The Public Record Office-National Archives UK (TNA) is situated at Ruskin Avenue, Kew, UK, about 7 miles from London's centre. It is The National Archives and houses the most important records of England and Wales. Whilst the major holdings relate to government, there are numerous records held at TNA of tremendous value to the family historian as well as to academic researchers and authors.

The earliest records held at TNA date from the Norman period and include the Domesday Book of 1086 and run on right up to the most recent times. Housed here are records of central government and the law courts along with army, navy, marines, air force, merchant seamen, police, customs & excise, migrants & naturalisations, RIC, prisoners, convicts, to name but a few. It would take too long here to fully describe all the subjects deposited at the PRO. Suffice to say that the hardcopy TNA Guide is over 5500 pages long and that shelf storage exceeds 100 miles!! It is one of the finest, most complete and envied archives in the world. Until a few years ago, the old PRO-TNA was housed in Chancery Lane in the City of London. However, there is only one National Archives in England these days - at Kew, lying to the west of London's centre. The old building has now become a university library.

It must be emphasised that TNA at Kew is NOT the place to start family research. It is much more a repository where the researcher can build on existing knowledge or find valuable clues to reopen closed family-history files, revitalise dormant ones, research specific subjects or obtain biographical material. Whilst it is an absolute mine of information, neither is it the best place to search for civil births, marriages and deaths - although vital material can be accessed there.

The National Archives will nowadays undertake paid searches. The current rate charged is equivalent to £60 per hour! Arrangements to photocopy records can be made if precise index references are supplied. Readers may, however, conduct their own researches in the building, or, if they are far from Kew or abroad and unable to visit, they can employ a professional researcher or record agent to do the searches for them.

Also worth mentioning is that many historians and researchers at home and abroad confuse TNA with the GRO, ONS, LMA, OIOC, and many other repositories in and around London. This article is really concerned only with TNA but more about these other important institutions is given at the end of this text.

continued on page 2 ...