Online sources

All visitors to Hampshire County Council’s Libraries and Record Office can use online datasets on Ancestry including the 1921 census and 1939 register for free.

Ancestry's Hampshire sources are:

Place Wills and other probate to 1858 Parish registers to 1921 Bishops' transcripts from C1780 to 1921 Methodist/Wesleyan registers to 1921
Portsmouth Ancestry FindMyPast Ancestry Not available
Southampton Ancestry Not available Ancestry Not available
Hampshire Ancestry Ancestry Ancestry Ancestry
Isle of Wight Ancestry Not available Ancestry Not available

More records are planned to go live on Ancestry. The next group will be Cemetery registers, available at the end of 2025.

How do I get free access?

How can I get a copy of a screen from a public computer? You can:

  • take a photo
  • download images to usb (not available at Record Office)
  • print to a public copier (there is a small charge)
  • Send a copy to your email address

Can I use my own device in libraries and the Record Office and still get free access?

  • No, Ancestry is only available free on public computers

Can I create an Ancestry account and save my own family tree using the public computers?

  • No. This facility is not available on the free version of Ancestry
A graphic depicting the writer Jane Austen

Jane Austen was baptised in Steventon in 1775 and buried in Winchester in 1817.