England, Newspaper Birth Notices

Each record includes a thin index and the original newspaper announcement. The index is meant as a finding aid and you should always click through to the image of the announcement to see fuller details. The amount of information listed varies greatly according to newspaper and date, but the records usually include a combination of the following information:

• Name

• Birth date

• Names of parents

• Residence

• Publication title

• Publication date

Note that many entries do not name the child born, or give the mother’s name in full. A common format of announcement is that which states merely "to the wife of Charles Smith, a daughter" or similar. In other words, First Name(s) and Mother's First Name(s) fields are often blank in the search results and transcriptions. For this reason, we recommend searching initially by surname and year.

Explore this collection of newspaper birth notices and discover how births were announced in the press. All notices were paid announcements usually written by a family member and sent in to the newspaper; the fact that they had to be paid for will have influenced the phrasing and length of announcements.

Periodicals included in this collection are the following:

• Alnwick Mercury

• Aris's Birmingham Gazette

• Bath Chronicle

• Bedfordshire Advertiser and Luton Times

• Berrow's Worcester Journal

• Berwickshire News and General Advertiser

• Birmingham Daily Post

• Birmingham Journal

• Bristol Mercury

• Burnley Advertiser

• Burnley Express and Advertiser

• Burnley Express and East Lancashire Observer

• Bury Times

• Cambridge Chronicle and Universe

• Carlisle Patriot or Carlisle & Cumberland Advertiser

• Cheltenham Chronicle

• Cheltenham County Looker

• Chester Courant

• City Press

• County of Middlesex Chronicle

• Coventry Herald and Free Press

• Coventry Times

• Coventry Times and Nuneaton, Warwick & Leamington Journal

• Derby Daily Telegraph

• Derby Evening Telegraph

• Devon & Exeter Gazette

• Dover Express

• Essex Newsman

• Essex Newsman & Herald

• Evening Telegraph and Star and Sheffield Daily Times

• Exeter Daily Gazette

• Exeter Weekly Times and West of England General Advertiser

• Grantham Journal

• Greenwich, Woolwich, Deptford & West Kent Gazette

• Hastings & St Leonards Observer and Advertiser

• Hereford Journal

• Hull Daily Mail

• Huntingdon, Bedford, and Peterborough Gazette

• Kentish Chronicle and Canterbury Weekly News

• Kentish Chronicle and General Advertiser

• Leicester Chronicle

• Leicester Journal and Midland Counties General Advertiser

• Liverpool Echo

• Liverpool Mercury

• Luton Times and Advertiser

• Luton Times and Advertiser for South Beds & North Herts

• Luton Times and Dunstable Herald

• Maidstone Telegraph and Rochester & Chatham Gazette

• Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser

• Manchester Evening News

• Midland Daily Telegraph

• Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury

• North & South Shields Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph

• North & South Shields Gazette and Northumberland & Durham Advertiser

• Pope's Bath Chronicle

• Pope's Bath Chronicle and Weekly

• Reading Mercury, Oxford Gazette and Berkshire County Paper

• Salopian Journal

• Sheffield and Rotherham Independent

• Sheldrake's Aldershot Military Gazette

• Somerset County Herald and Taunton Courier

• Staffordshire Advertiser

• Surrey Mirror, Reigate and Redhill Reporter and General County Advertiser

• Taunton Courier