Kent Genealogical Resources

The purpose of this project is to outline the regional resources available for research in Kent, both geographical/physical and online.

Image Right - The Sessions House or County Hall, Maidstone

Image Geograph © Copyright Jacqui Sadler and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.

See British and Irish Genealogical Reference Centre

Go to Kent Burials

Please add links to any resources you find in the appropriate sections below.

Genuki Kent Page

Cyndi's List

The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex

Kent Gen Web

Resource Centres - Repositories

• Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archives (CCA)

Canterbury Cathedral,
Cathedral House,
11 The Precincts,
Canterbury,
CT1 2EH
email: archives@canterbury-cathedral.org
Tel: +44 (0) 1227 762862 | Fax: +44 (0) 1227 865222

• Kent History Centre (formerly the CKS)

Kent History Services
Kent History and Library Centre
James Whatman Way, Maidstone, ME14 1LQ
email: historyandlibrarycentre@kent.gov.uk
Tel: 0300 041 3131

• Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre

Clock Tower Building, Civic Centre, Strood. Kent (For sat nav use ME2 2AD)
Contact information
Web Site Address: http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/
email: malsc@medway.gov.uk
Tel: 01634 332714

Local Family and Local History Societies

• Ashford Archaeological and Historical Society
• Barming History Society
• Bexley Archaeological Group
• Bexley Historical Society
• Borden Heritage Group
• The Broadstairs Society
• Chatham Dockyard Historical Society
• Farningham & Eynsford Local History Society
• Folkestone & District Family History Society
• Gravesend Historical Society
• Goudhurst & Kilndown Local History Society
• Harrietsham History Society
• Higham Village History Group
• Kent Archaeological Society (English Wikipedia page)
• Kent Family History Society
• Kent History Federation
• North West Kent Family History Society
• Leigh & District Historical Society
• Maidstone Historical Society
• Margate Civic Society
• Margate Historical Society
• Friends of Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre
• Plaxtol Local History Group
• Ramsgate Society
• The City of Rochester Society
• Shoreham & District Historical Society
• Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne
• Sittingbourne Heritage Museum
• Smarden Local History Society
• Snodland Historical Society
• Tonbridge History Society
• Tunbridge Wells Family History Society
• Woolwich & District Family History Society
• Wrotham Historical Society

Online

Research Guides

• Registration Districts in Kent
• Historic map of Kent circa 1895
• GenealogyLinks.net - Kent
• Kent OPC Kent's online parish clerk.
• Kent Genealogy an excellent resource for genealogy in the County of Kent. It includes many indexes and transcripts containing over 90,000 names and over 350 links to other useful sites.
• Towns and Parishes of Kent LINKS LINKS and more LINKS for all places in Kent. Carefully choosen to ensure that each link gives the user free access to historical information and databases.
• Kent Gen Web lots of useful information and links.
• Coastguards on Sheppey
• Kent Photo Archive
• 1841 Kent Census
• Janet and Richard's Genealogy many databases for various records mainly for the Thanet area of Kent (Ramsgate, Margate and some Folkestone)

Historical Documents

• Ancestry.co.uk - Kent £
• Kent BMD
• FreeReg Kent free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial transcriptions of Kent parish registers.
• Kent Archaeological Society Monumental Inscriptions for many parishes, Medieval and Tudor Wills, Lay Subsidy Roll from 1334/5 and much more.
• FamilySearch Kent Historical documents available on the FS site. Including parish registers, wills and much more.
• Kent Hearth Tax by Duncan Harrington.
• Medway Ancestors original images of parish registers covering Rochester Archdeaconry area, extending from Dartford and Gravesend in the west to Rainham in the east and focusing on the Medway Towns.
• Kent Archaeological Society: Kent Records
• BMD's Ashford Kent Index of all known births, marriages and burials c.1570 - late 1800's
• Ashford Wills Abstracts from Ashford, Kent Wills - collected by the late Arthur Ruderman
• City of Canterbury Resources
• Chatham H M Dockyard Church Records Births: 1688-1798, Marriages: Only 3 Deaths: 1730-1806.
• East Kent Bastardy Orders July 1682 - January 1716/7
• Maidstone All Saints Church this index includes 3272 entries from the baptisms, marriages and burials at All Saints Church in Maidstone.
• Maidstone 1832 Electoral Register
• Mid-Kent Marriages Index 1754-1911, includes seven registration districts in the mid Kent area: East Ashford, West Ashford, Cranbrook, Elham, Hollingbourne, Romney Marsh and Tenterden. Also included are marriages celebrated at Maidstone (All Saints) for this period. This is a Free site thanks to David Hills and Gary Samson.
• St Lawrence's Church, Ramsgate Baptisms 1965-66.
• Ramsgate Parish Register Extracts from 1901.
• Romney Marsh Baptisms 1750-1911, baptism records from the 15 parishes within the registered district of Romney Marsh
• Sheerness & the Isle of Sheppey a free collection of historical data and family history records, consisting of thousands of names.
• Queenborough Bethel Independent Baptisms a free listing of baptisms 1797-1836.

History of Kent Communities

Places

... most links include online databases

• Here's History Kent a unique and innovative website containing a vast range of local history materials for the towns and parishes of Kent.
• East Kent History original research and publication of a wide range of material about the local area.
• Historic Canterbury Astonishing range of facts and information about buildings, military, history and people's everyday lives in the past in our city. Plus images of churchyards individual gravestones and Monumental Inscriptions.
• The Chatham Dockyard Oral History Project
• Doddington Village wide range of resources available, from historic Doddington through to modern day.Many databases including court and church records, directories and much more.
• History of Dover
• Faversham History with a past which is eventful and varied, Faversham has always been close to the centre of the national stage, it has kept its own records since the 13th century. This site covers every aspect of its history.
• Leeds Village History
• The History of Marden
• History of Milton Regis includes various links to useful historical information.
• Milton Regis Workhouse Information about the workhouse in Milton Regis including databases of inmates and staff.
• History of Rainham Kent
• Ramsgate History dedicated to collating, discussing and publishing Ramsgate’s history through documents, pictures and your memories.
• Sheppey Website a wonderful resource to learn the amazing history of this little Island. Lots of family names, photos and links.
• The Parish of Staplehurst in County Kent with transcripts of Baptism, Burials and Marriages staring from 1695, transcriptions of the 1841 through to 1901 census, probate indexes, tithe awards and much more.
• Westminster Village Westminster was a village that lay to the west of Minster, and Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. Site includes census' and burials.
• Oystertown -Whitstable this website is a must if you have Whitstable ancestors. Superbly put together about Whitstable and its history.
• Wouldham Village History
• History of Yalding

Military

• Kent Fallen
• The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (QORWKR) Battalion Orders 1914-1916
• The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment Janet and Richard Mason's wonderful site with many databases and personal photo albums of the soliders of the Royal West Kent Regiment.
• The War Memorials of Sittingbourne & Milton
• Dover War Memorial Project
• Kent in WWI
• Kent and Medway in the First World War
• Kent Roll of Honour
• A Nurse's Great War Album The words and images included in this site are taken from an Album kept by an Oxfordshire-born Nurse, Kate Harvey, during the years 1916-1919 when she worked at Gravesend Civil Hospital. Soldiers from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada and Australia recorded their various thoughts, sometimes by way of cartoons, sometimes poems or verses, some just wrote their "thank you". Others drew pictures and some their Regimental Badges. Others just signed the book or maybe recorded their addresses in the 'Roll of Honour'.
• Kent VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachments) History of the Kent VAD which operated throughout the period of the First World War set up and ran over eighty auxiliary military hospitals in houses, church halls and schools, to receive wounded and sick soldiers brought home from the battlefields. Databases included.
• Canterbury at War

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online: free to search, £ to view images

• Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette
• Chatham News
• Dover Express
• East Kent Times
• Faversham Gazette, and Whitstable, Sittingbourne, & Milton Journal
• Faversham Times and Mercury and North-East Kent Journal
• Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
• Gravesend Reporter, North Kent and South Essex Advertiser
• Kent & Sussex Courier
• Kentish Chronicle
• Kentish Gazette
• Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal
• Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser
• Maidstone Telegraph
• Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser
• South Eastern Gazette
• Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
• KM Group Digital Archive South Eastern Gazette 1852-1918
• Kent Archaelogical Society: Archaeologia Cantiana

Historical Resources

...online publications

• The Weald which catalogues the people, places, maps, drawings, engravings, books, writings and numerous lists and directories that are over 70 years old into an integrated database of information about one of the most attractive parts of England - The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex
• The Visitation of the County of Kent, Taken in the Year 1619
• The Visitation of the County of Kent 1663-1668
• The Domesday Book Online - Kent
• The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent
• Kent Historical Directories
• Kent Past Kent Past is a website site like no other, it delves into the history of Kent; enabling the visitor to discover why Kent is the county, it is today. As the pages are explored, you will journey back in time following the evolution of Kent. We travel to a time when Kent was a tribal settlement, then an outpost of the Roman Empire and eventually a Kingdom, before settling as a county in England.

Forums

• Kent History Forum (This forum has become a very popular and powerful resource with many important organisations using it for research. The forum contains thousands of posts covering all aspects of Kent's history. The members have created a friendly and interesting community that is very welcoming and helpful.)
• Rootschat: Kent
• British Genealogy Kent County Forum

Professional Researchers

Please add researchers who you have tried and can recommend.

• Dr. Steve Sidders (founder of Kent Past mentioned above)

Blogs, etc.

• Kent Today & Yesterday

Getting Involved

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