The National Burial Index is a collection of 18.4 million burial records transcribed and
indexed from local parish records (Anglican, non-conformist, Quaker,
Roman Catholic and cemetery burial registers throughout England and
Wales. The publishers provide a coverage map, which shows the number of entries included for each county for NBI1, NBI2 and NBI3.
What a boon for genealogists to have access to an index which does
for burials what the International Genealogical Index does for baptisms
and marriages. With the support of most members of the Federation of
Family History Societies, other organisations and individuals, the NBI
is now recognised as an essential finding-aid.
The project began in the Spring 1996, with over 5 million records
and with attention focused at first on the 1813-1837 parish register
records but those from all periods are now included.
This third edition of the National Burial Index presents the following information – if given in the original source:
- Name/s of deceased (forename and surname)
- date of burial (from 1538 to present day)
- age
- parish (details of where the event was recorded)
- county (pre-1832 county)
- attribution code (the recording group, society or individual)
- and whether or not the records have been checked and corrected
The amount of detail in the Index is purposefully limited, so that
the searcher is encouraged to approach the Society or individual who
transcribed the records to obtain further information or can refer back
to the original parish record. Please note no monumental inscriptions,
or details of death registrations are included.
The NBI has always been a great resource for those researching
burial records in England and Wales, and with the increase of around an
extra 6 million records since the 2nd edition, how can that not be useful?
If you were wanting to upgrade your NBI2 to NBI3, you can do so, but you will need to send disk 1 of you NBI2 back to the publishers in England together with your payment, and they will then send you NBI2. More details can be found on their website.
Please note: Societies, Libraries, and other Public Organisations wishing to purchase a copy need to buy it direct from the Federation of Family History Societies. You can contact them at info@ffhs.org.uk.
