Discover English records spanning over 350 years

2-3 minute read

By Daisy Goddard | April 26, 2024

Findmypast Friday

This week, there are over 20,000 new additions for you to explore.

We've added 21,124 new records this Findmypast Friday. There is a brand new collection of enhanced records from the ODNB (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) to explore, in addition to updates to two existing sets: Surrey Prerogative Court of Canterbury Will Abstracts (1457- 1858) and Lancashire Wills & Probate, 1457- 1858.

There are also half a million new newspaper pages to discover.

Surrey Prerogative Court Will Abstracts, 1420-1857

This week's biggest record update consists of 11,308 Surrey will abstracts from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, spanning 1700 to 1858. 

The Square, Shere, Surrey

The Square, Shere, Surrey Wikimedia Commons

There are both transcriptions and images available for this updated collection.

Enhanced Genealogical Data From Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

There are 4,013 images and transcriptions to explore within this brand-new collection of Oxford Dictionary of National Biography records. 

Spanning from 1669 right up to 2023, this brand new collection offers enhanced genealogical data relating to over 4,000 dictionary entries.

Lancashire Wills & Probate 1457-1858 

We've also bolstered our Lancashire Wills collection with 5,803 brand-new records spanning 1825 to 1858.

Lancashire's Countryside

Lancashire's Countryside, Wikimedia Commons

These new records relate to 'Infra Wills', that is, estates valued at less than £40. If your Lancashire ancestor passed down a small sum to their next of kin in the early 19th century, their name may just appear within this updated collection.

Half a million new pages to discover

We've made an immense update to our newspaper collection this week, with an impressive 510,410 new historical pages added which span over 100 years.

Discover a new Nottinghamshire title and a duo of new Scottish additions. We've also updated 23 of our existing publications, with new pages added from Deeside to Driffield.

Here's a rundown of this week's newspaper updates.

New titles:

Updated titles:

Last week, we added 6,200 new baptism records - explore the full release for yourself today.

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 using this handy form.

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