3.4 million entries added to the National Burial Index for England and Wales

Published online for the first time in partnership with the Family History Federation, the update sees Findmypast provide users with access to the most comprehensive edition of this major transcription project to date. 

National Burial Index for England and Wales

The project of creating the National Burial Index (NBI) began in 1994 with the aim of providing genealogists with improved access to pre-civil registration burials. Until then, researchers had been over-dependent on baptisms and marriages, so the NBI sought to redress this by giving burial records the attention they deserve. 

Version 1 was first published in 2001, containing 5.4 million records. This collection, derived from parish registers, bishop’s transcripts, earlier transcripts or printed registers by local family history society volunteers, continued to grow over time with versions 2 and 3 being published to include new additions. 

What do the records contain?

Findmypast are now providing access to version 4 of this resource. Containing over 16 million records from all corners of England & Wales, the majority of the index covers the period from 1813-1850 but FindMyPast add that it 'does extend significantly in both directions from these dates'.

Each transcript includes: a combination of the deceased’s name, birth year, death year, burial date, burial place, place of worship and denomination. For more information on the exact locations covered, see Findmypast’s parish list.

Vice-chairman of the Family History Federation, Ian Waller, said: 'We are pleased to announce that 3.4 million additional burial records have been added to our National Burial Index at Findmypast. All the data was collated from the burial records of Anglican parishes, nonconformists, Roman Catholics, Quakers and other cemetery records within England and Wales.

'The results of this project, which is still incomplete, is made possible because of the stalwart work of family history societies who are members of the Family History Federation and through our long-standing partnership with Findmypast which also hosts millions of other records provided by our member societies.'

Explore the records at FindMyPast.

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