Family and local
history
For licensing reasons,
some of our resources are only accessible from computers in
particular libraries.
Subscriptions
Ancestry Library Edition
(all libraries, no
remote access)
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.
NEW! British Newspaper Archive - Community
Edition
(all libraries, no
remote access)
A partnership
between the British Library and Brightsolid online publishing to
digitise up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British
Library's vast collection over the next 10 years.
So far it includes the
following archives for Kent newspapers:
- Dover Express - 7 August 1858 to 30 December
1949
- Kentish Gazette - 28 May 1768 to 25 December
1883
- Whitstable Times & Herne Bay Herald - 5
January 1867 to 31 December 1904
- Kentish Chronicle - 9 July 1859 to 28 December
1867
See the up-to-date
titles list.
Please note: Free access is restricted to
library computers and you will need to register for an
individual account. We have a limited number of concurrent licences
across the county; to enable a maximum of people to benefit, the
product will log you out following 10 minutes of inactivity.
Gives access to 150 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.
Find my Past - Community Edition
(all libraries, no remote access)
View around 750 million records including birth, marriage and
death records, the complete UK census collection (including the
official 1911 census), millions of parish records dating back as
far as 1538, a vast military records collection spanning
1656-1994, migration records etc.
Please note: Our subscription excludes memorial
scrolls and the Living Relatives database. Our license states
that usage is for research into a user’s own family history
only, and not for any commercial or other purpose whatsoever
and that accessing records on behalf of 3rd parties is not
permitted.
Use the link to the News Vault to search the following
resources individually or all 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
- 2007 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.
Kent History Source
(Kent History and Library Centre only)
In partnership with Rochester Diocese and
Family Search many of
the parish records for the Rochester Diocese area have been
digitised and are available online. This will eventually be made
available in all libraries in Kent.
Origins UK
(Kent History and Library Centre only)
Produced in partnership with Origins, this provides access to
indexes for over 40,000 records of West Kent wills, 1440-1857, and probate
inventories for the whole of Kent, 1571-1842. These records
are a wonderful source for family and local history. At the Kent
History & Library Centre only, ask at the desk for
access.
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.
Access digitised copies of the South Eastern Gazette
1852 - 1912.
As well as the following:
- Daily Mirror 1903 - 1980
- Daily Mirror Academic 1903 - current
- Daily Express 1900 - current
- Sunday Express 2000 - current
- Church Times 1863 - 1889; 1939 - 1945; 2000 - current
- The Watchman 1835 - 1884
- Daily Worker 1930 - 1945
- Morning Star 2000 - current
- World War Two 1933 - 1945 (comprised of wartime editions of the
Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Fascist Week, Action!, Blackshirt,
Yorkshire Post and Daily Worker)
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
Kent-specific
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.
Here’s History
Kent
This site is run by Kent Archaeological Society and includes
information on towns and villages across Kent including articles,
maps and photographs. There are also articles on subjects relating
to the history of the County
Kent Archaeological
Society
Information includes images, transcriptions of tithe
apportionments and wills, inscriptions from graves, indexes to and
some articles from Archaeologica Cantiana and the Victoria County
History of Kent, tithe awards, index of wills and the Wotton
Surveys 1557-1560.
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
Provides a keyword search for family names and some further
information in the `Members Interest’ section.
Kent History
Forum
A popular discussion forum for people interested in all aspects
of Kent history. Posts and questions on the forum relate to a wide
range of topics place and the forum also provides a place to swap
information and find out about history-based activities and events
in the county.
North West Kent Family
History Society
The society can carry out research on your behalf – their
website also contains articles on Kentish families, some searchable
indexes and information on surnames being researched.
Screen
Archives South East
Provides an enhanced online catalogue of over 2000 selected
films from the Screen Archive South East collection. A separate
catalogue allows access to films from archives across the
UK.
National
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.
