Note that these websites are best for research across the UK and Ireland. Some of the websites listed below are free to use and some are paid websites. To find out about discounts and money saving tricks, please check out my money saving tricks page.
Ancestry:
Ancestry offers access to a range of records. You can research records across the United Kingdom and beyond! I believe Ancestry is an American founded company, meaning they have a lot of American records and resources. Ancestry is perfect if you have a family tree from all around the world. Ancestry also offer DNA testing which can tell you your ethnicity estimate, put you in touch with matching relatives and much more. The DNA tests are a very good resource for anyone who isn’t certain about who one of their ancestors. I have had some matches who never knew who their father was and then via DNA testing we found out they were my cousins and were able to put them in touch with their close family who they had never contacted before. Ancestry is also really useful for sharing family trees and photos. You can share your tree with anybody, you can make it so they can just look at it or you can make it so they can edit it too. You can also choose if they can see living people in the tree. This feature is really useful if you are looking for some help and someone needs to view your tree.
Findmypast:
Findmypast has a huge amount of British records. At this point in time, Findmypast is the only website where you can access the 1921 census. This is available as part of a subscription or you can pay £2.50 per transcript or £3.50 per record image.
FamilySearch & RelativeFinder:
These sister websites are free to use. Familysearch allows you to build family trees and also gives you access to a number of records. I recommend this website for anyone starting out and wanting to know if they enjoy family history research. Especially as it is free to use, meaning if you don’t end up enjoying it – you haven’t had to spend money on it! Relative finder is the sister website to family search. As you begin to build your family tree, family search will eventually be able to tell you celebrities you are potentially related to and how you are related to them. It can also show you if you are related to anyone you know in your real life. I must mention that this isn’t entirely accurate and is based on whether everyone’s trees have correct information etc. The most trustworthy and effective way to find out if you are related to someone is through a DNA test.
General Register Office:
This is a pay per view website where you can purchase birth, marriage and death records. You can now purchase instantly viewable digital images of the records for £2.50 per record. In my opinion, this is the best way to see a record. It is affordable plus you get instant access! You can also purchase official certificates from this website, although with the instantly downloadable images, it’s not really necessary now, unless the downloadable image is not available for the record you are searching for and you desperately need the information.
Free BMD index:
This website allows for you to search the birth, marriage and death indexes for free. Please note it doesn’t allow you to see actual birth, marriage and death records. This can help you when searching for any children a couple may have had (after 1911) by searching the mans last name and the mothers maiden name. You can search for records before 1911, as far back as 1837, on GRO. However, you can only search within 2 years of a year. For example you can put in 1875, then give or take two, so you can see 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876 and 1877. You also have to put a sex in to search. You can do the give or take two and keep putting different years in the search bar.
ScotlandsPeople:
This website is useful for accessing Scottish birth, marriage, death, disslutions, divorce and civil partnership records. You can also access census records – including the 1921 census. You can purchase credits which you can use to access certain records. It is rather affordable and this website is very helpful if you are exploring Scottish ancestry. It also allows you to explore church registers, valuation rolls, legal records, poor relief and migration records, prison registers, employment records and kirk sessions.
Irishgenealogy & The National Archives of Ireland:
Discovering these websites was a huge help to me in my research, as I am estimated to be 50% Irish – which is the majority of my ethnicity! Irishgenealogy allows you to access Irish birth, marriage and death records. You can also access church records on here. You can access census records through the national archives of Ireland. Using both these websites, you can find a lot of helpful information in regards to your Irish ancestors. The records are often very informative, including telling you the maiden name of the child’s mother on most (if not all) the birth records.
UK ForcesWarRecords & Fold3:
These websites are both owned by Ancestry – they are essentially the same website except Fold3 is the American version. These websites give you an access to a variety of records such as the paperwork filled out as the men were joining the war, paperwork explaining their injuries, information about where they fought, their rank in the army and the medals they earned. It can also give you information if they passed away, including being able to look at their wills which often gives you information about their family. It does come as an additional cost to Ancestry, however is very useful if you are researching ancestors who fought in a war.
Military Archives Ireland:
You guessed it – this website contains Irish war records. This includes essentially all the same things as ForcesWarRecords (which also has some Irish records) but also includes the Irish Army Census which was taken in 1922. This gives you information on the name of the person, their age, their usual address and their next of kin.