Genealogy is one of the most rapidly booming hobbies of the 21st century - it is a major user of the Internet - and family historians worldwide are keen to discover details of their ancestors.
The National Burial Index lists millions of
burial entries from Anglican parish, Nonconformist and cemetery registers throughout England and Wales.
The First Edition of the NBI, published by the Federation of Family History Societies in 2001, was a runaway bestseller - but the Second Edition is expected to be even more popular. The number of entries on the CD-ROM database has more than doubled from just over 5 million to over 13 million, with more counties and parishes represented and many more family history societies contributing data.
The NBI, which is an index to millions of burials from 1538 to almost the present day, will be a vital aid their research. The records begin in 1538 because that was the year Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII, ordered that all parishes in England and Wales should keep records of baptisms, marriages and burials.
The entries in the database are the burials of the tragic Brontës - the most celebrated literary family in history - at Haworth, West Yorkshire. These include Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights; Charlotte Nicholls née Brontë, author of Jane Eyre; their dissolute brother, Patrick Branwell Brontë; mother Maria; two elder sisters who died young; and the father, the Rev. Patrick Brontë, who outlived them all to die in 1861. Other famous people on the NBI include King Charles I, executed in 1649, who is recorded as "King Charles Stuart" at New Windsor, Berkshire; Jethro Tull, the celebrated agriculturalist, also buried in Berkshire; and the mother and
siblings of the great explorer, Captain James Cook, who lie at Great Ayton, North Yorkshire.
To be published on five CDs in an attractive presentation package, the Burial Index is to be launched at the 30th Anniversary Conference the Federation of Family History Societies at Loughborough University, from August 26 to 30 2004. It will then go on sale from 1 to family history societies and genealogists throughout the world. The full price for first-time purchasers will be £45 and there will be an upgrade price for purchasers of the First Edition of £25, with discounts for advance orders, family history societies and commercial
sellers (further details of these discounts will be given at a later date).
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