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• The complete index as published by the GRO from 1837 to 2005 can be viewed on a subscription basis at the Find My Past web site, the Genealogist web site or the ancestry.co.uk web site (choice of site tends to depend on the relevance of the other online databases on offer within their respective subscription packages - see our comparison of subscription sites page) - for the years 1837 to 1983 the index is held in digitised image format - for the years 1984 to 2005 it is held in readily searchable text format
• A high proportion of the GRO index for the years 1837 to the early 1900s has been transcribed and can be searched for free on the FreeBMD site - for most years up until 1912 for births, 1915 for marriages and 1916 for deaths, the coverage is 100% or very close to - check the site's coverage charts for the latest progress

• The complete Boyd's Marriage Index can be searched online at the Find My Past subscription web site - this index contains over 7 million names from parish marriage registers, Bishop's Transcripts and marriage licences for the period 1538 to 1840 - all English counties are covered, although none completely - the index is particularly important to anyone researching East Anglian ancestry for not only is the coverage almost complete (over 95% of all the ancient parishes are included), but little of this data is available anywhere else

• W.P. Phillimore was a genealogist who started the job of publishing marriage transcripts from early parish records - in total around 1500 parishes were covered in more than 200 volumes - these transcripts can be searched and viewed online at the Genealogist subscription web site

• This index includes over 1.5 million marriage entries from 1780 to 1837 for over 2,500 parishes - it is particularly useful for London marriages since it covers all but a couple of the 103 ancient parishes of the old City of London - the index can be searched at the Institute of Heraldic Genealogical Studies Achievements web site - searching the index is free - genealogical abstracts of content cost £5

• Entries for burials in London between 1538 and 1872 can be viewed online at the Find My Past subscription web site - entries contain the name, age, date of death and burial ground

Census Returns

• The complete 1911 census can be fully searched and viewed on a subscription basis at Find My Past - an annual subscription for their lowest cost package (which also includes access to the GRO Register of births, marriages and deaths) costs £79.95 and a six-month one costs £49.95
• The 1911 census can also be viewed at Find My Past on a pay-as-you-go basis which works out at £1.16 per household transcript viewed if you opt for the minimum purchase of 60 credits at £6.95 (viewing a transcript costs 10 credits) - however if you intend to make more than minimal use of the 1911 Census it clearly makes more sense to view it on a subscription basis
• The 1911 census can also be viewed at ancestry.co.uk and the Genealogist subscription sites - however at ancestry.co.uk there is only a limited indexing currently available and at the Genealogist site the development of their online version of the 1911 census is still in progress

• The 1901 Census can be viewed at the Genealogist web site - the majority of transcripts are available on a subscription basis, the complete set is available on a pay-as-you-go basis - the indexing of this census is currently being undertaken by over 8,000 members of the Census Name-Indexing Project who enjoy free subscription and other benefits
• The 1901 Census can also be viewed on a subscription basis at ancestry.co.uk or Find My Past

• The fully indexed 1881 Census can be freely viewed online at Ancestry.co.uk . This site provides name indexed free access to transcripts of all household records held in the 1881 Census

• It is worth checking out FreeCEN which is a site providing free access to census records with several counties now 100% complete (this project is now manned by over 2,000 volunteers transcribing census records)
• Fully indexed 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 Censuses can all be viewed on a subscription basis at ancestry.co.uk and at Find My Past
• Complete transcripts with linked images of the original census pages for the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 Censuses can be viewed at the Genealogist subscription site - the indexing of these censuses is currently being undertaken by over 8,000 members of the Census Name-Indexing Project who enjoy free subscription and other benefits

• The complete International Genealogical Index (IGI) can be accessed online at www.familyseach.org. This excellent free web site run by the Latter-day Saints provides both general guidance on tracing your ancestors and more specific advice on using the online version of the IGI.

• The Manorial Documents Register for Wales, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cumberland, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertforshire, Isle of Wight, Lancashire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, Westmoreland and Yorkshire have been computerised for searching online

• Over 160,000 passenger lists containing in excess of 24 million passengers leaving UK ports on long haul voyages between 1890 and 1960 can be searched on the database maintained by the subscription site Find My Past in association with the National Archives - all continents are covered
• Over 360,000 UK passport applications made between 1851 and 1903 can be searched online at the subscription site Find My Past

• Although there are several sites (listed below) that provide free access to records on migration to Australia, it is worth considering subscribing to the Find My Past web site which maintains in conjunction with the National Archives a comprehensive database of 24 million passengers leaving UK ports on long haul voyages between 1890 and 1960
• www.coraweb.com.au is an excellent "gateway" site listing all the key genealogical sites in Australia helpfully seperated into categories (birth/marriage/death records, census records, convict records, wills and probate records, etc.)
• The New South Wales State Records website is well worth visiting. It has several databases and fact sheets related to immigration into Australia
• The Australian National Archives site is particularly useful for tracing world war 1 veterans bearing in mind that many were born in the U.K. It is also very useful if a family member migrated to Australia after 1920 and even more so for migrations after the second world war
• The Australian War Memorial site is excellent for tracing world war 2 veterans.
• It is also well worth contacting the appropriate family history society(ies) within Australia - a list of links to the main ones is held on this site

• Although there are several sites (listed below) that provide free access to records on migration to Canada, it is worth considering subscribing to the Find My Past web site which maintains in conjunction with the National Archives a comprehensive database of 24 million passengers leaving UK ports on long haul voyages between 1890 and 1960
• Lists of transatlantic passengers to Canada in the period 1865 to 1908 have been microfilmed by the National Archives of Canada - see their Canadian Genealogy Centre web site for a catalogue of these microfilms which can be viewed at any LDS Family History Centre
• For the period 1925 to 1935, the National Archives of Canada maintain an online database of immigration records which can be searched by surname/forename.

• Although there are several sites (listed below) that provide free access to records on migration to New Zealand, it is worth considering subscribing to the Find My Past web site which maintains in conjunction with the National Archives a comprehensive database of 24 million passengers leaving UK ports on long haul voyages between 1890 and 1960
• Passenger lists of migrants to New Zealand can be viewed by name or port of arrival at an excellent site that contains a wealth of other information on migrants (pioneer rolls, shipping arrivals, etc)
• New Zealand Bound is another site containing a large number of passenger lists - it also provides helpful guidance on locating New Zealand immigrant and vessel arrival information together with a comprehensive set of links to other passenger list sites

• Although there are several sites (listed below) that provide free access to records on migration to South Africa, it is worth considering subscribing to the Find My Past web site which maintains in conjunction with the National Archives a comprehensive database of 24 million passengers leaving UK ports on long haul voyages between 1890 and 1960
• Rootsweb provides access to a very active mailing list on British migrants to South Africa prior to 1900 - the postings to this mailing list can be keyword searched
• 1820Settlers.com contains a wealth of information about the 3,800 plus British settlers (and their descendants) who migrated to South Africa in 1820

• Although there are several sites (listed below) that provide free access to records on migration to the United States, it is worth considering subscribing to the Find My Past web site which maintains in conjunction with the National Archives a comprehensive database of 24 million passengers leaving UK ports on long haul voyages between 1890 and 1960
• From 1892 to 1924 more than 22 million migrants to the United States passed through Ellis Island - thanks to the efforts of the Latter-day Saints, the associated transatlantic passenger lists have been transcribed into a vast database which can be searched online to find an individual migrant
• The US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provides a helpful set of guides to archives held on migrants to the United States

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides an online database giving details of the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First or Second World Wars
• The North East War Memorials Project provides some very helpful advice on tracing world war casualties on its website - see its very long and extensive Research War Memorials page

• The National Archives provides an online index to over 5 million World War 1 medals - images of the source medal index cards can be downloaded for a fee
• The National Archives also provide an online index to over 100,000 merchant seamen World War 2 medals - images of the source medal index cards can be downloaded for a fee

• Army Lists for 1806, 1842, 1863, 1881, 1904, 1915 and 1920 can be viewed online at the Genealogist subscription web site
• Army service records from 1760 to 1915 can be searched and viewed online at the Find My Past subscription web site
• Service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who were discharged from the Army between 1914 and 1920 and claimed disability pensions for service in World War 1 can be searched and viewed online at the ancestry.co.uk subscription site

• Navy Lists for 1850, 1866 and 1888 can be viewed online at the Genealogist subscription web site
• Transcriptions of Royal Navy Census Crew Lists for 1861, 1871 and 1901 together with digitised images of the original pages can be viewed online at the Genealogist subscription web site
• Records of over 40,000 Royal Navy sailors who lost their lives in World War 1 can be searched and viewed online at the Find My Past subscription site

• Abstracts of over 350,000 tax records relating to appenticeships between 1710 and 1774 can be viewed online at the Find My Past subscription web site - the abstracts (of which 20% are Scottish) contain the name of the apprentice, the father's name, the place the apprentice came from, his father’s trade, the name of the master to whom he was indentured, the master’s trade, the place where the master lived and the value of the taxable premium paid to the master for taking on the apprentice - the site contains a searchable name index to these abstracts

• Crew lists for 1861 to 1913 can be searched and viewed online at the Find My Past subscription site - this online database contains over 30,000 crew lists with the employment details of over 400,000 individual crewmen
• In addition the Find My Past subscription site contains over 900,000 records of merchant navy seamen between 1918 and 1941 kept by the Board of Trade - in some cases these records include a photograph of the crewman involved

• Registration details of nearly 100,000 teachers who taught in England and Wales between 1914 and 1948 can be viewed online at the Find My Past subscription web site - the records contain the teacher’s name (and for married women teachers often their maiden name as well), the date of registration, their address, their qualifications, where trained and their experience (which schools they taught at, when and in what capacity) - these records are indexed by name

• It is often worth checking out the online Latter-day Saints Family History Library catalogue to see whether the parish register you are interested in (or its bishops transcript equivalent) has been microfilmed by the Latter-day Saints. Simply go into the Title Search facility and search on the parish place name.
• If it has been microfilmed you can ask your local LDS Family History Centre to book it out for subsequent viewing there
• The Genealogist subscription site has a fast growing number of parish registers (over 1,100 parishes covered at the last count) that can be viewed online
• Over 15 million entries of baptisms, marriages and burials transcribed from mainly parish records in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland can be searched online on a subscription basis at ancestry.co.uk
• A growing database of parish registers can also be searched and viewed at the Find My Past subscription site
• Over 3 million baptism, marriage and burial entries transcribed from parish registers can be freely searched at the FreeREG web site - this is very much a work-in-progress project - check out the Parishes Included page to see if the parish you are interested in has been included yet

• Over 1700 phone books published between 1880 and 1984 and providing near full county coverage for England and Wales can now be searched and viewed online on a subscription basis at ancestry.co.uk - telephone books are very useful for pinpointing individuals in a particular place and time - while censuses are only conducted once every ten years, annualy published phone books provide a year by year record of individuals' geographic locations - this makes it possible to locate many individuals in between census years and especially to find family members post 1901 (the latest viewable UK census)

• The University of Leicester has set up a web site with online access to large collection of digitally imaged 18th, 19th and early 20th century trade directories
• The Genealogist subscription site also has a large collection of trade directories for viewing online

• The full set of National Probate Calendars from 1861 to 1941 can now be viewed online at ancestry.co.uk - this digitised collection of over 6 million names allows you to search by name and approximate year of probate (which will be close to the date of death) so greatly simplyfying your search for a particular will - once you've found your match you can view the original printed image - this usually provides the deceased's name, their date and place of death, the name of the executor (who is often another member of the famuily) and the value of the estate - armed with all these details you will be able to obtain a copy of the will far quicker from the Probate Registry than would otherwise be the case and at less cost
• The index to and scanned images of the original Perogative Court of Canterbury Wills (over 930,000 records) can now be accessed online at the Genealogist subscription site