British Isles Genealogy 🏴🏴🏴🇮🇪
Genealogical research across the British Isles—England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (including Northern Ireland)—requires navigating separate, country-specific archives and record systems. The following resources provide access to the foundational government, church, probate, and military records necessary to trace ancestral lines in these regions and their global diaspora.
United Kingdom (England, Wales, & Scotland) 🇬🇧
Central Archives & Government Records
- The National Archives (TNA), Kew (UK Central Government Records)
- General Register Office (GRO) (Central Repository for England & Wales Civil Registration Indexes)
- Findmypast (Commercial site, hosts many UK records)
- FreeBMD (Free Indexes to Civil Registration, England & Wales)
- UK Probate Search (Search for wills and probate records, England & Wales)
- U.K.-National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP)
England & Wales Specific 🏴🏴
- The National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru) (Welsh records, including Tithe Maps)
- National Library of Wales (Biography Portal)
- UK National Portrait Gallery
- London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) (London records)
- UK Census Records (General overview of access points)
- Cyndi's List - England (Comprehensive categorized link list)
Scotland Specific 🏴
- National Records of Scotland (NRS) (Official Scottish Genealogy & Records)
- ScotlandsPeople (Official government source for digitized Scottish records - pay site)
- The Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) (Catalog for local Scottish archives)
- Scottish Genealogy Society
Ireland (Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland) 🇮🇪
All-Ireland Resources
- National Archives of Ireland (NAI) (Dublin)
- Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) (Belfast)
- IrishGenealogy.ie (Official free source for indexed/digitized Irish church and civil records)
- Registry of Deeds, Dublin (Early land and property transactions)
- Irish Family Roots
- NUI Galway - Landed Estates Database (Estate records, crucial for tenants)
Specific Record Types
- National Library of Ireland (NLI) (Catholic Parish Registers – Free, digitized images)
- The General Register Office (GRO) Ireland (Civil Records Access - Dublin)
- The National Archives - Census of Ireland 1901/1911 (Free, searchable census records)
- AskAboutIreland (Includes Griffiths Valuation - key 19th-century land survey)
General & Specialized 🏛️
- The Wiener Library Institute of Contemporary History (Holocaust & German History)
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) (Records of war dead from both World Wars)
- British Newspaper Archive (Commercial site, vast digitized newspaper collection)
- GENUKI (Massive, volunteer-run guide to UK & Ireland genealogy)
Credits
Compiled by Mark Rabideau, Opa & Professional Genealogist.