Note: All prices quoted were correct when the information was compiled. However, you are advised to check with the vendor for the current price of goods or services.
General sites
LDS family search site
A massive site that pools the resources of a wide range of international genealogy databases including the International Genealogical Index (IGI).
Society of Genealogists
The Society, which was founded in 1911, offers a mix of research material, guidance and support for genealogists from novice to expert. It has a huge library of data, based in London, which is free to members. Online resources include Parish Register Holdings and a link to Boyd's Marriage Indexes.
The World GENWEB Project
A truly international website started in 1996 to provide a worldwide resource for localised genealogy information. The aim is to have each country listed with its own resources site. This is the international portal.
Cyndi Howell
Cyndi's List
All the genealogical links you will ever need. A massive site that categorises and cross-references online genealogical resources. The mother of all portals.
UK sites
GENUKI UK and Ireland Genealogy
A virtual reference library of primary historical resources. Records are organised by county. It provides useful contact details and links for further research as well as filling in historical references and gaps in your understanding of certain periods.
National Archives
The official site for the UK National Archives, it is the joining together of the Public Records Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission.
Public Records Office
Preserves central government and law court records. The records span from the 11th century to
the present day. There are a number of catalogues of records, the main one is PROCAT, a vast
catalogue of over nine million files. Each is searchable for no fee and although you get basic
descriptions only, the results enable you to quote reference numbers for easy access to the
records. The PRO's British State records relating to merchant mariners since 1835 include a
large proportion of the Board of trade (marine department) documents including some crew-lists
from the early 19th century onwards. It also holds documents from the Ministry of Shipping,
Ministry of War Transport, Ministry of Transport and various classes of Admiralty papers.
National Maritime Museum
Some Board of Trade (Marine Department) records are held here, principally application forms
for professional certificates of service and competency, as well as some crew-lists from 1863
until 1972, some copies of Lloyd's of London (insurance market) records, copies of
Lloyd's Register of Shipping, collections of some commercial companies, and a very large
collection of books on maritime subjects
Historical Manuscripts Commission
This site for archiving manuscripts and documents relating to British history is being slowly
moved under the banner of the National Archive. However, this site still powers the search
of its various databases including the National Register of Archives 150,00 businesses and the
Manorial Documents Register of landowners and tenants. It also enables access to ARCHON, a
massive catalogue of UK manuscript repositories.
Documents Online
Formerly the PRO-Online site, provides access to the PRO's collection of digitised public records,
including both academic and genealogical sources, Searching the index is free, and it costs
£3 to download a digital image. Searchable databases include wills, society and law
documents as well as government records.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The only place to go to find out where relatives dies and were buried during the two World
Wars. Of the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth who died in service, only 925,000 were
found and buried with a headstone. The rest are commemorated on memorials. The site is free, easy
to use and helps trace ancestors quickly. details of individuals, including rank, date of death
and regiment are included as well as information about the place of burial.
1901 Census online
Name and address searches are free. To obtain details and see images of the actual records
you will be charged (£5 for a session lasting up to 48 hours, or 75p per image).
Access to Archives
A research site covering 318 record offices across England and boasting 4.35 million
catalogue entries. Covers archive material from 900 to the present day that are held in a
range of local record offices and libraries, universities, museums and national and
specialist institutions. Includes business documents, deeds, as well as hospital and police
records.
British Genealogy
A good site for researchers offering advice on putting together a meatier family history,
and not just a collection of names and dates. Provides informations on how to locate
documents as well as links to some main resources including censuses.
British Isles GENWEB Project
British part of the GENWEB Project offering links and guides to British records and
resources.
FreeBMD (Births, Marriages and Deaths)
Dedicating to providing free access to the Civil Registration index for England and Wales.
Provides basic records, mostly between 1837-1901. The results provide sufficient information
to obtain a Birth, Marriage or Death certificate from the relevant local register office or
from the General Register Office (GRO).
FREEREG (Parish registers)
Like its sister FreeBMD, the FreeREG project website is a finding tool. This one is
trying to provide free access to all the church Parish Register records for baptism, marriage
and burial from 1538 to 1837 in the UK.
English Origins
A joint venture between the Society of Genealogists and Origins.net. You can register for
£6 for seven days, which entitles you to view 150 records) and search for names between
1442 and 1850 on a range of databases including Boyd's Marriage Index, the Bank of England
Wills Index and the London Apprenticeship Abstracts.
British Online Newspaper Archive
An excellent source of newspaper, magazine, book and periodical archives that is free
to search and view.
Family Records Centre
A UK government site dedicated to helping family tree researchers find their way around the
various departments for records. A good site for beginners, providing links to relevant sites
for further research as well as offering guides on how to find birth, marriage and death
certificates, for example.
Parish Chest
The Premier Family History & Genealogy Store. Your Number One Online Family History shop for everything to do with Genealogy and building a Family Tree.
Curious Fox
A simple gazetteer and contact site for UK genealogists, enabling users to leave messages and
search for information categorised by town or village. A good site to try in "brick-wall"
cases.
GenesConnected
Launched in November 2003, this site is aimed at enabling UK researchers to share their
information online.
Specifically Scotland
National Archives of Scotland
The official site for for Edinburgh-based National Archive of Scotland. It is home to all
government and legal records. There are no online searchable databases.
Scottish Roots
A good site for searching Scottish ancestry. There is a guaranteed "no-find no-fee"
ancestor search service. Users have to submit details on their research and register with the site.
There is no searchable database, although the site does offer a glossary of old Scottish occupations
and a complete Parish listing.
Scotland's People
An excellent site for researching Scottish ancestors with online database searching, links,
discussion groups and advice. It charges £6 for 30 page views of 48 hours of access.
Scots Origins
Like the English Origins site but less useful since the General Register Office for Scotland
ended its relationship with the site.
Specifically Ireland
General Register Office for Northern Ireland
Information of births and deaths since 1864 and marriages since 1845. No online search facilities but it does provide a guide to searching its records.
National Archives of Ireland
Provides valuable information on searching archives including links to databases containing births, death and marriages, wills, census returns, tithes etc.
GENUKI Ireland
A comprehensive overview of the relevant records and links for matching online resources.
GENWEB RoI
County-by-county listing for the 26 counties now in the Republic.
GENWEB NI
Same again for the six counties of Northern Ireland.
Irish Origins
Searching for Irish resources, contains 2.1 million names. To use the site you need to buy credits starting at 300 credits valid for 7 days for £9. Now features a definitive version of Griffith's Valuation, the nearest thing to an Irish mid-century census following the destruction of the 1851 Census in the Dublin Four Court's fire in 1922.
Specifically Cambridgeshire
CFHS
The Cambridgeshire Family History Society site. An excellent resource for research in the Cambridgeshire area. It has searchable databases including the 1841 census, 1851 census and various parish records.
Cambridgeshire County Council
Has searchable Birth, Marriage and Death databases. Also includes advice on the available resources for the family historian in the county.
World-wide sites
ROOTSWEB
Good free site that enables searching for names across its database sources. Initially a US concern but it is now part of the WorldConnect Project to share genealogy information globally.
Ancestral Findings
A predominantly US site that offers a range of searchable resources and links for further research. Useful if researching the US branch of your family.
Ancestry.com Well-established site that is very easy to use. You have to register to enable free searching of the indexes. For further details you will have to upgrade membership to just under $100 per year. Also provides online space for family trees and claims to have over 200 million names on its online collection of world trees. Has access to a large volume of UK resources but it is predominantly a US site.
Every Generation
A genealogy and heritage site aimed at the black community. Includes case studies of successful attempts to trace ancestry which offers good advice on where to start your research and how to overcome potential problems.
Software links
Legacy
Home of Legacy genealogy software by Millennia Corporation. You can download a free copy of Legacy V6 from this site. This program is extremely good for a free product but if you feel the need to unlock its full power the V6.0 Deluxe Edition costs $19.95 online. Alternately you can get a CD version including a manual for £38.13+£2.50 p&p from suppliers such as S&N Genealogy Supplies. It's well worth unlocking the full product.