Find your ancestors in Manchester And Lancashire Family History Society

Manchester And Lancashire Family History Society

Established in 1964, Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society is one of the oldest family history societies in England, with some 3,750 members. The area of interest that it covers is Greater Manchester, including Bolton and Oldham.

The Society has local branches with monthly meetings in Oldham and Bolton, and also specialist branches concerned with Irish and Scottish research. It also holds quarterly full-day meetings in Manchester. It is very active in transcription and indexing projects and has published a wide variety of material. It offers regular courses for beginners. The e-mail forum encourages a lively exchange of knowledge and opinions, while the quarterly journal “The Manchester Genealogist”, enables members at home and further afield to enjoy general articles on family history, learn more about the area of their ancestors, and be kept up to date with events and all the services that the society offers. Members’ interests are to be found in the journal, on CD, and on the excellent and informative website, which also contains details of the Society’s research services and its large range of publications which can also be bought from Genfair. The Society’s research centre is located on the 3rd floor of Clayton House, an attractive Edwardian building on Piccadilly in central Manchester.

Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society is a registered charity (no. 515599) and is a data provider for the Federation of Family History Societies.

Available Records

Explore the Manchester And Lancashire Family History Society records available on Findmypast.*

The society also contributed to the 1851 England, Wales & Scotland Census and the National Burial Index For England & Wales.

*These records are available as part of a Findmypast Plus and Pro subscriptions.

Catholic FHS

The Catholic FHS was dissolved in early 2024. Material from it has been transferred to the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society.

The Catholic Family History Society was founded to focus on national Catholic archives, the Church's history and those with Catholic family history interests. Catholic Family History Society contributed to the National Burial Index.

For more information, visit the Catholic Ancestors page on the Manchester Ancestors website.