Family history resources

These include our collections of original documents, transcriptions and copies as well as free access to the Ancestry web resource for onsite users.

Please see also "How you can use the resources" and the downloadable document  How to get started with family history [79kb] [Opens in New Window] which contains advice on carrying out research into family histories in Gloucestershire. Onsite users can also access the Ancestry web resource [Opens in New Window]  free of charge.

Sources to get you started

Indexes and Transcripts

• Genealogical Database [Opens in New Window] including wills and inventories, 1541-1858, the gaol calendars, 1815-1879, parish overseers' settlement papers, pre-1834 and some nonconformist registers, 19th century
• General Personal Names Index and other specialist indexes compiled from the catalogues [Opens in New Window] of the records deposited here
• Indexes and transcripts of some parish registers (on-going)
• The International Genealogical Index (IGI) compiled by the Latter Day Saints with access to the index on-line for the most up-to-date version

Civil Registration Records

• General Register Office Index, 1837-1996 (formerly known as the St Catherine's House Index) gives limited information so that a copy of a birth, marriage or death certificate can be obtained from the General Register Office (General Register Office [Opens in New Window]) or the Superintendent of the district in which the registration took place

Census enumerators' returns

• Microfilm copies of the census returns, 1841 - 1901, for the whole of Gloucestershire including Bristol, with street indexes for Gloucester and Cheltenham

Church and chapel registers and bishops transcripts

• Registers of many of the parishes in the diocese of Gloucester with bishops transcripts (contemporary diocesan copies of the registers)
• Registers of many of the nonconformist chapels in Gloucestershire

Probate Records: wills, administrations and inventories

• Wills and administrations proved in the diocese of Gloucester, 1541-1858, and wills proved in the Gloucester Probate Court, 1858-1941, and Gloucestershire Inventories, 1587-1800

More family history resources Sources to take you further