Browse burials and over 130,000 brand-new newspaper pages

4-5 minute read

By Daisy Goddard | November 24, 2023

With a grand total of 138,675 new additions to explore, building your family tree is easier than ever.

It's all about burials this Findmypast Friday, as we've updated two of our existing sets with new records from Herefordshire and Kent. Stretching back as far as the early 16th century, these new additions may just solve one of those pesky puzzles within your family tree.

But that's not all - we've also made updates to our newspaper collection this week. Three exciting new titles from Northern Ireland and Berkshire have been added, as well as updates pages for a further 12 of our existing newspapers.

Read on for a full rundown of all that's been added.

National Burial Index For England & Wales

This week's biggest update comes to our National Burial Index collection, to which we've added 122,691 brand-new transcriptions for the county of Herefordshire. These records are unique to Findmypast.

The West Midlands county of Herefordshire sits between Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire and Powys. Home to towns like Leominster and Ledbury, it is one of England's most rural counties.

With over 120,000 burial records added to our England & Wales Burial Index, uncovering the history of ancestors who lived in this picturesque border county is now easier than ever. For more information on the parishes included, be sure to consult our updated Herefordshire parish list.

These new additions span over 300 years, between 1539 and 1840. As is typical for burial records, they contain key information like a name and age, death year, burial date and place, and denomination.

The burial record of Susannah Adams, 1821. View here.

As indicated by Susannah Adams' record (above), you'll also find a birth year included, which has been calculated from the given age at the time of death.

Kent Burials - Medway

This week's second burials update comes to our Kent Burials collection. We've added 14,506 new transcriptions from the borough of Medway. Covering 1981 to 2020, these new records are relatively modern in genealogy terms.

Situated on the River Medway, this area has a long and eventful history that stretches back to the Roman conquest of Britain in 43AD. It is home to Britain's second oldest Cathedral - Rochester Cathedral - as well as Chatham's famous naval dockyard.

Rochester Cathedral. Image credit: Chris Downer via Wikimedia Commons.

If you've got Kent roots, these new additions may just help you uncover key information about your family members.

From these records, you can expect to learn a full name, age, birth year, burial date and place and residence. In some cases, an occupation is also included, along with any dedication featured on the deceased's grave.

Explore the parishes included in these records, via our updated Kent parish list.

Kent Burials - Dunns Funeral Directors Registers

Last but not least, we've also added 1,478 records from the town of Bromley to our collection of Kent Burials. Taken from two local parishes, these new additions span 1803 to 1839.

These records, taken from registers kept by Dunns Funeral Directors, contain both a transcription and an image of the original register.

Explore this record.

In addition to a full name and age, you'll learn a birth year, burial date and place from these records. In some cases, an occupation is also listed, as well as additional notes - such as marital status, parents' names, and whether the deceased was a foundling.

To ensure that you get the full value from these interesting records, be sure to check both the transcription and the original record image.

New pages from Belfast to Berkshire

It's been a busy week for our newspapers, as 160,900 pages and three brand-new titles have joined our collection. From Berkshire to Ballyclare, there are so many stories to discover.

First up from our trio of new publications is the Newtownabbey Times and East Antrim Times, which is the sister publication of last week's new Country Antrim title. First published in 1897, this newspaper was published every Thursday.

Explore this page.

Its pages were jam-packed with 'news, features, entertainment and sport' - it described itself as serving 'the people of the borough from Ballyclare to Monkstown and Glengormley to Jordanstown and many more places in between'. There are now almost 500,000 pages of this publication to explore within our collection.

In addition to this Northern Irish title, we've also added two newspapers from Berkshire this week. The Ascot Times, which ran with the friendly subheading, 'A friend dropping in', was first published for the price of fourteen pence. It covered local news from the town of Ascot, and incidentally, was the sister paper of this week's third and last new title.

Explore this page.

Last up, we have the Crowthorne Times, which circulated in the village of Crowthorne and the neighbouring Sandhurst and Yateley. We've added pages from this title for 1983 - so you can gain insight into the lives of those less distant family members.

In addition to these new newspapers, we've also updated 12 of our existing titles. The Edinburgh Evening News grew by over 10,000 pages, whilst a significant update was also made to the Shepton Mallet Journal. Here's a full rundown of all that's been added.

New titles:

Ascot Times, 1986-1987
Crowthorne Times, 1983
Newtownabbey Times and East Antrim Times, 1987-1989, 1991-1999

Updated titles:

Belfast News-Letter, 1996, 1998
Bracknell Times, 1985
Central Somerset Gazette, 1993-1995
Cheddar Valley Gazette, 1996-1997
Edinburgh Evening News, 1994
Football Post (Nottingham), 1998
Jewish World, 1899, 1902-1904, 1907
Larne Times, 1987, 1989
Londonderry Sentinel, 1961-1962, 1966, 1968-1976
Lurgan Mail, 1986-1987, 1992, 1994-1999
Mid-Ulster Mail, 1994
Shepton Mallet Journal, 1992-1993, 1996, 1998

Have you made a surprising family history discovery? Whatever you've uncovered about your past, we'd love to hear about it. You can now get in touch and tell us directly, using this handy form.

Last week, we added a fascinating trio of Cumberland parish updates. If you've got ancestors from the Cumberland area, be sure to explore the full update here.