Genealogy - Births, Deaths, Marriages and Wills & Probate Sites
(This page was last updated on the 12/04/2024)
Birth, Death & Marriage Databases
England & Wales
www.findmypast.co.uk - searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for England & Wales, with links to lots of other searchable historic databases
www.ancestry.co.uk - searchable register of births, deaths & marriages with links to other genealogy information and other resources including WWI & WWII service records
www.thegenealogist.co.uk - searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for England & Wales
www.ukbmd.org.uk - links to free sites with searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for different areas in England
www.freebmd.org.uk - free searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for the UK
www.familysearch.org - free searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
www.myheritage.com - a site where you can do births, deaths & marriages searches and also link to other people's family trees and much more
www.genesreunited.co.uk - a site where you can do births, deaths & marriages searches and also link to other people's family trees and much more
Scotland
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk - searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for Scotland
Ireland
www.findmypast.ie - searchable register of births, deaths & marriages for Ireland (might get better)
UK Birth, Death & Marriage Certificates
www.gro.gov.uk - apply online to the General Register Office for birth, death and marriage certificates from England & Wales
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk - obtain copies of certificates from the births, deaths & marriages registers for Scotland
UK Adoption Site
www.ukbirthadoptionregister.com - register to view details of people linked to adoptions searching for their family members
Deceased & Burial / Grave Databases
www.halofraudprevention.co.uk - a database of the annual deceased population of the UK, which is very current and regularly updated
www.deceasedonline.com - database for UK burials & cremations
www.findagraveinscotland.com - a service to locate an individual's grave in Scotland
www.findagrave.com - not complete but useful worldwide searchable name database for graves
www.billiongraves.com - not complete but useful worldwide searchable name database for graves
www.github.io - collection of death & grave information from around the world
Wills & Probate Sites
www.service.gov.uk - the official government site where you can search for and obtain the will or probate of anyone who has died in the UK since 1858
www.ros.gov.uk - the official scottish government site where you can request a search to be made for any will registered in Scotland since 1993
www.probaterecords.co.uk - a web site where you can request a search to be made of the Probate Registers & obtain a copy of any Will that has been probated within England & Wales
www.copyofawill.co.uk - a web site where you can request a search to be made of the Probate Registers & obtain a copy of any Will that has been probated within England & Wales
www.thegazette.co.uk - searchable postings relating to current & historic wills & probate cases
Free Newspaper Birth, Death & Marriage Announcement Sites
www.myfamilyannouncements.co.uk - a searchable database for an obituary, death, marriage, birth and other family announcements from a number of newspaper titles in the UK
www.legacy.com - a searchable database for an obituary, death, marriage, birth and other family announcements from various newspaper titles in the UK
www.funeral-notices.co.uk - a searchable archive for an obituary, death and funeral announcements in the UK
www.funeralguide.co.uk - a searchable database for obituaries and funeral announcements in the UK
www.funeraltimes.com - a searchable database to find the times & locations of funerals across Northern Ireland
www.rip.ie - a searchable archive going back several years of obituary, death & other family announcements from a number of Irish newspaper titles
UK Divorce Records
www.gov.uk - to obtain a copy of a decree absolute or final order
www.nrscotland.gov.uk - details on divorce & separation records in Scotland
UK - Others
www.commonlawcourt.com - appears to be a UK site where people who want to live under common law, as opposed to statue, register their births and vehicles, sometimes with their full dates of birth, car registration details and post codes visible
www.forceswarrecords.com - appears to be a paid site where you can search for an individual's non recent military records, including the stories, photos and personal documents
International - Others
www.backgroundchecks.org - a useful guide on genealogy, from a USA perspective, with lots of advice & links to sites
www.identitynumber.org - useful South African family research site
www.filae.com - useful French family research site, in English
www.gov.im - allows you to order birth, death & marriage certificates online from the Isle of Man
www.guernseyroyalcourt.gg - allows you to order birth, death & marriage certificates online from Guernsey