Devon, Parish Registers Browse

The Devon, parish registers are held in the Devon Archive and Local Studies. Parish registers are handwritten volumes of vital events within the Anglican church: baptisms, marriages, and burials. Parish registers are valuable for taking your family tree further than 1837, the year that civil registration was introduced in England and Wales.

The detail found in each record will depend on the condition of the register and the date of the register. Additional details about our ancestors are primarily found in later registers. Early register books usually only recorded a few key facts such as name, place, and date.

The detail for each life event will vary, but most will include the following:

Baptisms

• Name

• Parent’s names

• Baptism date

• Residence

• Parents’ occupation

• Who performed the ceremony

Marriages

• Name of bride and groom

• Marriage date

• Bride and groom’s age, marital status, occupations, and residence

• Bride and groom’s fathers’ names

• Fathers’ occupations

• Marriage place

• bride and groom’s signatures

• Names of witnesses

Burials

• Burial date

• Name

• Residence

• Age at the time of death

• A number of records also include the name of a spouse, parents, or next of kin

Since registers were introduced in 1528, all events were recorded in one bound volume. In 1812, an act was passed which required each event to be recorded in its own standardised register book. Most of the books you view from after 1812 are printed registers.

Devon, also known as Devonshire, is located in South-West England. It is bordered by Cornwall on the west, Dorset on the east, and Somerset on the northeast, as well as, the English Channel and the Bristol Channel. The county town is Exeter.

Plymouth & West Devon

• If you cannot find the register you are looking for, try searching the Devon, Plymouth & West Devon parish registers browse. A link is provided in the Useful links and resources section. This particular set of registers is from the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office.

• We have also provided a full list of all the places available in this set of registers in the Useful links and resources section.

Non-conformists

• If you know that your ancestor was part of a non-conformist denomination or Roman Catholic, it is still useful to consult the parish registers. After 1754, until civil registration was introduced in 1837, all faiths, except Quakers and Jews, were required to register their baptisms, marriages, and burials in the local Church of England.

Names

• To search for your ancestor by name, search the individual event records found in the Useful links and resources section.