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  5. Looking for a family member? Tips on searching

Looking for a family member? Tips on searching

Options for searching the index

  • Basic search from the home page using key words
  • Advanced search if you have more details
  • Browse

If you only have a name:

  • Try searching for the surname and/or forename using the basic search box on the home page
  • If you don't find what you're looking for, try browsing by the first letter of the surname

It is common for there to be variants in the spelling of names in the registers. A Boolean search will allow you to combine different variations of a name in one search, using AND, OR and NOT.

As an example:

  • Open the View Advanced button next to the search box, to use the advanced search function
  • Type smith OR smyth into the 'Name' field and search
  • This will bring up any results which have 'smith' or 'smyth' in the name field of the registers
  • You can do this type of searching in any of the search fields in the Index.

Our Searching Special Collections page has more detailed help on Boolean searching. You can use this type of searching for any field in the registers.

If you have more details:

  • Open the View Advanced button next to the search box to use an advanced search
  • You can search for a term within a specific field, and search using multiple fields at the same time
  • Here you can select date ranges for the age of the person, or the burial date

Refining your results

Once you have searched and found some results, you can refine these further:

  • Change the order of your results by choosing from the Order by drop-down menu. This includes ordering alphabetically by surname, or chronologically by date of burial
  • There are four options for refining your results further on the left side of the results page:
    1. By age at death range
    2. By cause of death
    3. By occupation
    4. By burial date range
  • You can refine results by searching on additional fields, or setting date ranges, in the advanced search

Using your results

Once you've conducted a search and found the entry you're looking for, selecting the more details link will take you through to the full entry details.

Here you will be able to view an image of the original burial register page the entry is from, to see additional information.

It is sometimes the case that multiple family members were buried in the same plot. When you are viewing the full details of an entry, you can select the highlighted plot number which will take you to a list of results for people buried in the same plot. Alternatively, you can use the main search box or the advanced search field to search for a specific plot number.

Separately to the Index, a digital copy of a plot map of the cemetery site available to view on the catalogue.

See the About the data page for more information about the index and the data it contains.