‘Getting the most out of 1837online’

Elaine Collins - 20 Sep 2006 - speaking at the BerksFHS Computer Branch, Woodley

1837online.com is a sister company to Title Research, an independent business which has existed for nearly 40 years and provides probate and succession genealogy services to lawyers and corporate and public trustees around the world. As part of its day-to-day work, Title Research used to consult the microfiche version of the birth, marriage and death indexes extensively. Some time ago the business took the decision to computerise these records for internal use. However, it was soon realised that it would be possible to make these records available to other interested parties over the internet - and 1837online was launched in 2003 to do this.

The original method of identifying a reference was to use a browser where you first select a certificate type, then a year range, year, and quarter. At this point you are shown a list of all pages with surnames beginning with a selected letter. The lists show the first and last forenames of each page but there is no guarantee that a particular name is on that page. There is an alternative search facility where you enter names and years to reach the same result. However, unlike FreeBMD, the information on the pages is not indexed and you have to then pay to see the page’s contents.

The initial payment system was to purchase units in multiples of £5. The minimum value is valid for 90 days and further purchases will extend this time. Larger purchases are valid for a longer period and also have a lower unit price. This year an alternative annual subscription was introduced.

The next development was the scanning and indexing of the 1861 census. The search facilities were more extensive than others available at that time. Searches now are by name or address; in the advanced person search the ability to specify another person at the same address can be very useful. It is also possible to search for occupation but the problem here is that the data was not entered in a standard format with many variants on essentially the same occupation.

The 1891 census is now available in the same format and the 1841 and 1871 censuses are available for some Counties. Transcription of these is continuing and it is hoped that they will be completed by the end of this year.

Other records now available are grouped as Military Records; Migration Records; Occupation & Directories; Living Relatives. They include:-

Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-18
National Roll of the Great War 1914-18
Other army lists roll calls 1656-1888
Armed forces births, marriages, deaths1761-1994
Army Roll of Honour 1939-45

Register of passport applications 1851-1903
Various Indian army & civilian records
Clergy List 1896,
Dental Surgeons Directory 1925,
Kelly's Handbook 1901,
Medical Register 1913
Medical Directory For Ireland 1858

The Living Relatives group is charged in a different way, due to the licence from the owners of the data.

The next data set being prepared will be released later this year on Ancestorsonboard.com, a separate but related site. This contains records of 30 million passengers leaving the British Isles from 1960 right back to 1890. You will be able to search for records of individuals or groups of people leaving for destinations including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and USA featuring ports such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York. Passengers include not only immigrants and emigrants, but also businessmen, diplomats and tourists

Finally the site name is due to change soon, reflecting the wider range of information, beyond the original GRO indexes.

updated 13 Sep 2007