FreeCENI’m sure many of you researching your English, Scottish and Welsh ancestors have made use of the FreeCEN, FreeBMD and FreeREG websites over the years.

FreeCEN was first launched in 1998, and now the team behind it are excited to announce the arrival of their new website … FreeCEN2.

For those who are unfamiliar with FreeCEN (and FreeCEN2), it is a free-to-use website that allows you to search the 19th century (1841 to 1891) UK censuses. Transcribed entirely by volunteers, they have more than 32 million individuals available online that anyone can search without having to create an account. The new ‘FreeCEN2’ website (https://freecen2.freecen.org.uk) launched on 31 July 2017, includes all records that  were on the previous FreeCEN website, but with a fresh new look and feel in-line with FreeREG.

The team behind FreeCEN have said the following …

“We believe that family history records should be free to access for everyone; our new website will offer more features for researchers, and make it easier for them to find what they’re looking for. FreeCEN2 also brings with it a host of improvements for existing and future volunteers, such as a members sign-in area and brand new messaging system. FreeCEN, FreeREG and FreeBMD are projects by Free UK Genealogy, a registered charity that promotes free access to historical records. FreeREG underwent this process in 2015, and FreeBMD is due to begin its renewal later this year.”

Brenda Bowers, FreeCEN project leader went on,

“The new website is a work-in-progress and we want genealogists and family history researchers to try it out and let us know what they think. If we know what works for them, what doesn’t, and what features they’d like to see, we can make FreeCEN2 the best resource for free census records. It could even encourage new volunteers to join us!”

To try out FreeCEN2, head on over to https://freecen2.freecen.org.uk and be sure to share your feedback with them to help make it the best it can be.

FreeCEN FreeREG FreeBMD