Family and local
history
For licensing reasons,
some of our resources are only accessible from computers in
particular libraries.
Subscriptions
Ancestry.com
(all libraries, ask staff for assistance)
Provides access to the
1841 to 1901 UK censuses and contains more than 4 billion names. A
simple search using an ancestor's Christian and surname can produce
some interesting results, which can be viewed, printed or
emailed.
Gives access to 100 top
reference books from some of the world's biggest publishers
including Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, Debrett's People of
Today.
Tells the stories of
over 50,000 people who shaped the history of the British Isles and
beyond. It also includes over 10,000 portrait illustrations, and
the complete text of the 33-volumes of the first edition of the
Dictionary of National Biography.
Search the following resources in one go!
19th Century British Library newspapers
A comprehensive range of national, regional and local newspapers
published in 19th century Britain, which reflects the social,
political and cultural events of the times. Users can search across
a large range of titles, perform full-text searches and view
specific article types.
Illustrated London News
The world's first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, it allowed
readers to not only read about British and world events but to
actually see them. From war and disasters to politics and the arts,
it provided a vivid view of the people, places and events that,
until then, most of its readers could only imagine.
Times Digital Archives
Search through the digital edition of The Times (London) 1785 -
1985 using keyword or date searches to retrieve full facsimile
images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire
newspaper is captured, with all notices, obituaries, advertisements
and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate
searching.
Access
thousands of items selected from the John Johnson Collection
of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, offering unique
insights into the changing nature of everyday life in Britain in
the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Categories include Nineteenth-Century Entertainment, the Booktrade,
Popular Prints, Crimes, Murders and Executions, and
Advertising.
Who's Who is the
essential directory of the noteworthy and influential in the UK and
worldwide. Who Was Who includes over 100,000 entries from the
archives of Who's Who dating back to 1898.
More specialised
biographical resources can also be found in the Arts and humanities
section.
Free websites
Cityark
"CityArk is the online catalogue of the Medway Council Archives
Service which is based at the Medway Archives and Local Studies
Centre, in Strood. We preserve and make available for research
the archives of the Medway area of Kent and also the parish records
of north-west Kent.
Explore Kent's
past
'Explore England's Past' provides free access to 1000s of local
history resources including images, transcribed wills and documents
and town trails. The Kent section includes transcribed wills and a
history of the papermaking industry and a history of people and
work in the Lower Medway Valley is being prepared.
Hasted's
'History and Topographical Survey of the County of
Kent'
Search the volumes of the second edition (text and maps) of this
major work on Kent history published between 1797 and 1801.
Kent
Archaeological Society
Provides access to a range of electronic publication from the
Society.
Kent
birth, marriage and death
Allows users to search the registration indexes for births (1992
- 2002), marriages (1837 - 2002) and deaths (1992 - 2002).
Kent Family History
Society
The largest and oldest Family History Society in Kent, uniquely
placed to help members to learn how to research their own family
tree in the county.
1911 census
Search the index and see transcribed details of original
census entries for free. Viewing the original full records
requires the purchase of credits.
A2A (Access to Archives)
This database contains catalogues describing archives held
locally in England and Wales and dating from the eighth century to
the present day.
BBC People's
war
An archive of World War 2 memories submitted to and compiled by
the BBC.
Commonwealth War Graves
Commission
The "Debt of Honour Register" database lists the 1.7 million men
and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the 2
world wars and the 23,000 cemeteries, memorials and other locations
worldwide where they are commemorated. You can also search the
register for details of the 67,000 Commonwealth civilians who died
as a result of enemy action in the Second World War.
Family
search
FamilySearch.org is a non-profit service sponsored by The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The site provides access to
"the largest collection of free family history, family tree and
genealogy records in the world".
FreeBMD
Access to partial indexes for 1837 to 1915 civil records of
births, marriages and deaths.
Genealogy in the UK and
Ireland (Genuki)
Search tool listing a wide range of British sources.
Guild of One Name
Studies (GOONS)
"The Guild brings together those with an interest in one-name
studies and other forms of surname study".
London Gazette
The modern London Gazette is a broad range of official,
regulatory and legal information notices. The
website also offers a huge archive of historically
important information published since the London Gazette was first
published in 1665 when King Charles II was on the throne.
National
Archives
Search the catalogue and access research guides.
Old Bailey
Online
A fully searchable version of the Proceedings of the Old Bailey
1674-1913, "the largest body of texts detailing the lives of
non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials
held at London's central criminal court".
View other relevant pages on this website for more details about
the resources held in Kent libraries and
archive centres to aid your research.
