Archives and Local Studies
collection guide no.12
Family History
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Heritage Services
Location
 Along the south wall of the Reading Room, behind the PCs
and microfilm readers
Scope and arrangement of the collection
As family history has become such a popular pastime, we aim to
provide resources to help people researching ancestors who lived
not only in Barking and Dagenham but further afield – in many
cases in countries outside the UK.
Family historians are often able to discover not only the basic facts
such as date and place of birth, but also the extra details that give
a rounded picture of an ancestor’s life, work and place in society.
These resources come in a variety of formats. As well as an
extensive collection of books on family history, we hold
magazines, CD-Roms, microfiches and microfilms, and provide
access to family history websites.
These items are for reference only, so are always available on the
open shelves. Before the re-opening of Valence House in summer
2010, each book was carefully cleaned by Archives and Local
Studies volunteers before being added to the sustainable custombuilt oak shelves in the new library.
Examples of books
 Pamela HORN: My ancestor was in service
 Ruth PALEY & Simon FOWLER: Family skeletons
 Karen GRANNUM & Nigel TAYLOR: Wills and probate records
 Peter CHRISTIAN & David ANNAL: Census - the expert guide
 Stephen WADE: Tracing your police ancestors
 The Phillimore atlas & index of parish registers (3rd edition)
 Cliff WEBB: Greater London cemeteries and crematoria
 Roger KERSHAW & Mark PEARSALL: Immigrants and aliens: a
guide to sources on UK immigration and citizenship (2nd edition)
 Roger KERSHAW: Migration records
Examples of CD-Roms
 The National Burial Index (3rd edition) - over 18 million entries
 Various trade directories on CD-Rom, such as London
directories for 1843, 1851, 1902 and 1938
Examples of microfilms and microfiches
The GRO index of births, marriages & deaths 1837-2004
Filmed copies of parish registers of St Margaret’s, Barking and St Peter
& St Paul, Dagenham (covers 16th-20th centuries)
Websites
We offer free access to the Ancestry Library Edition and Find My
Past Community Edition websites on our PCs.
Magazines
Among the titles we subscribe to are Family Tree Magazine, Who Do
You Think You Are? and the Essex Family Historian.
See also
 Biographies topic boxes (Bay 10 - includes some researched
pedigrees for local families)
 Barking fishing industry topic boxes (Bay 7 - contains donated
family history material on some Barking fishing families)
The following Archives & Local Studies Information Sheets:
No. 40 Family history sources in Barking
No. 41 Family history sources for Dagenham
We hold regular workshops on using Ancestry Library Edition.
You can also take advantage of our free monthly Family History
Helpdesks, run by members of the East of London Family History
Society. For dates, please see the Valence House events leaflets, web
pages or Facebook page.
Archives and Local Studies Centre, Valence House,
Becontree Avenue, Dagenham, Essex RM8 3HT
Opening times
 Mondays to Fridays: 10am - 4pm (except Bank Holidays)
 Saturdays: 10am - 12.30pm and 1.15pm - 4pm
When visiting for the first time, please bring proof of your
address as you will need to register.
Contact details
 Phone: 020 8227 2033
 Email: localstudies@lbbd.gov.uk
 Internet: www.lbbd.gov.uk/archives
 Facebook: www.facebook.com/valencehouse
09.2014