Sheffield Online
BEST WEBSITES TO AID YOUR RESEARCH
Sheffield Archives is a member of the Yorkshire Digitisation Consortium working with Findmypast on making available Anglican parish registers. As a result Sheffield registers of baptisms to 1913, marriages to 1933 and burials to 1988 can now be accessed via the website. The site also has collections such as South Yorkshire Asylum, Admission Records ( search.findmypast.co.uk/ search-world-records/south-yorkshireasylum-admission-records). Meanwhile the recently added Yorkshire & Derbyshire Methodist Baptisms collections covers the densely populated Sheffield district, compiled by the Sheffield & District FHS ( sheffieldfhs.org.uk).
The Sheffield Archives website ( www. sheffield.gov.uk/archives) also gives details and opening times of the nearby Local Studies Library, based in Sheffield’s Central Library. The highlight here is the research guides to topics such as the miners’ strike, the Temperance Movement, chartism and women’s suffrage. Click ‘Local area history’ and you’ll find an A-Z guide to places across the region. There’s also the cross-archive guide to South Yorkshire at bit.ly/ FHSYorks.
There are various family history society websites covering the area ( sheffieldfhs.org .uk, barnsleyfhs.co.uk, doncasterfhs.co.uk, rotherhamfhs.co.uk), and other specialist repositories include the University of Sheffield Special Collections ( sheffield.ac.uk/library/ special), the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire ( www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/html/ contact-us), Kelham Industrial Museum ( simt. co.uk), the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Museum at Doncaster ( doncaster.gov.uk/ services/culture-leisure-tourism/king-sown-yorkshire-light-infantry-museum) and the York and Lancaster Regimental Museum, Rotherham ( cliftonpark.org.uk/cpm/ homepage/27/york_ and_lancaster_ regimental_museum).
Another useful resource is the long running Sheffield Indexers website ( sheffieldindexers. com), launched by Elaine Pickard and home to free indexes to various local sources including census, cemetery, parish material, directories, school and BMD records. These include databases for the City Road Cemetery back to 1881 and the Abbey Lane Cemetery.