What does London Generations contain?
London Generations is a database of our major family history sources and currently includes the following types of records: Anglican parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for around 800 parishes within the former counties of London and Middlesex; Bishops transcripts of parish registers; Anglican parish Poor Law registers; non-conformist baptism & marriage registers; land tax assessments; admission and creed registers for workhouses run by Boards of Guardians; London County Council School admission & discharge registers and electoral registers for the counties of London and Middlesex.
It does not contain individual names of Londoners. Therefore a search phrase such as ‘Richard Thomas’ will not produce results. Don’t forget that LMA holds many more archives than are listed in this database, so contact the enquiry team if you can’t find what you want – we might have it.
How to get the most from the database – hints and tips:
What Borough should I choose?
To begin your search of the database, select a London Borough from the drop-down menu below. If you do not know the Borough but know the area, e.g. Finchley, use the Guide to Areas in Greater London Boroughs and you will find what borough Finchley is in.
If you want to search the whole of Greater London, you can select [All] but this is not recommended. ALWAYS TRY TO BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE BY USING THE GUIDE TO AREAS.
Should I use dates?
Yes! Enter dates to limit your search to a particular period (in the format 31/12/1899 or 1899). You may leave these fields blank, but doing so will obviously mean that you get many more search results.
What Search phrase should I use?
When entering a search phrase, the golden rule is KEEP IT SIMPLE. The database needs to match the search phrase exactly so long entries are not recommended e.g. don’t search for Saint John Finchley, search for Saint John and make sure you have selected the correct borough for Finchley.
Use word stems if you are unsure e.g. use elector rather than ‘electors’ or ‘electoral’. Saint is always spelt in full i.e. do not use ‘St’.
Use workhouse or baptism or school rather than ‘register’.
The first ten results of your search will be displayed on screen. To view a further ten, use the navigation numbers at the bottom of the results page. Try refining your search criteria if you are unhappy with the results.
Please note: items marked with an asterisk (*) are required.