Society of Genealogists

Last updated

Society of Genealogists
AbbreviationSoG
Formation1911
Headquarters40 Wharf Road, Islington, London
Membership6,654 [1]
Website www.sog.org.uk
Before moving to north London, the SoG owned & operated from this building at 37 Harrington Gardens, near Gloucester Road tube station SW7. SOG Harrington Gardens.jpg
Before moving to north London, the SoG owned & operated from this building at 37 Harrington Gardens, near Gloucester Road tube station SW7.

The Society of Genealogists (SoG) is a UK-based educational charity, founded in 1911 [2] to "promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge of genealogy". [3] The Society's Library is the largest specialist genealogical library outside North America. [2] Membership is open to any adult who agrees to abide by the Society's rules and who pays the annual subscription. At the end of 2023, it had 6,654 members. [1]

Contents

History

Until it purchased 37 Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, in 1954, the Society was based in Malet Place, Bloomsbury, London. The constant growth of the library and increasingly cramped building forced the Society to also sell this headquarters and move both to 14 Charterhouse Buildings (constructed in 1968 for storing rolls of silk), in Clerkenwell, London, in July 1984. [4]

After Charterhouse Buildings was sold in 2020, [5] in December 2023, after a period in temporary accommodation, the Society opened new premises in Islington, just off the City Road. [6]

Facilities

The Society possesses the largest family history research library in the United Kingdom, accessible to all members without charge and available to be used by the general public on payment of a fee. Society holdings include thousands of parish register and nonconformist register copies on microfilm or microfiche or in manuscript, typescript or published form, along with tombstone inscriptions, will, marriage licence and census transcripts and indexes, trade and residential directories and poll books (lists of voters), family histories, biographical dictionaries, works on apprentices and occupations, the armed forces, school and university registers and histories, genealogical journals and many other related works. The library catalogue is available on the Society's web site.

In 2000, the Society made a number of its genealogical datasets available online on the commercial service British Origins, with some free access for Society members. This material is now hosted commercially by Findmypast with a separate free service to members run by the Society itself on its own web site using the Frontis Archive Publishing System.

Activities

The previous home of the Society of Genealogists in Charterhouse Buildings off Goswell Road, London Society of Genealogists.jpg
The previous home of the Society of Genealogists in Charterhouse Buildings off Goswell Road, London

The emphasis is on British, British Empire and Commonwealth sources, but the Society has some sources for most parts of the world.

The Society's Internet suite offers free access to major genealogical websites including Ancestry and Findmypast.

The society runs a programme of lectures, visits, and courses every year, and publishes textbooks, indexes, and a quarterly journal, Genealogists' Magazine. The latter is currently edited by Michael Gandy.

Prince Michael of Kent Award

The society's patron is Prince Michael of Kent, after whom the Society has named a prestigious award (created in 2000), granted periodically to a person or organisation which has made an outstanding contribution to genealogy.

Recipients

YearRecipient
2000 Family Records Centre [7]
2004 ABM Publishing Ltd [8]
2006 Genealogical Society of Utah [9]
2007 FreeBMD [10]
2011Alex Graham, CEO Wall to Wall [11]
2018Cyndi Ingle, of Cyndi's List [12]

Years not listed means no one was awarded. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genealogy</span> Study of individual descent and bloodline

Genealogy is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The field of family history is broader than genealogy, and covers not just lineage but also family and community history and biography.

<i>The Gentlemans Magazine</i> London periodical

The Gentleman's Magazine was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term magazine for a periodical. Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman's Magazine.

A family history society or genealogical society is a society, often charitable or not-for-profit, that allows member genealogists and family historians to profit from shared knowledge. Large societies often own libraries, sponsor research seminars and foreign trips, and publish journals. Some societies concentrate on a specific niche, such as the family history of a particular geographical area, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. Lineage societies are societies that limit their membership to descendants of a particular person or group of people of historical importance.

FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the church's Family History Department (FHD). The Family History Department was originally established in 1894, as the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU); it is the largest genealogy organization in the world.

Gary Mokotoff (born April 26, 1937) is an author, lecturer, and Jewish genealogy researcher. Mokotoff is the publisher of AVOTAYNU, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy, and is the former president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). He is the creator of the JewishGen's Jewish Genealogical Family Finder and the Jewish Genealogical People Finder. He co-authored the Daitch–Mokotoff Soundex system. Mokotoff is co-author of Where We Once Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society</span>

The Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society was formed as the result of the merger in 1957 of a previous Heraldic Society with the Cambridge University Society of Genealogists.

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society is a non-profit institution located at 36 West 44th Street in New York City. Founded in 1869, it is the second-oldest genealogical society in the United States, and the only statewide genealogical society in New York state. Its purpose is to collect and make available information on genealogy, biography, and history, particularly in relation to New Yorkers. The Society also publishes periodicals and books, conducts educational programs, maintains a Committee on Heraldry, and offers other services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Lemuel Chester</span> American genealogist, poet and editor

Joseph Lemuel Chester (1821–1882) was an American genealogist, poet and editor. He is known for his genealogical research on many prominent American families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Barratt</span> British genealogist

Nicholas David Barratt is an English genealogist, broadcaster and historian and is currently the Executive Director of Student Journey at Royal Holloway University of London. He was the original genealogical consultant and on-screen expert for series 1 to 4 of the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? and worked on the format in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. Barratt has made other TV appearances, written books and been the President of the Family History Federation, Trustee of the Society of Genealogists and board member for the Community Archives and Heritage Group. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FreeBMD</span> UK vital records website

FreeBMD is a website which coordinates and provides free transcriptions of the indexes to births, marriages and deaths (BMD) registrations held by the General Register Office for England and Wales (GRO). It also provides a free search function and online access to images of the pages of the BMD indexes. The website was founded in 1998. FreeBMD was registered as a UK charity in 2003, with the organisation changing its name to Free UK Genealogy in 2014 to reflect the broadening of its scope.

Boyd's Marriage Index is a tangled typescript bound in 533 volumes listing more than 3,500,000 English marriages for the period 1538 to 1837. It is held by the Society of Genealogists, London.

The Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) is an Australian-based non-profit organisation whose principal objective is the advancement of genealogical education.[1] The SAG is the oldest family history society in Australia and holds the largest genealogical archives and research library in the country. The head office, archives and research library are located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The society membership numbers nearly 4,000 members world-wide.

The Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) is a representative group which lobbies for better and greater access to source material for those involved in the study of Irish genealogy. It was founded in Dublin in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain</span>

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) is a society for the study and encouragement of Jewish genealogy in Great Britain. The society is a member society of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

Findmypast Online genealogy service based in the UK, owned by DC Thomson

Findmypast is a UK-based online genealogy service owned, since 2007, by British company DC Thomson. The website hosts billions of searchable records of census, directory and historical record information. It originated in 1965 when a group of genealogists formed a group named "Title Research". The first internet website went live in 2003.

TheGenealogist is a family history website that provides subscriptions for researchers to help search genealogy records in the United Kingdom. The site is run by Genealogy Supplies (Jersey) Ltd which is part of the S&N Group. Among its accomplishments, the company has completely transcribed the England and Wales censuses from 1841 to 1911 inclusive. The site has been identified as among "the most prominent" subscription-based genealogy websites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free UK Genealogy</span>

Free UK Genealogy is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) acting as an umbrella organisation for FreeBMD, FreeREG and FreeCEN. The charity was formerly known as FreeBMD.

Anthony John Camp is a British genealogist and former director of the Society of Genealogists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living DNA</span> British DNA testing company

Living DNA is a UK-based company that specialises in DNA testing and analysis whose head office is in the UK with facilities in the USA and Denmark. The service is to provide deep ancestry details from all around the world, using a unique process of analysis and using linked DNA. It is one of the major DNA testing services in the world. The company conducts three types of DNA analyses: autosomal, Y-chromosome and mitochrondrial. However, while the DNA test results provide information about the origins of a person, genealogy, i.e. finding relatives in historic time, is not yet part of the company's portfolio.

Sophia Seekings Friel was an English doctor, and maternity & child welfare campaigner, who with Jessy Kent-Parsons pioneered a mother and baby treatment centre in Tottenham, London in 1912, and was one of the first Maternity and Child Welfare Inspectors.

References

  1. 1 2 Society of Genealogists. "Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023" (PDF). Society of Genealogists. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  2. 1 2 Fowler, S. Making History: Society of Genealogists, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Date unknown. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  3. ↑ Foster, J; Sheppard, J (2002). British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the UK (4th ed.). New York, NY: Palgrave. p. xxvii. ISBN   9780333735367.
  4. ↑ Genealogists' Magazine March 1984, vol.21, no.5, p.163-164; June 1984, vol.21, no.6, notice inside front cover. ISSN   0016-6391
  5. ↑ Percival, Ed (December 2020). "A Message from the Chairman". Genealogists' Magazine. 33 (8): 253.
  6. ↑ Churchill, Else (March 2024). "Welcome to the new SoG Research Hub at Wharf Road". Genealogists' Magazine. 34 (9): 426.
  7. ↑ Prince Michael of Kent. "Diary May, 2000". Archived from the original on 19 November 2003.
  8. ↑ ABM Publishing Ltd. "Family Tree Magazine and Practical Family History". Archived from the original on 8 February 2008.
  9. ↑ Society of Genealogists. "AGM minutes 2006" (PDF).
  10. 1 2 Society of Genealogists. "Society of Genealogists makes prestige award to FreeBMD" (PDF).
  11. ↑ Society of Genealogists. "Announcement".
  12. ↑ "Cyndi Ingle Honored with the Prestigious Prince Michael of Kent Award | Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter". Archived from the original on 17 September 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.