)-Registration-Districts.htm#RANGE!A445>

see Pallot's Index to Marriages for special index 1780-1837 - similar also for baptisms .

Brian Fisk's list of MDX parishes http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bpefisk/fh/Middx/

http://www.westminster.gov.uk/libraries/archives/indexes/guide/guide15.cfm see also LMA Guildhall etc on London

London Docklands Ancestors specialise in the transcription of parish registers from the east end of London that were omitted from the IGI.. These are available to search online at http://www.parishregister.com and includes a map of all the East London riverside parishes

London Parish registers for which I have a CD from Archive Books but owner has retired and 2/2008 Ancestry say they will host

http://www.eastsurreyfhs.org.uk/ has CDs - Lambeth etc

London Churches http://www.touruk.co.uk/london_churches/london_churches.htm
Find a Church - The UK Church Directory http://www.findachurch.co.uk/
The Church of England http://www.cofe.anglican.org/ and also http://www.southwark.anglican.org/parishes/ws2.htm

City Churches Map http://www.cityoflondonchurches.com/mappage.htm and http://www.steeljam.dircon.co.uk/churches/londonchurchlocation.htm

Victorian London Churches including Established Church (Church of England)  and Catholic (Roman) Churches  
see sections at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hitch/gendocs/

Genuki on Middlesex churches http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/#ChurchDirectories and City http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/LND/parishes.html

and Genuki will have more information search their site or try google with yourparish genuki as also FHS sites so yourparish fhs

London OPC Pilot Project 

<http://members.ozemail.com.au/~pendoylan/Genealogy_useful_lists.html#List-opc>

Parishes covered by the Archdeaconry Court of London
The Archdeaconry Court of London covered the following parishes:

All Hallows the Great
All Hallows the Less
All Hallows London Wall
Holy Trinity in the Minories
Holy Trinity the Less
St Alphege London Wall
St Andrew Holborn
St Andrew by the Wardrobe
St Anne and St Agnes Aldersgate
St Augustine Watling Street
St Bartholomew by the Royal Exchange
St Bartholomew the Great
St Bartholomew the Less
St Botolph Aldersgate
St Botolph Aldgate
Christchurch Greyfriars
St Ethelburga
St George the Martyr, Holborn
St James Clerkenwell
St John Clerkenwell
St John the Baptist upon Walbrook
St John Zachary
St Katherine Coleman
 St St Magnus the Martyr
Margaret Lothbury
St Margaret Moses Friday Street
St Martin in the Fields
St Martin Ludgate
St Mary Abchurch
St Mary Colechurch
St Mary at Hill
St Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street
St Mary Mounthaw
St Mary Somerset
St Mary Staining
St Mary Woolnoth
St Michael Bassishaw
St Michael Queenhithe
St Michael le Querne
St Olave Hart Street
St Olave Silver Street
St Peter Cornhill
St Peter Westcheap
St Stephen Walbrook
St Thomas Apostle
Savoy Precinct
Shoreditch

 

 

Specific Parishes in which I have an interest as Mentioned in Source Documents 

Bow and Bromley are places that can lead to confusion try these sites for explanations 
http://www.eolfhs.org.uk/parish/bow.htm and http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/Poplar/churches.htm

Ron;s page on cemeteries mostly London but other areas as well

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age