Brandon, Suffolk Genealogy

Guide to Brandon, Suffolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Brandon (St. Peter) is a market-town and a parish, in the union and district of Thetford, it is partly in the hundred of Grimshoe, in the west division of Norfolk, but mostly in the hundred of Lackford, in the west division of Suffolk; it is 40 miles NW from Ipswich, and 78 miles N N E from London. The town is on the Little Ouse river. The river forms the northern boundary of Suffolk. A line of railway between Brandon and Norwich was opened in July, 1845. Brandon is 5 miles NW of Thetford parish, and has a main post office. There are four dissenting chapels: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Primitive Methodist, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

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If you live in Suffolk you will have access to a variety of resources at local archives and libraries. For those who live further afield, one can access microfilm and online records at Family History Centres. Refer to and  in the FamilySearch Catalogue for available records.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Brandon was a parish which was partly in both counties of Norfolk and Suffolk until 1895 when administrative boundary changes placed it wholly in the county of Suffolk.


 * Thetford 1837-1895
 * Thetford 1895-1935 (county of Suffolk)
 * Newmarket 1935-

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Suffolk ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Suffolk ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Census Records
The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Genealogy From Periodicals
Whitmore, Elizabeth. Family Fortunes - Don't Forget the Wives. Description of the family of William Whitmore, and Dorothy Batterby, and his partner Frances Cook and descendants, including a Family Tree dating from 1661-1970, with surnames Horn, Rutland, Caney, Tuddenham, Miller, Morris and Dixon. The descendants moved from Shouldham, to Feltwell, Brandon Suffolk, and Grimsby Lincs. Article in The Norfolk Ancestor, new series vol. 2, pt. 9, pages 553-555. Family History Library Ref. 942.61 B2j new ser. v2, pt 9.

Poor Law Unions
Thetford Poor Law Union

See also England Norfolk Poor Law Union Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Suffolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain