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Resources for researching your family history online

We recommend trying these online tools to explore your family history.

Findmypast

Findmypast is an online family history resource available for free within all Westminster libraries. It differs from Ancestry as you can search for a particular address, and names are often entered differently allowing you to find further information.

The databases on Findmypast cover births, marriages and deaths (including overseas and military), censuses, military, migration and parish records spanning 1538 to 2006.

Records unique to Findmypast include Royal Household staff, apprentice, workhouse and parish records. There are millions of parish records from local family history societies, you can search census records by address and there are a great many records in the Westminster Collection.

This list of databases shows you everything available. It also allows you to specifically pick out which one you wish to search.

Using Findmypast

You must be in a Westminster library to access Findmypast, either on a library computer on on your own device via the libraries' wifi. 

Go to Findmypast

  1. Don't sign in straightaway; you can perform searches and find results beforehand.
  2. When you've found what you're looking for, click to view the record.
  3. This will take you to a login page where you must click “Continue as a guest”

You can search through records easily using the search function.

Published: 4 January 2021

Last updated: 15 January 2021