The National Gazetteer of Wales

The Gazetteer comprises several features:

Place Name Index of Wales: the most comprehensive place name index of Wales available online. It lists National Grid reference, County and administrative area information for over 6,000 places. It includes English/anglicised and Welsh versions of place-names.

Map of Wales: showing the Counties and the main towns and cities.

The Counties of Wales: description of each of the 13 Counties of Wales, noting places of special interest.

Administrative Wales: a comprehensive guide to the various administrative bodies and areas of Wales: including maps and links to relevant bodies. Includes details of parliamentary constituencies, the National Assembly for Wales, local government, the police service, the NHS in Wales, the fire service, the criminal justice system, the registration service, and the lieutenancies.

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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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The National Gazetteer of Wales

If you have ancestors in Wales and are confused by all those strange Welsh place names, then The National Gazetteer of Wales will help you locate the particular place/places in Wales.

I say places beacause, as in all parts of the UK, there can be more than one town/village with the same name.

I am not an expert on Welsh place names, but I was browsing the gazatteer and saw that there are -

4 places called Newton
5 places called Newtown
1 place called Newton Cross
and
1 place called Newton Green

Given that not all of our ancestors were literate and, perhaps, liable to shorten the name of the place they came from, a lot of painstaking research can be required to find our ancestor's actual origins.

The site also has a useful map of Wales, details of the counties and administrative information.

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.

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