Rolls Series
This is a 255-volume series of documents, translated and transcribed, which are relevant to British history from the time of the Romans to that of Henry VIII. It was commissioned in 1857 and work has now been completed. They should be available in larger libraries and university libraries.
Selden Society volumes
Begun in 1887 and ongoing, these annual volumes cover judicial and legal papers from the late twelfth century to the mid-sixteenth. They are indexed by name and, though originally the text was in Latin only, English translations appear in the later volumes.
Calendars produced by record societies
Most English counties have a record society which produces an annual volume of records relevant to the county’s history. These could be parish registers, lists of militiamen, diaries letters, memoirs, accounts and taxation rolls and are often indexed by name. These have been in production since the nineteenth century and continue to this day. There are other record societies not limited by county, such as the Catholic Record Society, which produce similar volumes of edited records. They can be found on the shelves of TNA’s library and also in county record offices and large libraries for the relevant county record series.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
There are hundreds, if not thousands of books about family history. Some are general guides to the topic and cover many different topics. Some are more specific, and tackle one area of interest in depth. I have tried to include a fair sample of what is available now (I have excluded articles in magazines), but please remember that more titles are appearing every year and information can quickly date. There are also books on genealogy from particular regions of England in the Pen and Sword Books series. There is no need to buy or even read all of these books, but if your ancestor fits into one of the categories below, they may well be worth a look. Many libraries and record offices have a selection of some of these. TNA sells many of these in its shop.
A Bevan, Tracing your Ancestors in the National Archives (2006)
N Barratt, Guide to your Ancestors’ Lives (2010)
I A Baxter, Biographical Sources in the India Office Records (2004)
S Bourne and A H Chicken, Records of the Church of England: A Practical Guide (1988)
G R Breed, My Ancestors were Baptists (1988)
P Chambers, How to Find your Medieval Ancestors (2005)
P Christian, The Genealogists’ Internet (2005)
N Currer-Briggs and R Gambien, Huguenot Ancestry (2001)
C Coredon and A Williams, A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases (2011)
W S Duck, Examples of Handwriting, 1550–1650 (1982)
P Faithfull, Basic Facts about Lunatics (2002)
S Fowler, Army Records for Family Historians (2006)
S Fowler, Using Poor Law Records (2001)
S Fowler, Tracing your Ancestors (2011)
M Gandy, Tracing Catholic Ancestors (2001)
M Gandy, Tracing Nonconformist Ancestors (2001)
J S W Gibson, Quarter Sessions Records for Family Historians (1995)
J S W Gibson and A Dell, Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls (1991)
J S W Gibson and A Dell, Protestation Returns, 1641–1642 and Other Contemporary Listings (1995)
J S W Gibson and E Hampson, Specialist Indexes for Family Historians (2001)
J S W Gibson and C Rogers, Poll Books, 1696–1872 (1994)
J S W Gibson and C Rogers, Coroners’ Records (2000)
E Gooder, Latin for Local Historians (1978).
K Grannum and N Taylor, Wills and Other Probate Records: A Practical Guide (2004)
D T Hawkings, Criminal Ancestors, a Guide (1996)
D Hey, Journeys in Family History (2004)
D Hey, Encyclopedia of Local and Family History (2008)
H Jenkinson, English Court Hand, 2 vols (1915)
J Jurskowski, C Smith and D Crook, Lay Taxes in England and Wales, 1188-1688 (1998)
P Kershaw and M Pearsall, Immigrants and Aliens (2000)
W Leary, My Ancestors were Methodists (1999)
H Marshall, Palaeography for Family and Local Historians (2010)
E H Milligan and M J Thomas, My Ancestors were Quakers (1999)
R Paley, Using Criminal Records (2001)
S A Raymond, Census, 1801–1911: A Guide for the Internet Era (2009)
A Sherman, My Ancestor was a Policeman (2000)
W Spencer, Records of the Militia and Volunteer Forces, 1757–1945 (1997)
S Wade, Tracing your Criminal Ancestors (2009)
C Waters, Family History on the Net, 2011/2012 (2011)
C Webb, Dates and Calendars for the Genealogist (1989)
R Wenzerul, Tracing your Jewish Ancestors? A Guide (2008)
Finally, don’t forget the monthly family history magazines available at most newsagents. These also include adverts of record agents who will, for a fee, undertake research on your behalf. Or you can contact the Association of Geneaologists and Record Agents at 29 Badger’s Close, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 5RU, and include a cheque for a list of the agents on their books. Their website is: http://www.agra.org.uk.
English History
Again, the complete book list would be very large. There are single-volume histories and there are excellent histories of particular time periods and of particular regions, towns or cities, for instance in the History Press series. Many can be found for sale in bookshops or available on the internet.
The Victoria County History series, a series begun in 1898 and still ongoing, aims to provide a detailed local history of every parish in England. The series is particularly recommended for, although incomplete, it provides a great deal of information about social, economic, religious and administrative history, complete with the whereabouts of the sources used. The series can also be seen online: http://www.britishhistory.ac.uk.
An excellent single volume history is K O Morgan (ed.), A Concise History of Britain (1992).
Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837 Page 17
