Search England & Wales Non-conformist burials 1640 - 1858

Each record contains both an image and a transcript of the original register. The amount of information varies considerably, but you could find out the following about your ancestor:

• Name
• Birth year
• Death year
• Burial date
• Burial place
• Denomination
• Spouse’s name
• Father’s name
• Mother’s name

Non-conformist is a term used to describe denominations which do not follow the teachings of the Church of England. It has been used to describe Roman Catholics, Jews, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, members of the Society of Friends and other denominations. Members of English Protestant denominations, who did not follow the established Anglican Church, have also been known as dissenters or radicals.

Prior to state registration in 1837, most people were baptised, married, and buried in their local Church of England parish regardless of their beliefs. Many non-conformists used their local parish church for registration purposes, despite their differences in belief, even after the Toleration Act of 1689 granted them the freedom to worship. If you do not find your ancestor among these non-conformist records, it may be useful to search your ancestor’s county parish registers. Findmypast has an extensive collection of Church of England parish registers.

Some non-conformists still maintained their own registers, particularly for baptisms and burials in the period between 1689 and 1837, and it is these that you can find here. There are a wide variety of denominations covered in the records. Some existed only briefly and are no longer practiced today. The original records are held at The National Archives in England and are part of their RG4 and RG8 series. There are also records from the Royal Hospital in Chelsea and the Royal Hospital Greenwich, as well as burials in a variety of burial grounds. In part, you will find burial registers from the following places in these records:

• Bunhill Fields Burial Ground in Hackney in London
• British Lying-in Hospital, Holborn
• Bethnal Green Protestant Dissenters Burying Ground
• Chapels Royal at St James’ Palace, Whitehall, and Windsor Castle
• The New Burial Ground, Southwark
• The Necropolis Burial Ground in Everton, Liverpool
• The South London Burial Ground in Walworth
• Victoria Park Cemetery