Findmypast Weekly Update

This week, Findmypast has added three  groups of records:

1. UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors (2025 update)

   1,081,193 new records added. These modern entries cover all UK regions and include:

   • Name and address
   • Electoral roll details (occupancy and household members)
   • An “age guide” (broad age range)
   • An indicator of whether the person is listed as a company director

   This dataset is provided via 192.com, which compiles registers going back to 2002.

2. Cheshire Diocese of Chester Parish Registers

   These additions significantly expand coverage for Cheshire Church of England records:

   • Baptisms (1538–1925): 272,555 records
   • Marriages (1538–1935): 211,575 records
   • Burials (1538–1990): 215,879 records

   All come with both images and transcripts. In addition to the historic county of Cheshire, there’s some overlap with parts of Halton and Warrington.

   3. Newspapers

   182,850 pages added to the newspaper collection this week, with six new titles and fourteen updates.

   Norfolk researchers rejoice over the following overdue additions:

   • Norwich Argus (new title):
     Years covered: 1893–1895, 1898–1913
     Covers late Victorian and Edwardian Norwich—excellent for local news, trade notices, and social coverage.

   • Norwich Mercury (updated):
     Year covered: 1827
     Adds rare early 19th-century content for the city and surrounding area—valuable for pre-census research and insight into local affairs.

   • Yarmouth Independent (updated):
     Years covered: 1874
     Adds more from this coastal Norfolk town—shipping, fishing, and tourism stories often feature.

   • Yarmouth Mercury (updated):
     Years covered: 1890–1892, 1897, 1899
     Broadens coverage for late 19th-century Great Yarmouth. Look here for obituaries, court reports, and maritime coverage.

     Longer newspaper runs, newly available or expanded

     • Highland News (Inverness): 1963–1977, 1979–1985, 1987–1990 — a strong run ideal for Highland ancestors or local history

     • Stockport Chronicle: 1891–1892, 1894–1896, 1898–1906 — useful for Greater Manchester/Cheshire border research

     • Bolton Daily Chronicle: 1884–1895 — wide-ranging news from Lancashire.

     • Oxford Journal: 1921–1928 — local coverage from the interwar years

     • Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal: 1768–1788, 1791–1793 — rare 18th-century material for east Kent

     • Midland Reporter and Westmeath Nationalist: 1897–1910, 1916, 1920–1927, 1937–1939.

     • Newry Telegraph: 1923, 1926, 1929, 1945–1949 — Northern Ireland coverage before and after WWII

     • Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser: 1908, 1920–1925, 1940–1949 — extended coverage for east Lincolnshire