Ancestry.co.uk

To discover your long lost ancestors,
start here.

New to family history? To help you start discovering those long-lost ancestors and learn more about their intriguing stories here’s a simple introduction to set you on your way – doing the groundwork, starting a family tree, searching records – and more.

Glossary

Need more help? Ask us your questions here

First steps

I’m new to this. How do I trace my family history?

We can help you to trace your family history online. But before you start, here are a few hints and tips before you dive in. After all, like any good detective, it’s best to establish a few facts.

Begin with the closest members of your family (you, your brothers and sisters, your parents) and work your way backwards in time. Records and documents, family information, stories (and the odd bit of hearsay) can give you a real start.

What are 'records' and how can they help me?

These are anything that, as the name suggests, record an event.

For family historians, important records are ones that show the names of our family members and ancestors as well as other information. Many of these are official records like Census, Birth, Marriage and Death (BMD), immigration and military records. But they could also be something as everyday as a phone book.

Using the names in these records along with what you’ve learned from other sources you can uncover a treasure trove of information about your ancestors.

How can you help me discover my ancestors?

There are millions of records out there. But with our search engine and trees, it’s easier to find the names that matter to you – from both Britain and further afield.

To find out more about the available records and how to search, take a look at Records and how to search.

But it’s not just about records. We’ve also taken a lot of the hard work out of building a family tree with our online family tree building tool. No difficult work for you – just click and start your tree straight away. And to bring it to life, you can add all sorts of interesting things you might find – from family records to photos. And you can share it online with family members, so they can see what you discover.

Once you’ve started your tree we’ll even automatically search our record collections, and other people’s trees, to find potential matches for names you’ve got. You can also make contact through Ancestry.co.uk with other people who might be searching for the same ancestors as you. Find out more here.

What else do you offer?

We’ll help you take your family history research beyond our online records and your family tree.

At the Ancestry Shop you can buy specialist history books, order Birth, Marriage & Death certificates and even order a DNA Ancestry test. You can even be part of preserving the world’s historical documents by joining the Ancestry World Archives Project. And you can design and print your very own family history book or wallchart to show off your discoveries.

How much does all this cost?

It’s free to start your family tree on Ancestry.co.uk and keep it on the site.

It’s also free to search. But if you want to view details of search results and the actual records or see other people’s trees, you will need to be a paying member.

On Ancestry.co.uk we offer various membership packages depending on the type of records you want to view and for how long (all memberships allow you to view other trees and make contact with their owners).

Essentials Membership
Includes all the important records to get you started. Find births, marriages and deaths, access census records and discover military records and more – for £83.40 a year, or £10.95 a month.

Premium Membership
Access to all Essentials records and also go even further back, beyond official government records which began in 1837. Plus, search our Irish record collections, immigration records and new historical record releases. This costs £107.40 a year, or £12.95 a month.

Worldwide membership
Access all Essentials and Premium records plus explore all records on Ancestry worldwide including immigration records for Australia, the US and Canada. Perfect if you have ancestors from overseas. £155.40 a year, or £18.95 a month.

We offer a 14 day FREE trial on all memberships which allow you to try out Ancestry.co.uk and see what you think.

Why do I need to pay for membership?

We need to charge for access because we spend a large amount of money every year on licensing the record collections from their owners and on getting new records on to Ancestry.co.uk for you to search.

When we put new record collections online the process involves thousands of man-hours of scanning documents (so the images of the records can be seen on screen) by transcribing them so that the information contained in them can be easily searched. We’re also committed to the preservation of existing documents, so that they’re available for future generations, which often involves the painstaking restoration of damaged records. Charging for membership helps cover these investments and pay for running costs.
Next: Starting your research »

Starting Your Research

OK I’m ready to start. What do I do?

Start by writing down all the names and dates of all the relatives that you can think of.

Rough dates and a place (of birth, marriage, death or residence) are better than nothing. Make sure you keep a record of anything you’re not sure about, until you can be absolutely certain.

Then start filling in the details on your online family tree. By starting a tree you’ll know what gaps you need to fill in and what you need to go next to go further back in time. Plus, once you’ve filled in a name, place and date we will automatically start searching for matches for them.

Time to start digging

Look in your loft and cupboards for old documents, letters and photographs.

Try to collect old Birth, Marriage and Death certificates, and ask relatives to have a look for anything that might be useful to you – any information is useful information. Also, talk to older relatives about what they remember – you can uncover some little-known facts and fascinating anecdotes.

Update your family tree

If you have access to a computer scanner, you can scan in any documents you might find and attach them to the relevant person in your family tree.

This will help you keep everything together in one place – and of course, will bring a whole new dimension to your family tree by helping to bring your ancestors’ lives to life.

Now start searching our online record section

Once you’ve collected all the information you can, it's time to start looking at official records.

Start with the one family name – it’s easier to focus on one name rather than trying to look for everyone. Most people start with the father's line – but the easiest name to start with is the one you know the most about.

It’s more difficult to trace ancestors with common surnames, such as Brown or Johnson, unless your family came from a small town or village. So it’s a good idea to choose a more unusual surname to start with.

Make sure you search chronologically backwards from yourself, ensuring that you have found the correct ancestor at each step. If you start searching for records for people a few generations back without having the full details about the relatives in-between, you risk getting confused between people of the same name.

This is just a quick guide to get you started – for more in-depth information, visit Records and how to search.

How do I find out more about my ancestors?

Once you’ve found out the basics about your ancestors you can search other collections on Ancestry.co.uk.

These include military collections, directories and member lists, newspapers, immigration and emigration and court, land, wills and financial records to help bring your ancestors’ lives to life. We also have a large collection of parish records which allow you to go back further in time beyond the start of civil registration in 1837.
Next: Growing your family tree »

Growing Your Family Tree

What are the benefits of growing a tree on Ancestry.co.uk?

We give you a secure, free and helpful place to organise and store your family history.

You don’t have to pay a thing to have your tree on Ancestry.co.uk – you only need to become a paying member if you want to view records or other trees. And because your tree is looked after by us online, you can feel safe in the knowledge that if you have computer problems your tree is saved onsite.

Once you start a tree we can help you make discoveries in records and other people’s trees as our automatic search will look for potential matches for you.

A tree also helps you to keep track of your ancestors and searches and you can attach the records you find, documents and pictures to your ancestors to bring your tree to life.

How do I get started?

It’s easy to start growing your tree, and there’s no designing or building required.

Just add in the details in the available spaces. Add as much information as possible, starting with yourself. Type in your first name, last name, birth date and place and those of your parents and grandparents. Don’t worry if you’re not 100% accurate - you can always change details later on. Guesses of dates and places will help our automatic search to look for you.

If you already have a tree you can upload it to the site - find out how to upload a tree here. And for more information on starting a tree, take a look at our short video tutorial with Tony Robinson.

We'll help you search

When you enter a name, place and date into your family tree, we’ll automatically start searching our records and other trees for possible matches for you.

Look out for a little green leaf symbol. This means we may have found a match either in another member’s family tree or in our records. Click on the leaf and if you’re a member you can view the details - and, if it’s an accurate match, you can attach the information or record to the relevant person in your tree.

Share your family tree - and grow it even more

You can share your family tree with family members to create an even richer picture of your ancestors’ lives.

You can invite them to view your tree and they can then add more family stories, fill in any missing gaps and attach photos, drawings, documents and letters. It really is something that can bring the whole family together.

Help when you need it

Reached a dead end? Talk to other Ancestry members.

There are millions of members who may well be able to help out. Why not browse the message boards on Ancestry.co.uk to see if your query has previously been posted or post your own query? Make sure you narrow down to the correct country and then county before you search as this will mean you get more relevant results.

Plus, our Member Connect service makes it easier for members all over the world to make connections with each other by letting you know when other people are researching the same people. We'll scan public member trees on Ancestry.co.uk to find members researching the people in your tree and show you the details on your home page once you’re logged in.

You'll then be able to decide if you want to connect to matching ancestors in other trees and use the information the other member has discovered about your shared ancestor. You can see which of your records have been added by other members - and the other way round.

Worried about sharing your details online?

Don’t be. We’ll make sure you’re in control of what other people see.

Any information about living people in your tree is always hidden from everyone but you and people that you personally invite to view the tree.

If you’re not comfortable with sharing your tree publicly, you can keep it private. But that needn’t stop you from connecting with other members if you want to. Search results will still show up for matching ancestors, but they’ll only show the basic details about that ancestor and members will need to contact you through our messaging service to ask to see more.
Next: Records and how to search »

Records And How To Search

What are Birth, Marriage and Death (or BMD) records?

The formal recording of birth, marriages and deaths in England and Wales by the Government began on 1st July 1837 with the introduction of civil registration. Civil registration in Scotland started in 1855 but we don’t have these records available to search.

Before civil registration, each individual parish was responsible for maintaining their own parish register with baptisms, marriages and deaths. With civil registration, when an event was registered a certificate was given to the individual who registered the event and the information was kept on file. A summary register, or Index, of all the events was created allowing someone to order replacement or copies of certificates. As in books, the Indexes won’t tell you everything, but will give you key information, such as names, dates (specifically, quarters) and places (the district the event occurred).

How do I search BMD indexes?

As with all records the most accurate way to discover your ancestors is to search a specific collection, rather than doing a general search.

Go to the Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes page and then search in the relevant collection. If you’re looking for births, marriages or deaths between 1837 and 1915 search the FreeBMD collections (these have been transcribed by FreeBMD). There are separate birth and marriage collections for the years 1916-2005, and for deaths between 1984 and 2005. Searching’s easier with these records because they’ve been fully transcribed – so you’ll be given individual person matches to your search.

For deaths between 1837 and 1983, we’re still working on the transcriptions of these records, so your search will take you to an individual Index page, where you can then look for your ancestor’s name yourself. By the end of the year you’ll be able to search these records by individual too.

What happens when I've found an ancestor in the BMD records?

You can then order a certificate online to help you find out more information. For instance, a birth certificate will tell you the date and place of birth, mother and father’s names and his occupation, whilst a marriage certificate contains the names of the bride and groom’s father’s and their occupations.

To order a certificate through the Ancestry Shop click on the trolley icon next to your ancestor’s name or make a note of the name, year and quarter the event occurred, volume number and page number, and district of registration and then visit the Ancestry Shop.

Certificates not only help you to go back a further generation in your research but can help solve family mysteries and are also great records to scan and attach to your tree.

What are Census records?

Taken every 10 years, the national census gives a detailed picture of a country and its inhabitants. The first census which holds information useful for family history is the 1841 census.

We offer the complete England, Scotland & Wales Census collections 1841-1901, and these invaluable records can help you build up a detailed picture of your ancestors - where they lived, who they lived with, even what they did for a living.

All census records included details of anyone who was staying in a property on census night - including guests. So you may discover some strange names in your search!

How do I search Census records?

If you have details of someone alive and living in the UK in 1901 you can search for them in the 1901 Census.

Look for your ancestor as a child and you should find out the names of their parents (which you can confirm on their birth certificate) as they are likely to be listed living at home. You can trace the family back through the census collections every 10 years - 1891, 1881 and so on.

But be sure to cross-check your ancestors with other family records and family stories, if you can (look at names of siblings and parents, occupations and places) – the last thing you want is to take a wrong turn in your journey back!

What other records are available?

There are more than 820 million British records on Ancestry.co.uk – and we’re adding more all the time.

From military records to immigration lists, there are more places than ever where you could find your ancestors. If you go to the Search tab on the top toolbar and then select Card Catalogue you can see a list of all the record collections available.

Military Records

We’ll help you discover your ancestors’ military history - and find out a whole host of fascinating information - with our extensive military records.

We have the largest UK online World War One collection - so if your ancestor served, the chances are you’ll find them here. Records include British Army Medal Rolls Index Cards, Service and Pension records UK Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919, and the British Commonwealth War Graves Registers, 1914-1918. There are also Naval records, and British Army Prisoners of War lists and the Army Roll of Honour for World War Two.

The different military records can tell you fascinating information about a person’s service, but they can help you discover a lot more – some records contain physical description, next of kin and family information, clues as to their character, occupation and more.

How do I search military records?

To find your family members in military records it would be helpful to have an idea of the armed service in which they served and the regiment name or a regimental number. You can try to identify this from a photo of your relative in uniform and the help of the internet.

If you don’t have this information you can search by name and then look at the results and narrow them down with other information you know. Military records can be difficult to understand as they contain a lot of military terminology, but they’re well worth searching. For more information on military records, click here or visit the search page for the collection you want to use and read the description under the search box.

Immigration and Emigration

To help you discover ancestors who left these shores (or arrived on them), it’s good to have a look through Immigration & Emigration records.

There’s the UK Incoming Passenger Lists, which consists of the passenger lists for ships arriving in the UK from outside Europe from 1878-1960. These include people who have been abroad for a holiday so they’re always worth searching if you think one of your ancestors may have been to visit “foreign parts”. There are also lots of collections which include information about people who left the UK or Ireland, whether for the US, Canada or Australia.

Directories and Member Lists

This wide-ranging collection consists of information about people who belonged to various associations and groups or lived within city boundaries. Usually you can discover list names, addresses, and sometimes the occupations of your ancestors.

Some collections are particularly helpful if you want to search for ancestors before civil registration. For example the Cambridge University Alumni lists go back until 1261 and there are some UK City and County Directories which go back to the 1600s.

Other examples of collections contained in the Directories and Member Lists section are pilot’s licenses from the Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificates, Crockford's Clerical Directories (details of Anglican clergy from 1868 to 1962), British Phone Books, 1880-1984 and Medical Registers, 1859-1959 (which detail all the names of doctors licensed to practice in the UK).

Newspapers & Periodicals

This section contains lots of collections which can provide fantastic stories about your ancestors’ lives and sometimes their deaths. It also gives you background on the period in which our ancestors lived. Peruse the pages of national and local newspapers plus collections like The Gentleman’s Magazine, which includes essays, biographies, illustrations, poetry and more.

Search hints and tips

When you’re searching through our records, we want you to get the best results possible - these search hints will help.

  • Instead of doing a general search from the Search tab, start your search at a specific collection, like the 1891 English census. You are much more likely to get relevant results.
  • Tick ‘Exact’ on the information you’re sure about to narrow down the number of results that you receive.
  • However, if you’re not finding your ancestors make sure that ‘Match all terms exactly’ is not ticked, this will give you a larger number of potential matches.
  • When entering important dates, it’s best to leave a couple of years’ leeway, as the information given is not always correct.
  • If you can’t find your relatives in expected records try a different spelling. Variations in spelling (especially surnames) occur frequently in historical records - so if you can’t find an ancestor, just enter the first three letters of their surname, in your search, followed by an asterisk (*). Also try different spelling variations on a name.
  • Finding your ancestor’s name does not guarantee that you’ve found the right ancestor. So cross-check your findings with other records. For example, if you have a birth record, you can cross-reference it with a census document.
  • Keep a record of your searches, if you don’t keep track of where you’ve been you’re likely to keep searching the same records over and over again.
  • Finally, if you’re really stuck with finding an ancestor why not email us for help? If you email support@ancestry.co.uk with the details you know about your ancestor we will do our best to try to find them for you.
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