Family history in the Archives

If you have Buckinghamshire ancestry you may need to refer to manuscript sources we hold.  Records are brought from the strong rooms on demand, and usually within 15 minutes.  Staff are on hand to answer queries and to supervise the handling of the documents. 

There are several document series of particular interest to the family historian:

• Quarter Sessions Records start in 1678 and contain thousands of names of Buckinghamshire people appearing as jurors, licensees, and felons.  The Sessions Records are published in seven volumes (with indexes) for the years 1678-1730
• Wills proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Buckingham date from 1483-1858.  These may well list the family and friends of the deceased and describe the houses and land bequeathed.  The index to wills is now available online, please use the link to the left to search for your ancestors
• Marriage Licences dating from 1663-1849 give details of marriages of those under age, of people who did not want the banns read in their own parish, or who wanted to marry in a parish where neither party was resident
• Settlement and Apprenticeship Papers enable you to track the movement of poorer people from parish to parish.  Name indexes are available
• Title Deeds and Manorial Records provide evidence of exactly where individuals lived and the terms and conditions under which they held property.  Deeds often recite earlier transactions and inheritances within a family
• Inclosure Awards.  When open-field parishes were enclosed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, detailed maps were drawn up of the new allotments of land.  The accompanying awards give the names of all landholders in the parish
• Tithe Maps.  Following the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, most parishes were surveyed to establish how much money each property owner should pay to extinguish tithes paid to the church. These maps often give the owner and occupier of individual houses
• Valuation Maps.  A revaluation of property rates was carried out by the Inland Revenue in 1910.  Their valuation maps give the owner and occupier of every house and field highlighted on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps
• Electoral Registers.  Following the 1832 Reform Act, Registers of Electors were maintained which give the elector's name and the nature of the qualification.  The franchise was extended until all residents of voting age were listed from 1918.