Welcome to South Warwickshire Family History Society [SWFHS]!
Please see the About Us page in left menu for more about what we offer and do for family history researchers in South Warwickshire and beyond.
On the left hand menu you will find links to the numerous Parish baptismal, marriage and burial indices, along with a Master Database for each series, and the beginnings of our efforts to transcribe all the local War Memorials and build commemorative pages for each man or woman listed on them.
Half a Million Records Now Indexed!
New BMD Index Records Added - Last Update 19 August 2019 at 10.15pm, GMT
Firstly apologies for the hiatus in the uploading of records but life overtook the webmaster's hobbies.
We now have records of one sort or another from 134 different parishes in the South Warwickshire area (see Parish list for more) and we have just built our 400th individual Parish database/list of records with the total number of BMD records indexed now at over half a million.
On Feb 16 2019 we added a table of 2700 Non-conformist baptism records from various churches in the area. The table can be found in the L-R section of the Baptism menu. They were also added to the main database.
On 19 Aug 2019 an error in the Baptisms menu was identified and fixed, Barston was showing as Barford (2). It was always linked to the Barston records.
Records Added Between August 17th and August 19th, 2019.
Baptism Index
Over 36,000 new records have been added for Wolford 1752-1919, Wilmcote 1841-1909, Whatcote 1754-1916, Shotteswell 1754-1917, Radway 1752-1904, Quinton 1704-1916, New Bilton 1868-1915, Longford CofE Mission 1908-1929, Longford St. Thomas updated through 1915, Ilmington 1754-1899, Gaydon 1701-1919, Farnborough 1753-1915, Chesterton 1746-1812, Cherington 1753-1894, Chadshunt 1813-1920, Cubbington 1749-1812, Berkswell 1754-1812, Barford 1753-1844, Alcester 1754-1812, Ansty 1753-1911, Burmington 1737-1924, Barcheston 1753-1919, Arrow 1752-1812, Baginton 1748-1812, Alderminster 1691-1917 and Billesley 1818-1915. The baptism database contains over 350,000 records.
Burial index
New burial records were added for Harbury 1754-1874. The burials database now contains over 165,000 records.
Marriage index
New records to follow over the next few days.
Did you miss our Journal?
Issue 1 released on February 12th.
We issued our first journal/newsletter this week and a link to it can be found below. If you would like it sent to you by email (spam and advert free) please sign up by clicking here or use the form at the bottom of the menu. We promise not to give your email address to anyone else or use it to for any other purpose than to deliver the journal/newsletter once a month.
New WW1 War Memorial Transciption Database Added - Last Updated 4.45pm - 25 Apr 2019.
We have been publishing pages for each war memorial or plaque/tablet that we have transcribed and we have now started to add the transcribed names to a database with the military and family history details (click the last name) of each man and woman found.
Towns and Villages Pages Added 
We have started a new series of pages called Towns & Villages of SWFHS which includes a brief history, links to relevant external information, a photograph gallery and links to SWFHS indices etc. We really do welcome any information and pictures you may wish to share with us on these pages. Below is a clickable list of new additions and the number of pages now stands at 10
Many more to follow.
Interactive Town and Village Location Map Tool Added
We have added a new feature that will eventually allow you to locate each village and town in our area with links to content pages (see example below). Click the link here to view the map and then zoom in by clicking on the number on the UK and then by using the numbers or markers per the image above.
You will then see a page like this, we hope you find it useful:
Warwickshire RO Needs Your Help
Warwickshire Record Office Seeks Volunteers to Index Court Documents.
From the Facebook Press Release - 27/9/2018
Warwickshire Bytes is an exciting new project involving the county's Record Office and Museum Service. It will combine historical documents and objects with digital technology to improve access to our collections and ultimately portray the history of Warwickshire in 100 Stories.
There are lots of ways to take part in the project. The project needs your memories, family heirlooms, photos and letters to bring the stories to life, and if you are comfortable using a keyboard and keen to acquire new skills during your spare time, you could become one of the Record Office's new 'virtual volunteers'!
The volunteers will work from their home computers to index a large collection of witness statements from records of early court cases. We will supply all the documents and full training will be given - all you need is a computer with an internet connection, a Google account and an hour or more to spare each week.
You will gain expertise using spreadsheets and online document sharing, while also getting to grips with 19th century crimes and handwriting. We anticipate that some of the crimes described in the statements may well be candidates for some of the 100 stories of Warwickshire!
If you are keen to take part or have a story to tell, the project team would love to hear from you. Please contact them via email on heritagevolunteers@warwickshire.org.uk for more details.
SWFHS Admitted as a Family History Federation Member
We are very pleased to announce that SWFHS is a member of the Family History Federation and hope that it gives our readers an indication of how serious we are in bringing family history and related information to those whose research includes the South Warwickshire area.