Discover and celebrate Black heritage with brand new records

1-2 minute read

By Niall Cullen | October 2, 2020

In celebration of Black History Month, a range of diverse new record collections join the site this Findmypast Friday.

Our latest record releases highlight lesser-known facets of British history, important family events in the Caribbean and much more. Here's what's new this week on Findmypast.

London, Black Poor, 1786

Listing destitute Londoners, this small but intriguing collection provides a glimpse into a largely forgotten part of Black British history.

The Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor was formed in 1786 by a group of London's most influential figures to offer support to its poorest Black communities. The movement was soon formalised by the British government who sought a different approach for dealing with the increasing number of Black poor on the streets, leading to the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme...

Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme, 1787

In 1787, the British government ran a program that saw mostly Black settlers emigrate from England to Sierra Leone. Now, you can explore their revealing passenger lists on Findmypast.

Perhaps surprisingly for the time, the passenger lists include evidence of over 80 interracial marriages.

Caribbean Marriage Index 1591-1905

Our Caribbean Collection has been bolstered with over 15,000 more marriage records from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

Dating as far back as 1591, the records can reveal useful details for the Caribbean branches of your family tree. Discover the bride and groom's names, where and when they married and more.

Devon Burials

Over 19,000 additional burials from three Devon cemeteries are now online.

The new additions come from:

Tavistock, Dolvin Road Cemetery (1834-1886)
Tavistock, Plymouth Road Cemetery (1882-1995)
Plympton, Drake Memorial Park (1943-1966)

Use the detailed records to find out where and when your Devon ancestors were laid to rest. And make even more discoveries in our extensive collection of Devon family records.

Newspapers

Once again, we've been busy growing our newspaper collection with over 95,000 new pages from three brand new titles and updates to 15 others.

Newly-released are:

Stratford Express covering 1877, 1888 and 1892-1893
Flintshire County Herald covering 1896
Principality (Cardiff) covering 1880

While we've added more pages to:

Runcorn Weekly News from 1963, 1971-1972 and 1974-1976
Liverpool Courier and Commercial Advertiser from 1892 and 1909-1910
Fife News from 1881, 1884 and 1887
Marylebone Mercury from 1947
Waterford News Letter from 1849 and 1869
John Bull from 1906-1945
Dundalk Herald from 1887
Shetland News from 1893
Cork Daily Herald from 1900
Call (London) from 1917
Communist (London) from 1923
Clare Advertiser and Kilrush Gazette from 1877
Cavan Weekly News and General Advertiser from 1869, 1899 and 1904
Strabane Weekly News from 1911
Ballinrobe Chronicle and Mayo Advertiser from 1880

If this week's new releases (or any of our records and resources) have helped you piece together the bigger picture of your past, we'd love to hear about it. Drop us a line using #FindmypastFeatured on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to share your discoveries.