Staffordshire

GENUKI Contents

Staffordshire Church Records - Location, Guides & Indexes

• The majority of parish registers for the county are deposited at Staffordshire Record Office, although some may be found in the smaller archive repositories in the county or in adjacent county record offices where boundaries have changed. The main repository for Bishop's Transcripts is Lichfield Record Office.
  Nonconformist registers for the county are deposited in many repositories including the National Archives, Staffordshire Record Office and the other archive departments in the county.

• Many parish registers for the county have been transcribed and published, originally by the Staffordshire Parish Register Society (SPRS), and more recently by the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (BMSGH), in conjunction with the SPRS. The BMSGH have also undertaken a program of reprinting the earlier SPRS volumes which is ongoing.

• Detailed information on deposited registers and transcripts may be found on the individual parish pages.

• The Society of Genealogists ' National Index of Parish Registers. Volume 6, Part 1 Staffordshire', compiled by Peter Bloore (1992) 100 p. [ISBN 0 946789 29 0] is "A Guide to Anglican, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist registers, together with information on Bishop's Transcripts, modern copies and Marriage licences." This is the most detailed of the available guides and includes date coverage and location of registers, copies, transcripts and indexes and IGI coverage. Due to the date of compilation, some details are now out of date with regard to recently deposited registers etc.

• The Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Services ' Guide to Sources, No 1. Parish Registers and Bishops Transcripts', (1999) 81 p. [ISBN 0 946602 24 7] has the latest details on the holdings of Anglican Parish registers at Staffordshire Record Office and Bishops Transcripts at Lichfield Record Office.

• The Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Services ' Nonconformist Registers', (1996) contains details on the Nonconformist Registers deposited at Staffordshire Record Office.

• Nonconformist registers held by the National Archives are available on microfilm at the Family Records Centre in London

• 'Catholic Missions & Registers 1700-1880. Volume 2, The Midlands and East Anglia', compiled by Michael Gandy (1993) 78 p. [ISBN 0 9520535 2 7] gives details of Staffordshire Catholic mission registers (and 16 other counties) and includes date coverage and location of registers.

• Microfilm copies of many registers are in the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are listed on-line in the FamilySearch Family History Library Catalog which is also available from their Distribution Centres for purchase as a CDROM. Microfilms can be ordered for viewing at any Family History Centre of the LDS Church world-wide.

• The Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (BMSGH) have compiled the Staffordshire Marriage Index & Staffordshire Burial Index which are complete for all surviving registers in the county up to 1837. Details of search procedures (fee payable) can be found on the BMSGH pages.

• The National Burial Index (NBI) has been published on CDROM by the Federation of Family History Societies. The Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry has contributed indexes for the three counties that it covers (Warwickshire, Worcestershire & Staffordshire). However, while there are over 450,000 records for Worcestershire and Warwickshire in the first edition of the NBI, the majority of Staffordshire records were not available at the time of publication. There are 17,967 Staffordshire records in the first edition mainly relating to four parishes.

  The second edition of the NBI has now been published and includes 791,000 records for Staffordshire. An index of parish coverage will appear here in due course.

  • An index to Staffordshire parish registers contained in the National Burial Index (NBI)

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has two major sets of indexes of registers:
  • The International Genealogical Index (IGI) covers many Staffordshire marriage and baptism registers. It is available free on-line within FamilySearch, is available on CDROM at Family History Centers of the LDS Church and other libraries, and earlier versions are available on microfiche. Hugh Wallis provides a list of Batch Numbers and Parishes in the IGI .

  • The British Vital Records Index (2nd Edition) (VRI) includes baptisms and marriages for 108 registers in Staffordshire. It is available for purchase as a set of 16 inexpensive CDs covering the British Isles, from Distribution Centers of the LDS Church (contact a Family History Center to find the one nearest to you) or order at the FamilySearch on-line distribution center (choose order/dowload products, search for 50028000 or Vital Records Index)

  • An index to Staffordshire parish registers contained in the British Vital Records Index (2nd Edition) (VRI)

  • For reference an index to Staffordshire parish registers contained in the British VRI (1st Edition)
    Note: all records in the 1st edition should be included in the 2nd edition.

• Ted Wildy's UK Marriage witness index has some entries for Staffordshire [ftp].

• Parish register copies (Staffordshire) in the library of the Society of Genealogists.

• The Diocese of Lichfield Online Directory is a searchable web site that allows users to find the name, address, phone number, e-mail and church of any of the present day clergy and lay ministers.

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