The Society of Genealogists
Founded in 1911 the Society of Genealogists (SoG) is Britain’s premier family history society. The Society maintains a splendid genealogical library and education centre in Clerkenwell in London.
The Society’s collections are particularly valuable for research before the start of civil registration of births marriages and deaths in 1837 but there is plenty for the beginner too, including the Free Family HIstory Access area where beginners can get a taste of some of the online sources that will help them start their research.
The Society has many unique unpublished manuscript notes and printed and unpublished family histories. Its library contains Britain’s largest collection of parish register copies and many nonconformist registers. Along with registers, the library holds local histories, copies of churchyard gravestone inscriptions, poll books, trade directories, census indexes and a wealth of information about the parishes where our ancestors lived.
Many of the Society’s unique indexes are online including Boyd’s Marriage Index with more than 7 million names, indexes of wills and marriage licences, apprentices and masters (1710-1774), London City Apprenticeships, Boyd’s Inhabitants of London as well as records such as the Bank of England will abstracts, Trinity House petitions and information on Teachers and Civil Servants. SoG Data can be found online with partners British Origins or FindmyPast and the Society of Genealogists has recently launched its own exclusive members data area of its website www.sog.org.uk
The Society of Genealogists holds regular study days, lectures and evening classes along with workshops demonstrating computer programs and databases of use to family historians. A diary of events and booking forms are available from the Society on 020 7553 3290 or on the website www.sog.org.uk.
Membership of the SoG is £45 per year (overseas membership is £27) plus a one-off joining fee of £10.
More details about the Society can be found on its extensive website at www.sog.org.uk
