England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

England Warwickshire

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains church records from the Warwickshire, covering the period 1535-1984. Availability of records may vary by year and locality.

A parish register is a record of ordinances performed in the Church of England. Every minister recorded all the baptisms (officially termed “christenings”), marriages, and burials which took place in his parish each year, and bound them into a single, handwritten volume. After 1754, a new law required that marriages be recorded in a separate book, and banns, or proclamations of the intent to marry put forth in the parishes of both the bride and groom, were to be recorded in yet another book. Starting in 1812, pre-printed registers were introduced, and separate registers were then kept for baptisms, marriages, and burials.

Often kept within a county record office or other archive repository, registers are central to English genealogical research as they are often one of the only sources for finding families and individuals in England before the start of civil registration in 1837.

One of the 39 historic counties, Warwickshire is an inland county located in the West Midlands region of England. For a list of all the parishes in this county with links to more information about each of them, see Warwick Parishes.

Collection Content
This collection contains baptismal, banns, marriage, and burial records. Banns and marriage record entries together are the most common in this collection, followed by baptismal records, with burial records constituting the smallest portion. Approximately half the records in this collection are post-1837 entries, whereas less than twenty percent are pre-1753.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The following lists indicate potential information given in each type of record. It must be remembered that every record may not provide all of the listed information.

How Do I Search the Collection?
As you search in a Church of England parish register, it is helpful to know the following information:


 * Where the person lived and the corresponding parish
 * When the person lived; if you do not know the time period, you must estimate it from what you know of more recent generations.

To search the collection image by image select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page: ⇒Select the appropriate "Name of County" ⇒Select the appropriate "Town, Parish/Church" ⇒Select the appropriate "Event Type and Year Range" which will take you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

What Do I Do Next?
Baptism or christening records list the parents’ names, making it possible for you to connect your ancestor to an earlier generation. You may find a birth date listed or be able to approximate a birth date. After 1812, the baptismal records list a place of residence, making it easier to identify your family by where they lived. The records also list the father’s occupation, which makes it easier to identify your ancestor's family when more than one family with the same name lived in the parish.

Marriage records sometimes state the residence for the bride and groom. You can use this information to look for their baptisms and to identify the children of this couple. Marriage records after 1754 list the names of witnesses, who were often family members. These can help you identify your ancestor’s family. Signatures in the records might be used to identify a particular individual by the handwriting style.

After 1812, and sometimes before, burial records include the age of the deceased. Use this age to approximate the person’s birth year and to find the baptismal record. If the deceased is a child, the parents’ names might be given. This information helps to extend your family another generation. The occupation of a deceased male might be given (especially after 1812) and can help identify your ancestor when there is more than one person by that name in the area. Knowing the occupation might also provide you the opportunity to find other records about your ancestor.

If possible, you may want to search both the parish registers and the bishops’ transcripts, since one is a handwritten copy of the other and might contain differences.

Banns indicate the parish of residence of the bride and groom. This information often leads to the records of another parish. You can search for the baptisms of the bride and groom in the parishes of residence since these might also be the parishes where they were born.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: