Along with all the excitement and busyness of last weekend’s Who Do You Think You Are Live event in London, came the launch of the third edition of the long awaited National Burial Index for England and Wales. I expect to have a few photos that Alan took at the event soon, but that’s a post for another day.

The National Burial Index is a collection of 18.4 million burial records transcribed and indexed from local parish records (Anglican, non-conformist, Quaker, Roman Catholic and cemetery burial registers throughout England and Wales. The publishers provide a coverage map. It is not yet updated for the 3rd edition, but is expected to be so soon.

What a boon for genealogists to have access to an index which does for burials what the International Genealogical Index does for baptisms and marriages. With the support of most members of the Federation of Family History Societies, other organisations and individuals, the NBI is now recognised as an essential finding-aid.

The project began in the Spring 1996, with over 5 million records and with attention focused at first on the 1813-1837 parish register records but those from all periods are now included.

This third edition of the National Burial Index presents the following information – if given in the original source:

  • Name/s of deceased (forename and surname)
  • date of burial (from 1838 to present day)
  • age
  • parish (details of where the event was recorded)
  • county (pre-1832 county)
  • attribution code (the recording group, society or individual)
  • and whether or not the records have been checked and corrected

The amount of detail in the Index is purposefully limited, so that the searcher is encouraged to approach the Society or individual who transcribed the records to obtain further information or can refer back to the original parish record. Please note no monumental inscriptions, or details of death registrations are included.

The NBI has always been a great resource for those researching burial records in England and Wales, and with the increase of around an extra 6 million records how can that not be useful.

We have these on order already and expect our first supplies to arrive during the 3rd week of March. The price is $69.50, and you can find more information about it on our website.