Derbyshire parish records go online
Millions of records from churches in Derbyshire are now available to view on family history website ancestry.co.uk.
The website has added a searchable database of 2,331,253 parish records from 1538 to 1812, held by Derbyshire Record Office. They are accompanied by digitised images of the original registers.
Ancestry has also added three sets of later Derbyshire parish records: 1,949,884 baptisms (1813–1916), 1,491,634 banns and marriages (1754–1932) and 631,828 deaths and burials (1813–1991).
The records provide details such as your ancestors’ names, dates of birth, marriage and death, the names of their parents, and their professions. Some of them can also be cross-referenced with a map of pre-1832 parish boundaries.
One of the notable people found in the records is industrialist Sir Richard Arkwright. Born in Lancashire in 1732, Arkwright was credited with a number of inventions, including the spinning frame, but it was eventually ruled that he did not have the right to many patents.
However, Arkwright did play a large part in developing the factory system crucial to the Industrial Revolution. In 1771 he built a water mill in the Derbyshire village of Cromford, where he pioneered techniques such as making his labourers work shifts and imposing strict discipline, with workers who arrived late locked out of the factory. He also built cottages for the workers.
Arkwright died in 1792. The Ancestry records show that he was buried at St Giles’ Church, Matlock, on 9 August. He had previously paid to have the church’s north aisle rebuilt.