Peruse parish records, new 1939 Register entries and more...

2-3 minute read

By Daisy Goddard | December 15, 2023

This Findmypast Friday, there are over 200,000 new additions for you to discover.

We've released over 20,000 more Kent parish records this Findmypast Friday and opened almost 200,000 additional 1939 Register records from across England and Wales. Plus, a brand new newspaper title has arrived on the site.

Kent parish records

Do you have ancestors from the Garden of England? We've added over 20,000 Kent parish records from Canterbury Cathedral this week. These additions, spanning over 200 years, may help you spot a familiar name or two in the three updated Kent parish sets.

Baptisms

This week's biggest parish addition comes to our Kent Baptisms. We've added 12,245 new records, dating from 1842 to 1934.

An old photo of people in front of Canterbury Cathedral

A couple with Canterbury Cathedral in the background, August 1947. View in the Findmypast Photo Collection.

Featuring both transcriptions and images, if your family has Canterbury connections, these baptisms can reveal milestone details about their lives.

Marriages and Banns

We've also added over 8,000 new marriage and banns records for Kent this week, perfect for tracing the union of two branches in your family tree. These latest additions span from 1852 to 1939.

Burials

Finally, we've released over 500 Canterbury Cathedral burial transcriptions and images covering 1955-1967. Burial records often contain essential information on your ancestors' lives including age, residence and occupation.

1939 Register

As the official online home of the 1939 Register, Findmypast is the place to go for the most complete set of records from this important collection. We've just opened a further 187,771 previously-redacted records making it easier than ever for you to find your relatives on the eve of war.

Taken in September 1939, the Register provides a fascinating snapshot of a nation on the brink of war. It's also extremely useful for your family research, providing details like full date of birth, address and occupation for every person that was recorded.

Historical newspapers

We've added a brand new newspaper this week. Toby - the 'watchdog of East London' - gives an eye-opening insight into London's police force in the late 19th century. Our coverage for this paper currently runs from 1886 to 1889.

Toby, 18 September 1886. View this page in full.

Alongside a brand new title, we've also updated eight others with additional pages, including:

Aberdeen Press and Journal from 1753-1757, 1768-1772, 1783-1797 and 1885
Atherstone News and Herald from 1993-1995 and 1999
Crowthorne Times from 1984-1986
Dundee Evening Telegraph from 1986, 1988, 1991
Gloucestershire Echo from 1993
Lennox Herald from 1998
Londonderry Sentinel from 1960 and 1963-1965
Sutton & Epsom Advertiser from 1929-1931, 1933-1942, 1945-1953, 1955-1958 and 1960

Visit our newspaper archives and filter by title and year to focus on any of the newly-published pages.

With releases every week, new records and papers come thick and fast at Findmypast. Take a look at what you may have missed in last week's tranche.

Have you made a surprising family history discovery? Whatever you've uncovered about your past, we'd love to hear about it. You can now get in touch and tell us using this handy form.