10 Free Ancestry Collections

Here are just some of the datasets that you can search through on Ancestry to help you build your family tree without paying a penny

ADMISSIONS TO BROOKWOOD AND HOLLOWAY MENTAL HOSPITALS, 1867–1900

Record count 11,670

An index to mental-hospital registers held by Surrey History Centre, listing patients’ names, ages and dates of admission.

CORNWALL MILITIA AND SEA FENCIBLES INDEX, 1780–1831

Record count 4,151

Details of local militiamen and naval militia from records at Cornwall Record Office.

ENGLAND AND WALES CRIMINAL REGISTERS, 1791–1892

Record count 1,556,259

An index to records, with some details of sentences, from The National Archives.

FIFE VOTERS LISTS, 1832–1894

Record count 47,875

Eligible voters in Fife, eastern Scotland, courtesy of Fife Library and Archives Service.

IRELAND COURTS MARTIAL FILES, 1916–1922

Record count 1,913

People arrested on suspicion of Irish Nationalist activities after the 1916 Easter Rising.

LIVERPOOL CREW LISTS, 1861–1919

Record count 1,064,441

Details of sailors whose ship’s home port was Liverpool. Age and birthplace often included.

REGISTER OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEE INJURIES AND DEATHS, 1911–1915

Record count 3,915

A web-search collection linked to a database on the website railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk.

SLAVE REGISTERS FROM FORMER BRITISH COLONIAL DEPENDENCIES, 1813–1834

Record count 3,178,595

Registers of those who remained “lawfully enslaved” after the slave trade was abolished.

WARWICKSHIRE OCCUPATIONAL AND QUARTER SESSION RECORDS, 1662–1866

Record count 282,680

A mix of records from the Warwickshire quarter sessions, from jurors’ lists to boat owners.

WEST YORKSHIRE ALEHOUSE LICENCES, 1771–1962

Record count 76,239

A West Yorkshire Archive Service collection listing people licensed to serve alcohol, along with the name of their pub.