London Metropolitan Archives

LMA Digitisation Programme

The collections at LMA and Guildhall Library have received designation from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as being of national and international significance as the History of London Collection. The collections tell the story of London and Londoners from 1067 to 2006 and comprises material filling some 101km of shelving over the two sites. Amongst these are substantial and highly significant collections of archives and related material which are key sources for genealogists across the world. For example:

• Over 10,000 parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials dating from the 1530s to the twentieth century for over 1000 Church of England parishes in Greater London
• Approximately 80,000 wills from Church of England dioceses dating from the medieval period
• Over 9,000 records (which relate directly to named individuals) from Boards of Guardians from the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries
• Approximately 7,000 poll books and electoral registers for Greater London in the modern period (one of the most complete set in existence)
• Approximately 2,000 admission and discharge registers for London schools in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

These collections, and other key genealogical sources, are currently available on site at LMA and Guildhall Library. The Libraries, Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery Department now wishes to make them available online via a chargeable web based service which is setup, hosted and maintained by an external service provider with demonstrable experience in this field. A royalty will be paid back to the City for reinvestment in the care and preservation of the collections. This new service would sit alongside existing on-site services which the City will continue to provide.

The City of London is currently working on a digitisation tender with those companies who have expressed an interest in this project.

Building works and closure: "On-line reader registration, to coincide with our new cataloguing system, will be introduced for readers wishing to consult material at LMA. This will enable readers to place advance document orders remotely. We will therefore be shut from 4.45pm on Friday 2 November 2007 until 9.30am Monday 21 January 2008. When we re-open we will have more space for you to do your research including a new computer area to provide greater online access to digital sources."

London Generations is a database compiled from genealogical sources held at London Metropolitan Archives. It can, for example, tell you which parish registers we hold for Saint James Clerkenwell, which workhouse registers we hold for the Kensington area and how many admission and discharge registers we hold for Shelburne Road School.

The registers date from the sixteenth century to the present day, so you could find registers which mention several of your own London Generations.

London Generations includes Anglican Parish Registers of Baptism, Marriage and Burial, Anglican Parish Poor Law Registers, Registers of Kensington, Chelsea. Shoreditch and Hackney Boards of Guardians, Bishops Transcripts of Parish Registers and Other Sources, London County Council School Registers and Electoral Registers for the Counties of London and Middlesex.

For details of the records available at LMA, click here to view the database and for details of our online research service.

What records are held at LMA?

The major genealogical sources we hold, including Anglican parish registers, are listed in the London Generations database. More and more of LMA's lists are now also available online. For more details please contact the enquiry team.

A growing number of our holdings are listed on the Access to Archives (A2A) website. These collections include hospitals, papers of families and individuals and London government (including County Councils and other London-wide elected bodies).

Family history sources which are not held at LMA

LMA does not hold any census data, (either on microfiche or online) or civil registration records of births, marriages and deaths.

For information on the census and civil registration, visit the Family Records website. This is your first step when tracing your UK family tree.

Contact LMA

London Metropolitan Archives
40 Northampton Road
London EC1R 0HB
Tel 020 7332 3820
Fax 020 7833 9136