For over two decades, FreeBMD has helped millions of people trace their family histories via free access to our transcription of the General Register Office indexes of births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales. The site has become a trusted companion for researchers around the world and we’re proud of that legacy.

However, the way people search for information online has changed. Today’s users expect fast results, a clean and accessible design, and a site that works seamlessly on phones and tablets. We also know that our users value the simplicity and reliability that FreeBMD has always offered.

That’s why we’ve created the new FreeBMD: not just a fresh coat of paint, but a forward-looking website designed for the needs of researchers in 2025 and beyond.

What’s New?

The new FreeBMD brings an improved, more intuitive search experience, alongside a range of new features:

• Smarter searches – Autosuggest for names, counties and districts, ability to search all of England & all of Wales, form fields that adapt depending on the record type, default date ranges, clear “Revise Search” and “New Search” buttons, and sorting options on the results page.
• Better tools CSV, GEDCOM, and TSV downloads, clickable district names, and citation tools, and an improved print layout etc.
• A fresh design Accessible colours and language, mobile- and tablet-friendly, and part of the visual family of our sister sites FreeCEN and FreeREG.

Find out more about what's new.

We’re working to meet the WCAG AA accessibility standard so that the new FreeBMD is usable by everyone, regardless of ability.

Still a Work in Progress

Your feedback is vital to making it the best it can be. The original FreeBMD is still available, and we won’t be retiring it until we’re confident the new site matches — and surpasses — the features you rely on.

We invite you to:

• Explore the new site with fresh eyes
• Try out the new search tools and layouts
• Tell us what works — and what doesn’t

Every comment helps us improve, and every improvement brings us closer to a better FreeBMD for everyone.

New FreeBMD – a step into the future, with respect for the past.

Try the new FreeBMD now and let us know what you think.

At Free UK Genealogy, our tagline is “Human transcription of family history data”. It reflects our belief that accuracy, care, and human judgement are essential when making records freely available to researchers. With FreePRO – our new project to digitise and publish probate indexes from 1854–1943 – we are bringing this ethos into a new domain: printed probate registers.

Probate records are treasure troves of information. They record not just names and dates, but also occupations, addresses, values of estates, and the relationships between the deceased and their executors. The challenge is that these details are locked away in over 800 hefty volumes, covering nearly 7.5 million entries.

Why OCR matters

Unlike parish registers or census forms, probate indexes were printed, not handwritten. This makes them well-suited to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – the process of turning scanned images into machine-readable text. Trials with software such as Tesseract have shown promising results: for some volumes, OCR can correctly identify names and addresses in the vast majority of entries.

But OCR is never perfect. As trustees discussed in our recent meeting, even good OCR output needs checking. Numbers (such as estate values) are especially error-prone, and place names can still be mangled.

Analysis of free text

The probate entries which we are OCR-ing are 'free text', but consistently-structured free text. If it were not so consistent, we couldn't do much more with OCR than replicate the text of each entry. We are developing a whole processing framework which carries out the analysis of each entry, and splits it up into individual items of data. The first step is to identify and separate out the individual entries. Errors which split one entry into two, or join two entries together, are flagged up and fixed. A second, more detailed check is then run on the edited source, looking for potential errors at the level of individual fields. Finally, we will have 'checking indexes' which tabulate alphabetically the values found for each field, clearly showing up inconsistencies at the data level.

The role of human transcribers

This is where our volunteers come in. Rather than typing out every entry from scratch, volunteers will review the OCR output text against the original page image. Their task is to:

• Correct errors introduced by OCR (misread letters, skipped lines, muddled numbers)
• Ensure key details such as names, relationships, and dates are captured correctly
• Enter markers into the source text to cope with unusual cases, such as multi-executor entries or entries split across pages

In other words, OCR provides the first draft – humans ensure the final version is accurate, searchable, and trustworthy.

Why this fits our ethos

This “OCR-assisted transcription” approach saves time while staying true to our principles. It means:

• Efficiency without compromise – OCR gets us started quickly, but accuracy still comes from human care.
• Volunteer expertise is central – just as volunteers in our other projects learn to decipher difficult handwriting, FreePRO volunteers will learn to spot and fix OCR quirks.
• Better data for researchers – the end result will be a richly searchable database, far more flexible than existing probate indexes.

The combination of OCR and human transcription is an innovation for Free UK Genealogy. It is also a way of honouring the trust placed in us: to make records free, accurate, and useful for generations to come.

By blending technology with human judgement, FreePRO will allow family historians to search by names, occupations, executors, and even addresses – opening up stories that have been hidden for over a century.

As Free UK Genealogy embarks on its new FreePRO project, our Digitiser & Admin Support, Helen Bainbridge, shares an article she first wrote for Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse in 2019. Benjamin’s story shows how probate records can help open windows into the lives of our ancestors. With FreePRO, researchers will be able to search by many more details than ever before, making it easier to discover connections, trace family stories, and add real depth to historical research.

Living in the Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse in 1881 with his unmarried mother and three of his four siblings Benjamin Newell, born in 1879, had a traumatic start to life. Not just because he was in the workhouse but because he had undergone a controversial surgical operation. At twelve weeks of age the Board of Guardians, with permission from his mother, wrote to the Poor Law Commissioners requesting permission for the Medical Officer to perform an operation on a hare lip. The Commissioners replied, after much debate, that 'the cure of hare lips, although beneficial to personal appearance is not necessary for the preservation of life'. They also advised that the operation was never quite without risk to life, with a mortality rate of just under five percent. Professional opinion was divided as to the best age to undertake such an operation, with some advising aged 4 or 5 and some early infancy. The Commissioners' reply arrived over two months after the original enquiry was made which meant the Medical Officer had already successfully performed the operation

Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse

Benjamin may not have spent his whole childhood in the workhouse, but he can be found there in 1891 whilst his mother and some other siblings are living in the nearby village of Great Dunham. At the age of fourteen, Benjamin, who would have learnt some shoemaking as part of his education in the workhouse was sent as an apprentice to Mr Abraham Bacon Matthews of Wollaston, Northamptonshire. Mr Matthews had been taking one Mitford and Launditch Union workhouse boy a year since at least from 1891 until 1901, apprenticing them as boot finishers. Benjamin remained single, living in and around Wollaston and Northampton, working as a boot finisher except during the First World War where he served in the 6th Northants Regiment. On the 10th April 1915 at the age of 37, Benjamin Newell joined the Northamptonshire Regiment at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire as a willing volunteer. Benjamin must have remained in contact with his family as his declared next-of-kin on his Short Service Testation was one of his siblings still residing in Norfolk

On 1st July 1916 Benjamin's battalion went ‘over the top’ on the first day of the infamous battle of the Somme. The 6th Northamptonshire regiment suffered the following losses on this first day of the battle as recorded in the official regimental war diary:

On the 14th July 1916 the battalion was involved in an attack on an area known as Trones Wood. During this action Benjamin was shot in the left arm causing his upper arm to be badly broken near the elbow. As a result of his wounds he was sent to the Queen Mary's Military Hospital in Whalley, Lancashire, where he was admitted on the 19th July 1916. It was for his bravery during this action that Benjamin was awarded the Military Medal. In some ways Benjamin was fortunate to be wounded early in the Somme campaign because it led to him missing some of the worst fighting of the entire war.

101 days later on 27th October 1916 he was discharged from the hospital and sent to the depot at Shoreham by Sea on 1st December 1916 for recuperation and physiotherapy. He was declared fit on 2nd April 1917 with the comments:

Benjamin returned to duty in France on 30th April 1917. He fought in the Battle of Passchendale, and the Battle of Amiens. Benjamin's last action of the war was at the Battle of Epyhe, a minor battle that formed part of the allied 100-day offensive aimed at breaching the Hindenburg line. During this action Benjamin was wounded for the second and last time. Benjamin was repatriated to the UK and admitted to the 2nd Western General military hospital in Manchester. He was finally discharged from hospital care on the 6th June 1919.

Although Benjamin was not with his unit when the war finally ended the entry in the regimental diary simply reads: "HOSTILITIES CEASED”.

Benjamin was invalided out of the army with disabilities resulting from gunshot wounds to his left fore-arm and leg in October 1920. With none of his own family alive, Benjamin died aged 74, leaving his effects to his executors, the Boddington family (valued at £682 2s. 2d: the equivalent to £16,278 today) who he lodged with in 1939. The descendants of the Boddington family had no idea that Benjamin had links with their family other than that of being a lodger. For example the 1921 census shows that Benjamin Newell and Frederick Boddington worked for the same boot and shoe manufacturer. If they had been able to find their family name in a search of the probate records they would have been prompted to investigate the relationship more closely. However they had to wait until the researcher contacted them to find out if there were any photographs of an unknown man with a scarred hare-lip.

When: Saturday 4th 1:30pm - Sunday 5th October 1:00pm 2025

Where: ibis Styles Birmingham NEC and Airport (with remote access available)

Every two years, the Free UK Genealogy community comes together to step back from day-to-day work and ask the big questions:

• How can we ensure our transcriptions and data remain high-quality?
• How do we create the most value for family historians, researchers, and the wider public?
• How can we grow – in records, in community, and in impact – while staying true to our principles of free and open data?

In 2023, our Strategy Weekend defined these three pillars – Quality, Value and Growth – as the foundation of our long-term strategy. This year we’ll be building on that framework, turning it into concrete actions for 2025–2030.

The weekend will mix workshops, breakout groups, and whole-community discussions. The full agenda will follow, but themes include:

✨ Projects and Progress

• Updates on FreeBMD2, FreeComETT, and the new FreeProbate project
• Exploring how these developments align with our strategic pillars

🤝 Volunteer Experience

• Building a stronger culture of community
• Improving support, training, and recognition for volunteers
• Expanding opportunities for leadership and contribution

🔍 Quality and Value

• Strengthening transcription accuracy and support tools
• Identifying what makes our data unique and how we can expand its impact
• Open data and accessibility commitments

🚀 Strategy in Action

• Setting clear deliverables and accountability for the next 12–24 months
• Agreeing on how we track progress and share updates across projects

Trustees, staff and Steering Group members will be facilitating sessions, and we warmly welcome volunteers from all projects, whether you’ve just started transcribing or you’ve been involved for years. Remote participation will be available, so geography is no barrier.

Outcomes we’re aiming for

• Clearer priorities for projects and volunteer support
• Practical steps to improve quality assurance and community growth
• A shared roadmap for delivering our QVG strategy
• Stronger connections across our community

Will you join us?

This is your chance to shape the future of Free UK Genealogy. Your voice – whether transcriber, coordinator, trustee or supporter – will help us decide where to focus our efforts in the years ahead.

We can help fund travel expenses and we have some hotel rooms available. Please use this form to let us know if you will be able to join us, so we can get an idea of numbers and plan for the event. If you’re unable to join us for both days, but can make one day or the Saturday evening, that would be great as well.