Useful Information, Addresses and Web Sites, including those for Vital Records of the UK, Ireland and Isle of Man

The Federation of Family History Societies, PO Box 2425, Coventry CV5 6YX (email info@ffhs.org.uk , web site www.ffhs.org.uk)

Individual Family History Societies The contact details for member societies of the Federation of Family History Societies can be found at www.ffhs.org.uk/General. A more general, area sorted, list of societies (not restricted to Federation members) is available at www.genuki.org.uk/big#Societies

Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA (Telephone 020 7251 8799, email info@sog.org.uk, web site www.sog.org.uk ). Membership is by annual subscription, but non-members can use its library on payment of a fee.

Hyde Park Family History Centre, London, 64/68 Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2PA (Telephone 020 7589 8561). This is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and microform copies of many civil registration indexes, census returns and parish registers can be searched here free of charge.

Other Family History Centres worldwide. Visit www.familysearch.org for information about opening hours and contact details.

National Archives and Register Offices. There is a UK government family history portal www.familyrecords.gov.uk with links to the web sites of the following institutions as well as to those of the Family Records Centre, General Register Office of England and Wales, and The National Archives:

National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales SY23 3BU (Telephone 01970 632 800, email holi@llgc.org.uk , web site www.llgc.org.uk ). This is the main centre for family history research in Wales, where you can inspect filmed copies of Welsh census returns, parish registers, nonconformist registers and probate records.

General Register Office for Scotland, New Register House, 3 West Register Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YT (Telephone 0131 334 0380, email records@gro-scotland.gov.uk web site www.gro-scotland.gov.uk). The Registrar General holds records of civil registration of births, deaths and marriages from 1 January 1855 onwards, divorces, adoptions, decennial Scottish census returns, 1841-1901, and birth, baptism, marriage and burial registers of the Church of Scotland from about 1553 to 1854. the Family Records Centre has a computerised link to the GRO (Scotland) indexes to births, deaths and marriages, the birth, baptism and marriage registers, and to the 1881-1901 census returns. Full information can then obtained by sending a completed application form and fee to the above address. Scottish Link is available by appointment, on payment of a fee (Telephone 020 7533 6438). Alternatively you can search online indexes to registered births up to 1901, deaths to 1951, and marriages to 1926, at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and then pay to view images of the birth (excluding 1855) and death records; images of the marriage entries are forthcoming. You can also search the indexes to the Church of Scotland (Old Parish Registers) births, baptisms and marriages between 1553 and 1854; indexes to the deaths and burials, and images of the registers are in the pipeline. Indexes and pay to view images are available for the 1891 and 1901 Scottish census returns at the same web site; those of the decadal census returns from 1841 to 1881 will also be searchable soon. You can order transcriptions of the births, baptisms and marriages in the Old Parish Registers between 1700 and 1854, the registered births, marriages and deaths between 1855 and 1990, and of the 1861 and 1871 census returns by visiting www.scotsorigins.com which offers a charged service.

Filmed copies of the birth, marriage and death civil registration indexes between 1855 and 1956, and of the registers between 1855 and 1875, 1881 and 1891, can be searched in Family History Centres, as well as microfilms of the 1841-91 census returns for Scotland; a small fee may be payable to hire them in.

The above Old Scottish Church Records are also available as part of FamilySearch, one of the family history online databases at the Family Records Centre, and on CDROM in many local libraries, record offices and Family History Centres. Try also the International Genealogical Index, and British Isles Vital Records Index.

National Archives of Scotland, HM General Register House, Princes Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YY (Telephone 0131 535 1314, email enquiries@nas.gov.uk, web site www.nas.gov.uk ). A wide range of public records is held here, including wills and testaments from the 16th century to the present day You can search indexes to Scottish wills and testaments between 1500 and 1875 at www.scottishdocuments.com and then purchase a copy of the digital images, which are in the process of being made available at the web site. Filmed copies of the indexes and testaments can be searched at Family History Centres, where a small fee may be payable to hire them in.

General Register Office (Northern Ireland), Oxford House, 49-55 Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 4HL (Telephone 02890 252000, web site www.groni.gov.uk ). The Registrar General holds copies of the statutory registers of births and deaths since I January 1864, and marriages on and after 1 January 1922. You can search indexes to these, to non-Catholic marriages from 1 April 1845 and to all marriages from 1 January 1864 at this address, though the marriage registers to 1921 are kept in District Registrars? offices. A computerised index to births registered in Northern Ireland since 1922 is available at the Family Records Centre. Extracts of birth registrations from 1845 until 1875, and non-Catholic marriages between 1 April 1845 and 1863 are included in the International Genealogical Index. Filmed copies of the indexes and registers from 1922 to 1959 can be searched at Family History Centres. A small fee may be charged to hire them in. For earlier filmed copies of indexes and registers see under the General Register Office, Dublin, below.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), 66 Balmoral Avenue, Belfast BT9 6NY (Telephone 02890 255905, email proni@dcalni.gov.uk , web site www.proni.gov.uk). Most of the Irish census returns before 1901 were destroyed. You can search the 1901 census records of the Northern Irish counties, surviving fragments of the ten-yearly returns between 1821and 1851, census substitutes, church and other denominational registers of births, baptisms, marriages and burials, and wills proved in Northern Ireland from 1900 to 1994. There are annual indexes to wills covering 1858 to 1984. Although all original wills prior to 1900 were destroyed, filmed office copies entered in local registry will books are available. Indexes to Irish wills, 1484-1858, can be searched on CDROM at the National Archives, Family History Centres and elsewhere. The 1901 and 1911 census returns can be searched on microfilm at Family History Centres, where a small fee may be payable to hire them in.

General Register Office, Joyce House, 8-11 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2 (Telephone 003531 6354000, web site www.groireland.ie ). The Registrar General holds surviving indexed records of non-Roman Catholic marriages for the whole of Ireland from 1 April 1845 and of births, all marriages and deaths from 1 January 1864 up to 1921, and thereafter for Southern Ireland only. Copies of the indexes to 1958, birth registers for all Ireland up to the March quarter of 1881, 1900-13, and 1930-March quarter 1955, marriage registers from 1845 to 1870, and death registers 1864-70, can be inspected at Family History Centres.

National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8 (Telephone 003531 407 2300, email mail@nationalarchives.ie , web site www.nationalarchives.ie ). Holdings include the Irish census returns of 1901 and 1911, some transcripts for earlier years, whose returns were destroyed in 1922, some Church of Ireland parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials to 1871, indexes to wills proved in church courts up to 1858, original wills lodged in the Principal Registry in Dublin since 1904 and in most District Registries after 1900, and registered copies of most wills proved in District Registries since 1858. Microfilm copies of the 1901 and 1911 census returns can be searched at Family History Centres, and a small fee may be payable to hire them in. Microfilm copies of most Roman Catholic registers up to at least 1880 can be searched at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 (Telephone 003531 661 8811, web site www.nli.ie ). The Irish Family History Foundation is the co-ordinating body of a network of genealogical research centres, one serving every county. Visit www.irishroots.net for details.

For Ireland, also read our research guide on Irish Genealogy.

Channel Islands. For an overview of research in records for each island visit www.genuki.org.uk/big/CHI

The Greffe, Royal Court House, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 2PB (Telephone 01481 725277). Registers of births and deaths from 1840 and of marriages since 1919 are held here, with copies of wills. Although Alderney and Sark kept their own records, enquiries should first be made here. You can also search microfilm copies of the birth indexes and registers, 1840-1966, death indexes and registers, 1840-1963, and marriage indexes 1841-1966, and registers 1841-1901, at Family History Centres, where you may have to pay a small fee to hire them in.

Isle of Man, The Registries, Deemsters Walk, Buck?s Road, Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3AR (Telephone 01624 687039, email civil@registry.gov.uk , web site www.gov.im/deptindex/ ). The registrar holds the statutory registers of marriages from 1883 onwards, and of births and deaths from 1878, plus earlier Anglican registers of baptism, marriage and burial. You can search microfilm copies of these from 1821 to 1964 at Family History Centres. You may have a pay a small fee to hire them in. Extracts of the births, baptisms and marriages are included in the British Isles Vital Records Index.

Oriental and India Office Collections, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB (Telephone 020 7412 7873, email oioc-enquiries@bl.uk , web site www.bl.uk/ ). You will need a reader?s ticket to inspect the birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records, and registered wills, spanning the seventeenth to twentieth centuries.