The Society of Genealogists (SoG) in partnership with Findmypast.com
The Society of Genealogists is an educational charity the purpose of which is to “promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge of genealogy". The Society’s premises in Central London house the largest family history research library in the UK. The Society of Genealogists’ Library is open to members and paying non-members.
Holdings include:
- Unique research collections
- Document Collection of manuscript family history research notes
- Thousands of compiled family histories and biographies
- Thousands of parish records
- Boyd's Marriage Index covering some 2,600 parish registers with nearly seven million names
- Nonconformist registers
- Memorial inscriptions
- Local histories, poll books and directories
- Sources for apprenticeships, trades, professions and occupations
- Published emigration records for the British overseas
Find more info on the Library, including opening hours and a link to the online catalogue.
Reduced SoG membership rates for findmypast.com users
Find details of the membership about joining the Society of Genealogists (SoG).
The Society has very kindly arranged a discount for members of findmypast who wish to join as new Society members. As long as you write “Findmypast member discount” on your application form along with the username or email address you use to log in to findmypast, they will waive the joining fee – a discount of £10.
19th and 20th Century records online
The Society of Genealogists has partnered with Find My Past to publish two of its unique record sets available online. Both relate to important institutions of the 19th and 20th century: the UK Civil Service and the Great Western Railway.
The Civil Service “Evidence of Age” records
The Civil Service “Evidence of Age” records relate to approximately 60,000 individuals who were required to provide proof of their date of birth to the Civil Service when either taking an entrance examination or seeking a pension.
Many of the people included do not appear in the England and Wales birth indexes, either because of the birth not being registered or having taken place in Ireland, Scotland or overseas.
Read more about the Civil Service “Evidence of Age” records.
Great Western Railways shareholders index
The Great Western Railways shareholders index largely records the deaths of shareholders and the transfer of their stock, but it also contains entries relating to marriages, changes of name and power of attorney. Please note that it is not an index of staff on the Great Western Railway.
The index is a valuable source of information, giving names and dates of people and events related to the shareholder in question, as well as addresses where known.
Read more about the Great Western Railways shareholders index.
Ordering copies of documents
The Society of Genealogists provides a research service and upon request will produce copies of the original documents held in these collections.
Certain details of document ordering will be specific to each individual collection and will be explained on the relevant search and results pages. In general terms, however, once you have found in an index a person who interests you, Find My Past will send an e-mail to the Society upon your behalf with the relevant details.
The Society will then locate the original documents and contact you with details of what is available and the copy options (either paper copies by mail, and/or digital copies by e-mail or on CD).
It will also confirm the cost of its research and copy service for that collection. If you wish to proceed, you can then order the copy documents from the Society, which will fulfil your request within 28 days (in fact, in normal circumstance, within one week of the order being confirmed).
