British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices - FamilySearch Historical Records

England

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains family notices found in various British newspaper archives, covering the period 1800-1900. This is a collaborative project with FindMyPast.com.

A family notice is similar to an obituary but with certain differences. Whereas an obituary is generally a professionally-composed article providing an overview of an individual’s life, a notice is generally produced by the individual’s family to let others know when and where funerals or other memorial services will take place.

The notices in this collection come from a variety of newspapers across Britain. Major newspapers from the nineteenth century include The Courier, The Scotsman, The Chartist Northern Star, The Daily Telegraph, The Illustrated London News, the Western Mail, and the Daily Mail.

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
The following list indicates potential information given in a family notice. Due to the personal nature of these documents, these records will often contain either more or different information than that which is noted here.

Family Notices may contain:
 * Name of deceased
 * Date of death (or date of notice's publication)
 * Place of death (or place of publication)
 * Gender
 * Age at death
 * Birth date of deceased
 * Names of deceased's relatives

Search the Index
View images in this collection by visiting the 
 * 1) Select County
 * 2) Select Publication
 * 3) Select Year to view the images.

Compare the information found on the images with what is already known determine if a particular record relates to the correct person. This process may require examining multiple records before the correct person is located.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the record entry for future reference. See below for assistance in citing this collection. Save or print a copy of the image if possible.
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find more. For instance, use the estimated age given in the notice (if provided) to calculate an approximate year of birth, if that is yet undetermined.
 * If in the appropriate period, use the information which has been discovered to find the individual in other records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century England are Church Records, the England Census, and Civil Registration records.
 * Continue to search the record to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives, any of whom might be listed within the text of the notice.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * When looking for a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which candidate is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records.
 * Check for variants of given names, surnames, and place names; transcription errors could occur in any handwritten record. Also remember that it was not uncommon for an individual be listed under a nickname or an abbreviation of their name. See Abbreviations Found in Genealogy Records for examples of common abbreviations. Note that some women reverted to their maiden name when their husband died, and therefore could be buried under their maiden name.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible candidates which can then be examined for matches.
 * Search the records of nearby parishes. While it was uncommon for an individual in this period to move more than about 20 miles from their place of birth, smaller relocations were not uncommon.
 * Look at the actual image of the record to verify the information found in the online description, if possible.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Collection citation: Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation:

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