Burial and Death Records in the UK

A burial record is a any type of record or certificate that states the date and place an individual was buried.

A death record is a certificate that states the date and place an individual died.

These records are an invaluable resource in reseraching your family history. You may want to know:

• If an ancestor was alive in a certain period
• How they died (perhaps there is a family history of illness?)
• Where they were buried
• Their date and place of birth (have they lived in one place all their life?)

Before 1837, Burial records can be found in Parish Registers, as the official records of deaths do not go back further than 1837. For records after 1837, Death records can be found in BMD Indexes, and these are fully searchable on BMDindex.co.uk.

If you need to know more about how to find these records, we have included three case studies for you to look at, which include an example of a death record in each:

• Emily Brontë, author of the classic novel Wuthering Heights;
• Gustav Holst, a composer most famous for his suite The Planets;
• James Whistler, an American artist who believed art should be about the harmony of colours, not the portrayal of the natural world.

We have also provided some links to other website with related information that could be useful to you, including resources for your research.

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