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Where to find London parish registers online

These websites will help family historians find London parish registers and track down birth, marriage and death records for ancestors who lived in Britain’s capital


If you are trying to trace your London ancestors then these are the best places to find London parish registers

For centuries, many of our ancestors have been drawn to jobs and opportunities in London. If you're British or of British descent, it’s highly likely that you have London ancestors in your family tree.

Luckily, these commercial and free family history websites have collections of London parish registers that can help you in your research.

1. Ancestry

Ancestry London baptism

Ancestry’s long-term partnership with the London Metropolitan Archives means that the site is the best place to go for London parish registers. The total currently stands at over 21 million Church of England baptisms (1813–1917), 13 million marriages and banns (1754–1932), and two million deaths and burials (1813–1917). There are over 17 million more pre-1813 records. Ancestry have also now got a partnership with City of Westminster Archives offering an extra 5.5 million records making Ancestry's London holding even more impressive. Other interesting collections include London and Surrey marriage bonds and allegations (1597–1921); confirmation records (1838–1923); Crisp’s Marriage Licence Index (1713–1892); and more than 200,000 nonconformist register records (1694–1931). There are also 132,000 extracted Middlesex parish records (transcripts only).

2. Findmypast

Find my past

Although the site has lost its partnership with Westminster to its rivals Ancestry (see above), Findmypast still has a useful collection of London parish registers including its transcribed index to over four million parish records from the City of Westminster Archives Centre (1538–1945) plus a useful index to Westminster parishes and the dates their registers cover. The site also has the Greater London Marriage Index (1502–1871) which covers modern Surrey and Hertfordshire as well as London, and includes some Catholic and nonconformist records. Findmypast also has Boyd’s London Burials, an index of nearly 243,000 burials (1538–1872); transcribed Docklands and East End baptisms from Dockland Ancestors; and Middlesex baptisms (1543–1876).

3. FamilySearch

Family search

This LDS family history website offers some free London parish register records including an index to the Westminster parish records now available on Ancestry. The site has a large collection of birth and marriage records as part of its International Genealogical Index, many of which will be London based records. It also has a very useful guide to London parishes which also shows adjoining parishes (useful if you want to check potential parishes where your ancestors may be recorded).

4. TheGenealogist

The Genealogist

TheGenealogist has records for 38 parishes in London, in addition to Strand in Middlesex. Many are taken from transcriptions of parish records printed by antiquarians in the 19th and early 20th century.

5. FreeREG

Free reg

FreeREG is a free volunteer-run parish register transcription website. It has records of 137,086 baptisms, 198,586 burials and 93,340 marriages for the City of London, plus 143,584 baptisms, 181,083 burials and 230,955 marriages for Middlesex.

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