Free UK genealogy is a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organization) acting as an umbrella organization for FreeBMD, FreeREG and FreeCEN.
Free UK Genealogy is committed to supporting the transcription of public records and making these available as free access public databases. We actively support other genealogical transcription projects: FreeREG is transcribing parish records and making them available in a searchable form for free online access, and FreeCEN is producing a free online access searchable database of 19th Century census returns. Volunteers have been working since 1999 concentrating on the censuses from 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891.
The recording of baptisms, marriages and burials in parish registers began in England and Wales in 1538 and is separate and distinct from the civil registration process that began in 1837. (The latter is covered by our companion project, FreeBMD.) We want to make it easier for researchers, no matter where you are in the world, to find a specific record relating to your ancestor within a church register.
Each of the projects is a significant undertaking and overall since the beginning more than ten thousand volunteers have contributed over 350,000,000 records. This achievement allows over 40,000 people each day to search the databases helping them in their family history research. More recently the organization has begun to investigate how these databases can be made available under Open Data licences to provide additional benefit to researchers and the public.
Free BMD
FreeBMD was founded in 1998 by Ben Laurie, Graham Hart and Camilla Gemmingen von Massenbach after they realized the potential that the online genealogy community had to make records accessible to support research. Volunteers came together online to transcribe the General Register Office (GRO) indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths for England and Wales.
Work continues to complete a transcription database covering the indexes from 1837 to 1983. All three founders are still actively involved with supporting and managing the organization.
In 2003 the organization registered as a charity under the name FreeBMD. In 2014 we changed the name to Free UK Genealogy which better reflected our aims, and in 2016 we became a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organization).
FreeReg
The aim of FreeReg is to provide free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records, which have been extracted from parish registers, non-conformist records and other relevant sources in the UK. It is a relatively new project but due to the work of a dedicated set of volunteers we already have some 35 million records in the database. Even so, you should not expect to find all your ancestors in the database yet.
FreeCen
FreeCen provides a search facility for all census records from 1841 – 1891. It is very easy to use and more convenient than other subscription sites. The buttons that allow you to move to the previous household or the next one can help you look for relatives in the neighbourhood. However, keep in mind that not all the census records have been transcribed yet.
If you have 19th century ancestors frm England or Wales, you will certainly find Free UK Genealogy a valuable resource.