Findmypast Additions: Friday 26 December 2014

United Kingdom
British Army officer Promotions 1800-1815 contains over 24,000 records that list the details of Wellington’s officers who went on to defeat Napoleon in 1815. The promotions range from ensign (for infantry) or cornet (for cavalry) upwards and a range of other positions are also included such as surgeons, assistant-surgeons, adjutants and – for the militias – chaplains.
Each record comprises a transcript of the promotion which was originally announced in The London Gazette. This will usually include the officer’s name, status, their rank, the date of their promotion and its announcement, any additional notes, their replacing vice as well as the original page and issue numbers.

England
South Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum (later known as the Middlewood Hospital) was established in Sheffield at Wadsley Park in 1872. This collection contains over 17,000 hospital admission records that span the years between 1872 and 1910. These fascinating records can reveal not only when a patient was admitted to the asylum, but also the suspected cause of their insanity and whether or not they recovered. Each record consists of a transcript of the original document.
Sheffield Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul burial index contains almost 45,000 records covering the period from 1767 to 1812. Each record contains a transcript of the original document that usually lists the deceased’s name, date of burial, next of kin and occupation.
Yorkshire, Sheffield Quarter Sessions 1880-1912
Established in 1880, the court of Quarter Sessions’ initial function was to hear criminal cases. The court sat every quarter, usually in January, April, July and October and, after each session, a Calendar of Prisoners was published to record the personal details of people tried at the session and their offences. Sheffield & District Family History Society have indexed these records from 1880 to 1912.
Quarter sessions were the middle tier of the court system and dealt with serious non-capital crimes, in other words, those that did not command a death penalty. Each of the 11,896 records is a transcript of original source material that lists details of the offender, any victims, the nature of the crime and the sentence handed down.
Devon Social & Institutional Records
This collection of over 60,000 records has been gathered by the Devon Family History Society from a wide range of local records covering daily life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Gathered from 127 separate sources, the records mainly cover working life but also contain a fascinating collection of criminal and poor law records as well as several early local censuses.
Each record contains a transcript of original document.  The range of material available means that the type and amount of information can differ considerably in each record. Ranging from details of bastardy cases and neighbour disputes to details of military service, mental health, crime and punishment, this eclectic collection can offer unique insights into life in historic Devon.

Scotland
Lanarkshire, the people of New Lanark 1785-1953
Created by Allen E. Laurie and Nicholas Young, this collection was formed using all surviving Lanark church records (baptisms, marriages, communion lists, irregular marriages and cases of fornication), Sheriff Court and High Court records (small debt and minor and major crime) as well as the Lanark prison register. There are 41,577 results.
In 1785 Richard Arkwright, in partnership with David Dale, opened a new cotton mill on the River Clyde in New Lanark and created an industrial village for his workforce. The People of New Lanark 1785-1953 was designed to bring together all the surviving details on the life events of the village’s mill workforce in one place.

Australia
New South Wales Births 1788-1914 is a comprehensive index comprising the birth certificates from two distinct separate sets of records: the NSW Pioneers Index – Pioneer series dating between 1788 and 1889; and the NSW Pioneers Index – Federation Series covering 1889 and 1918. Although New South Wales is the oldest Australian state, it was not the earliest to establish civil registration. Instead, from the colony’s foundation in 1788 until as late as 1856, the only records of births, deaths and marriages in New South Wales were by established churches.

Each of the 2,220,099 records includes a transcript of the original document that will usually include the child’s full name, year of birth, year of registration, religious denomination, registration district, parent’s first name and registration number.
New South Wales Marriages 1788-1945 is a comprehensive index comprising the marriage records from three distinct separate sets of records: the NSW Pioneers Index – Pioneer series dating between 1788 and 1889; the NSW Pioneers Index – Federation Series covering 1889 and 1918; and the NSW Pioneers Index – Between the Wars, spanning 1919 to 1945.

Each of the 2,700,818 results  includes a transcript of the original document that will usually include the individual’s full name, year of marriage, year of registration, district, religious denomination, spouse’s full name and registration number.
New South Wales Deaths 1788-1945 is a comprehensive index comprising the death certificates from three distinct separate sets of records: the NSW Pioneers Index – Pioneer series dating between 1788 and 1889; the NSW Pioneers Index – Federation Series covering 1889 and 1918; and the NSW Pioneers Index – Between the Wars, spanning 1919 to 1945.

Each of the 1,686,926 records includes a transcript of the original document that will usually include the deceased’s full name, birth year, year of death, parent’s first names and registration number.

USA
United States, Revolutionary War Pensions date from the early 19th century when the United States began issuing pensions to military veterans from various early conflicts.  Most pensions are for veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families although pension applications for veterans of the Barbary and Indian can also be found.

There are more than 90,000 records in this collection, each including a transcript along with images of original documents submitted to the government to prove military service. The amount of information contained may vary but most will list the veterans full name, service number, rank, service state and spouse.
Utah marriages 1854-1935 contain over 781,000 records that date back to before the state wide registration of marriages became compulsory in 1887. Each record includes a transcript of the original document that usually lists an individual’s full name, date of birth, marriage date, marriage place, residence, parent’s names, spouse’s full name, age, birthplace and parent’s names.
Arizona deaths & burials 1881-1917 contain over 2,000 records. Arizona first began recording deaths in the state in 1909 and by the early 1920s compliance across the state had been achieved, although there are some significant gaps in the records after 1911.
Each record consists of a transcript of the original document that usually includes the deceased’s first and last name, age, birth year, birth place, date of death, place of death, marital status, parent’s  names and parent’s place of birth.