Hampshire Family History resources | including Winchester, Portsmouth and Southampton
Are you researching ancestors or other individuals who lived or died in the county of Hampshire? This page of our local resources section focuses on where you can locate Hampshire family history records, including Hampshire births, marriages and deaths records and parish records.
Hampshire Family History Records
Hampshire births, marriages and deaths records
Here are some useful births, marriages and deaths pages from the FindmyPast website (subscription required):
Hampshire Marriages – 1754-1837
Hampshire Electoral Register records
Findmypast has also digitised the following electoral register records:
Hampshire, Portsmouth – Electoral Register Roll – 1835-1873
Hampshire newspaper archives
Local newspaper archives can also provide invaluable information for family historians. They can help you find dates or places that are unclear or missing from local parish records, census records or other sources. They can also provide fresh historical material that just would not be found in more conventional family history records.
The British Newspaper Archives(£) is owned by Findmypast and has successfully digitised local newspaper archives spanning over 300 years. Here is their link for Hampshire newspaper archives.
Once you have narrowed down your family history research to a particular county, consider visiting the local family history society or local record office.
Local family history resources
Hampshire Genealogical Society
The Hampshire Genealogical Society is a very active society with a Research Centre and family history groups meeting (at the time of writing) at Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, Fair Oak, Fareham, Fleet & Farnborough, Gosport, New Forest, New Milton & Christchurch, Portsmouth, Ringwood, Romsey and Southampton.
The Hampshire Record Office
The Hampshire Record Office provides historical documents dating back many hundreds of years.
The County of Hampshire
Hampshire is an ancient county on the South coast of England that has been continuously inhabited since the ice age. Its name originated from ‘Hamtun’ (meaning ‘Homestead’) the ancient name for Southampton. The county is referred to as Hantescire in the Domesday book – hence its abbreviated form of ‘Hants’ rather than ‘Hamps’.
The ‘county town’ of Hampshire is the historic city of Winchester which was established by the Romans in AD70 as a capital for the Belgae tribe.
Two of England’s greatest novelists, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, were born in Hampshire. Isambard Brunel, considered one of the world’s greatest ever engineers, was also born in this historic county.
Administration and Education
For administrative purposes, including census reports, the county of Hampshire was often referred to as the ‘County of Southampton’ or ‘Southamptonshire’.
Hampshire’s two largest settlements are the port cities of Southampton and Portsmouth. However, these cities have been administered as separate unitary authorities since 1997. Historically, Hampshire also included the Isle of Wight, which is separated from Hampshire by the river Solent. However, the Isle of Wight became its own administrative county in 1890 and its own a ceremonial county in 1974.
The Hampshire cities of Winchester, Portsmouth and Southampton all contain universities; the University of Winchester, the University of Portsmouth, the University of Southampton, and Solent University (previously, Southampton Solent University).
Contacts with America
In 1620, the Pilgrim fathers set sail for the New World, departing from Southampton in the ‘Mayflower’. Hampshire’s connection with the New World is evident from the names given to the state of New Hampshire, and the two American cities of Portsmouth (in New Hampshire and Virginia).
Places to visit in Hampshire
If your family history research leads you to the county of Hampshire, there is an abundance of places to visit during your search, from historic sites to ancient forests.
Winchester is home to the medieval Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest and finest cathedrals in Europe. This beautiful cathedral is the final resting place of many Kings of England, including King Cnut (or Canute) and William II. It is also where Jane Austen was buried in 1817.
The county of Hampshire is home to the ancient New Forest, established by William the Conquerer as a Royal hunting forest in 1079.
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