Plague death records available online

People researching their family tree can now go all the way back to 1538 thanks to records now available on Ancestry.co.uk.

The collection, launched in partnership with the City of London's London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts is claimed to be the most comprehensive collection available online.

It spans almost half a millennium of London's history from 1538 to 1980 and covers major events like the outbreak of the bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London across 18 million London parishes.

Almost 20 per cent of London's population at the time, 100,000 people, died from the plague between 1665 and 1666, the latter also being the year of the Great Fire.

Officials sometimes marked the burial records with 'plague' or simply 'P' which can now be seen on the original images, available online.

Other noteworthy entries in the parish records include the baptism of Samuel Pepys as well as the marriage records of Oscar Wilde and Thomas Hardy.

Other famous names in the collection include Charles Dickens, John Keats and chemist Michael Faraday.

Back in December last year Peter Christian, genealogy expert and author of the best-selling book The Genealogist's Internet, joined Web User for a live chat. Get tips and advice about finding your family tree by reading the transcript.