Free UK Genealogy provides free, online access to family history records. We work with a team of dedicated volunteers to create high-quality transcriptions of public records from governmental sources, parish churches, and other trusted institutions. We believe that Open Data and Open Source are key to making and keeping public records accessible to all.  We work with others with the same concerns.

Visit our project websites to search our records:

Search FreeBMD

Search
FreeBMD

294,000,000 births,
marriages and deaths

Search FreeCEN


Search
FreeCEN

49,000,000 individuals from
census data, from 1841 to 1891

Search FreeREG

Search
FreeREG

61,000,000 records
from parish registers

FreeUKGEN volunteers have made available:

  • 294,000,000 births, marriages and deaths
  • 61,000,000 records from parish registers
  • 49,000,000 individuals from census data, from 1841 to 1891

Find out how you can help us grow our databases by joining the transcribing team


Transcribe with FreeUKGEN

We make the databases we create freely available for people to search in order to support their family history research. Unlike many sites, which are ‘pay-to-view’ after an initial search is carried out, our family history databases are completely free to search and view.

  • £5 provides almost 400 extra records
  • £30 runs our servers for one day.

Our records are currently divided into three separate projects:

freebmd logoFreeBMD provides free access to birth, marriage and death records. This resource is ideal for those beginning research into their ancestry. The central recording of births, marriages and deaths was started in 1837 and is one of the most significant resources for genealogical research. The transcribing of records is carried out by teams of dedicated volunteers and the database contains index information for the period 1837-1992.

freecen logoFreeCEN offers a free, online database of the 19th century UK census returns. Census data can provide the full name, exact age, relationship to head of household, sex, occupation, parish and county of birth, medical disabilities and employment status of an individual. Later census years have more information. FreeCEN are currently working on the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, and 1891 censuses. Some counties have now started transcribing the 1881 census

freereg logo
FreeREG houses registers of baptisms, marriages and burials of the Church of England and other organisations. The recording of non-civic registers began in England and Wales in 1538; this is separate and distinct from the civil registration process that began in 1837.


Free UK Genealogy is a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation). We support the development of Open Source tools to aid community transcription of historical documents. We also encourage all activities designed to promote making family and wider history records available under Open Data formats.

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