Society of Genealogists

The Society of Genealogists is an educational charity the purpose of which is to 'promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge of genealogy'. The Society's premises in Central London house the largest family history research library in the UK. The Society of Genealogists' Library is open to members and paying non-members.

Holdings include:

• Unique research collections
• Document Collection of manuscript family history research notes
• Thousands of compiled family histories and biographies
• Thousands of parish records
• England, Boyd's Marriage Index covering some 2,600 parish registers with nearly seven million names
• Nonconformist registers
• Memorial inscriptions
• Local histories, poll books and directories
• Sources for apprenticeships, trades, professions and occupations
• Published emigration records for the British overseas

Compiled by Percival Boyd from a miscellany of sources, these extraordinary records are one of the Society of Genealogists' most valuable holdings, and provide one of the key sources for researchers into London families. You can search Boyd's London Burials and Marriage Indexes as well as Boyd's Inhabitants Of London & Family Units. Boyd's Inhabitants of London and Boyd's Family Units form a collection of 70,000 handwritten sheets each containing details of a London family, mostly covering the period of 16th to 18th centuries though extending from the 13th until well into the 20th centuries.

• Boyd's London Burials
• Boyd's Marriage Indexes, 1538-1850
• Boyd's Inhabitants Of London & Family Units 1200-1946

Discover if your ancestors worked for, or applied to join, the British Civil Service. Many candidates for the Service had been born in places and at times when no state registration of births existed, which makes these records a great genealogical resource. The records include the names of individuals born in South Africa, Mexico, Burma, Portugal, Algeria and many more counties.

These details were collected by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to establish accurate birth records for their staff, to ensure they were of minimum age or eligible for a pension.

Was your ancestor a British mariner who fell on hard times? Search petitions for aid and other documents covering the period 1787 to 1854, submitted by seamen or their widows to Trinity House, which, as well as administering charitable funds for disabled sailors and their families, was responsible for the supervision of lighthouses and buoys around the British coast.

The Petitions contain a wealth of family information about the seamen and his dependents. Other papers include Apprenticeship Indentures of seamen, and a collection of Miscellaneous Papers, consisting mainly of marriage and baptismal certificates.

Discover the names of shareholders in the Great Western Railway (GWR). The Society of Genealogists produced its GWR Shareholders Index from ledgers created by the Great Western Railway that are now in the Society’s possession.

The GWR’s original ledgers were compiled by the company for transactions relating to all shareholdings that changed hands other than by simple sale. The index currently contains details for approximately 440,000 individuals, with a total number of 570,464 records and 153,569 events entered into the registers.

The Society of Genealogists have also contributed to our ever growing collections of parish records and records of marriage licenses.

You can delve into over 38,900 burial records from St. Leonard parish in the east end of London. The records will give you details of your ancestor’s address, birth year and burial place. The records also include the full burial date, from which you can estimate a date of death and add another piece to your growing family tree.

• St Leonard Shoreditch Burials

You can also discover if your ancestor from Canterbury applied for a marriage licence between 1694 and 1850.A marriage licence allegation was a document sworn by one of the prospective parties, usually the groom, to the effect that there was no impediment to the marriage and where the marriage could take place.

• Vicar General Marriage Licences