Mother's Day in the United Kingdom and Ireland

England was the first country in the world to dedicate a day for mothers as early as 1600s. They called this day for mothers as 'Mothering Sunday'. Many of the poor lived and worked as servants for the wealthy, far away from their homes and families. On Mothering Sunday, servants were given the day off to return home and spend the day with their mothers. The time decided for the annual visit to home was middle Sunday of the fasting period of Lent (which lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter).

The tradition of Mothering Sunday stopped with the advent of Industrial Revolution in England when the working conditions and life pattern changed. Over the period of time one Sunday - 4th Sunday in Lent was reserved in the honor of mothers.

The original meaning of Mothering Sunday has been lost and has taken the form and name of Mothers Day in US.

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England & Wales Civil Registration Information

Civil Registration of English and Welsh births, deaths and marriages began in September 1837. The General Register Office maintains a national index of all births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales. The index for each year is split into quarters (March, June, September & December), and is arranged alphabetically by surname.

Access the complete birth, marriage, and death indexes for free at Ancestry UK's Genealogy Record Collection which includes:

Complete BMD Index ranges & Images 1837-1983 - This collection works on name ranges and locates the relevant index page. You can then easily scroll around the page to find the person you are searching for.
- Births
- Marriages
- Deaths

Partial FreeBMD Indexes & Images 1837-1983 - Find birth, marriage and death records from 1837 to around 1910. You’ll find the individual transcribed entry for the person being searched for and can also link to index page images here.
- Births
- Marriages
- Deaths

Complete BMD Indexes 1984-2004 - This collection is transcribed meaning you’ll find the individual entry for the person you are searching for here
- Births
- Marriages
- Deaths

Using Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes - is a tutorial on how to search the Indexes.

Information Found on a Birth Certificate:
Date and place of birth
Full name and sex of the child
Full name and maiden surname of the mother
Full name and occupation of the father
The informant's name, address, and relationship to the child

Information Found on a Marriage Certificate
Date and place of marriage
Marital status of the bride and groom
Whether by banns, license, or certificate
Names and ages of the bride and groom
Current addresses and occupations of the bride and groom
Names and occupations of their fathers
Names of witnesses

Information Found on a Death Certificate
Name of the deceased
Date and place of death
Age - after 1866
Occupation - or name and occupation of husband if the deceased is a married or widowed woman
Name, address, and family relationship of the informant
Date and place of birth
Address of the deceased
Maiden name - if a married or widowed woman

Ordering Birth, Marriage or Death Certificates

The General Register Office is the official site for information on births, marriages and deaths. Ordering certificates explains how to obtain records from the Public Record Office.

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England Genealogy

I have checked the links in the England section at Looking 4 Kin this week and added new links to most pages. Please be sure and visit the pages that pretain to your research:

Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Channel Islands
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
London
Middlesex
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire
All Of England
England Message Board
Brick Walls
Genealogy Blog
Genealogy Chat

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Small and Special

"Small and Special is a collection of resources relating to the early years of The Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, England’s first in-patient children’s hospital. Here you can trace a patient, learn about childhood diseases, or investigate a member of the medical staff.

Small and Special includes a database of patient admission records - from the Hospital’s first in-patient in 1852 to the last admission in 1914; a collection of articles on the early history of the Hospital and pen-portraits of the Hospital’s personalities; and a gallery of images.

Browse around the site to discover its treasures. Better still, register now. It costs nothing, and registered users get access to more detailed information and the ability to print and download results of searches."

Small and Special

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St Columb Minor Parish Records

Parish Records for St Columb Minor, Cornwall. Marriages 1754-1837. Banns 1754-1811. More to Come.

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Map Of London And Its Vicinity - 1837 - Free Online

I received this message on a rootsweb mailing list I belong to and thought it might be of interest to people with ancestors in London, England ......


For those of you searching for your ancestors in London, I have just displayed a high quality map of London and Environs from 1837 on the MAPCO website. You can view it here:

Cary's New Plan Of London And Its Vicinity 1837

Use the thumbnails to navigate your way around the map. Hovering your mouse pointer over the thumbnails will display a pop-up message showing the areas covered by that map section.

There are also 2 enlarged images of each map section. These are accessed by clicking on the left half or right half of the map image itself. Again, a pop-up "Click To Enlarge" message will be displayed when you hover your mouse pointer over the image.

This is one of the finest London maps displayed on the MAPCO website. Someone recently described the MAPCO's maps as "deliciously hi-res". This has always been my aim, and I think that this Cary map from 1837 is one of the best yet. I do hope that you enjoy it.

A recent change of jobs, combined with a terrible bout of flu, has meant that work on the MAPCO site had all but ceased in recent weeks. Work on Cary's New Plan Of London 1837 commenced some time ago, but I have only found time to complete it in the past day. I apologise for the delay in displaying this map, and hope that you think it has been worth the wait. This map of London is the first of many that will be displayed in coming months.

MAPCO : Map And Plan Collection Online

West Midlands Births Marriages & Deaths

The Register Offices in the county of West Midlands, England, hold records of Local births, marriages and deaths back to the start of civil registration in 1837.

The county's Family History Societies are collaborating with the Local Authority Registration Services to make the indexes to these records freely searchable via the Internet.

Although the indexes are not yet complete for all years and districts, the database will eventually cover West Midlands births, marriages and deaths for the years 1837 to 1950 and beyond.

West Midlands Births Marriages & Deaths

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Middlesex England Parish Records

Their Page states:

"The database you are about to access contains parish marriage records in Middlesex County, England between 1563 and 1895. The data came from books at the Gainesville (FL) University Library West, which were arranged by parish, and then by date"

Middlesex England Parish Records

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The National Archives - Documents on Line

Normally free resource sites are reviewed here, but there is such a wealth of information for the UK researcher on the Documents on Line section of the National Archives site (especially comparatively recent stuff), it would be a shame not to bring it to everyones attention - and the cost is very reasonable.

DocumentsOnline allows you access to The National Archives' collection of digitised public records, including both academic and family history sources. Searching the index is free, and costs £3.50 to download an image.

Get an overview of Documents on Line - then move further into the site to see what content is available.

Alternatively, you can just wade in, browse the categories and search.

England Archives, Libraries and Registration Offices Information

Added to Looking 4 Kin this week:

England Archives, Libraries and Registration Offices Information

This page contains links and infomation to England Archives, Libraries and Registration Offices in the counties of:

Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumberland Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Lancashire Kent Lincolnshire

Leicestershire London Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Sussex Warwickshire Westmorland Wiltshire Worcestershire Yorkshire

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New Pages on Looking 4 Kin

I have added 3 new pages to Looking 4 Kin Genealogy Links & Chat

England & Wales Civil Registration Information

England Census Records, Indexes and Information

Wales Census Records, Indexes and Information

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England & Wales Census Records

I came across an item in the latest edition of Family Tree which hits home the reason why genealogists should talk to older relatives to obtain information before it is too late.

I am sure everyone has read in the press and on the web that the 1911 census for England and Wales can be searched now at extortionate cost, but will be online by 2009, with exceptions for sensitive data.

But what of the later censuses?

1921 - This census is covered by the Census Act 1920. This means that, not withstanding the Freedom of Information Act, the census information will be held under a 100 year closure period and will not be available until 2022.

1931 - This census was destroyed by fire during World War II

1941 - No census was taken

1951 - I accordance with the Census Act 1920, this will become available in 2052

You will see from this that, after 2022, there will be a thirty year gap before another census is available.

Bearing in mind that I was born just 5 days before the 1951 census was taken, it is unlikely that I will be around to see its release! But, there are still members of my family alive in the 'next generation up' who remember people, places and family events in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s that might important to my tree and helpful to those looking at my records in years to come.

World War II National Registration - This took place in England & Wales on 29 September 1939, and is a census of sorts, but I have no information as to whether this will be released for publication online.

Rosey