SWFHS Admitted as an FFHS Member
We are very pleased to announce that SWFHS has had its application to join the Federation of Family History Societies accepted. We 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.
Welcome to South Warwickshire Family History Society [SWFHS]!
It's Our First Anniversary
A year ago, we set out to develop a website dedicated to the Southern part of Warwickshire, where we shared a mutual interest. We did not wish to be involved in a Committee structure, neither were we particularly interested in financial gain; our aim was to contribute to the family history community. Many family historians subscribe to the commercial sites, where there is an abundance of information; many do not. For the latter group, we provide a means by which they can identify 'persons of interest' and then follow them up, via their local library, or through us. We answer every e-mail query, but do ask that you use this form so we can try to ensure you are not a robot. We will then do our best to help you.
During the past year, we have concentrated on providing indices to the Parish Register entries for the core period 1754 – 1916, although we have not restricted ourselves to that time frame. Below, you will see just how many entries we have managed to upload !
For the coming year, our aim is not only to continue with the Parish Register transcriptions, but also to develop our War Memorial investigations. To this end, our webmaster has recently visited several South Warwickshire villages, taken photographs of their churches and War Memorials, and is now using them to illustrate our site. The Towns and Villages section of the website (in progress) should be of particular interest to those unfamiliar with the South Warwickshire area.
If you would be interested in joining our small transcription team, or have any information (documents & photographs of soldier casualties) to supplement our collection, we would be delighted to hear from you… please click here. A few new transcribers have joined us during the past year and their contributions have had a significant effect upon the volume of transcription we have been able to achieve. Financially, we are supporting the site, but if you would like to make a small donation towards the hosting costs, we would be very pleased to accept it.
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.
New BMD Index Records Added - Last Update 15 Jan 2019 at 7.10pm, GMT
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 300th individual Parish database/list of records with the total number of BMD records indexed now standing at 426,700.
Records Added Between December 19th, 2018 and January 15th 2019
Over 6,900 new records were added to the baptism index during the dates above. The new records were added for Stretton on Fosse 1734-1917, Harborough Magna 1730-1813, Loxley 1703-1888, Harbury 1777-1812, Willoughby 1754-1812, Sutton under Brailes 1746-1916, Whitnash 1760-1812 and Temple Balsall 1736-1906 (added Jan 15). The baptism database now holds over 286,700 records.
Around 23,000 new records were added to the burial index during the dates above. New records were added for Eastern Green 1877-1916, Loxley 1703-1915, Priors Hardwick 1662-1736, Radford Semeley 1743-1916, Ryton on Dunsmore 1719-1879, Stretton on Fosse 1734-1916, Sutton under Brailes 1715-1916, Southam 1813-1916, New Bilton 1868-1906, Old Milverton 1813-1870, Wappenbury 1813-1915, Willoughby 1754-1915, Berkswell 1813-1916, Whitchurch 1813-1921, Whitnash 1760-1916, Beaudesert 1776-1915, Wolverton 1813-1915, Wormleighton 1713-1915, Stoke 1765-1916 and Wolston 1813-1927. The burials database now contains over 97,600 records.
Over 2,600 new records were added to the marriage index during the dates above. New record sets were added for Loxley 1704-1916, Sutton under Brailes 1719-1919, Harbury 1754-1916, New Bilton 1816-1916, Beaudesert 1777-1915 and Temple Balsall 1749-1916. The marriages database now contains over 43,800 records.
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 the first such pages
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:
We have recently added new or updated pages for our War Memorial Transcription series per the clickable links below:
Temple Grafton is under construction
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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details.