Learn about the lives of your Leeds ancestors

2-3 minute read

By Daisy Goddard | February 16, 2024

With over 13,000 new Roman Catholic records to explore, what surprising stories will your research uncover?

We're in West Yorkshire this week, with updates to three Roman Catholic record collections. We've also added a brand new Yorkshire newspaper title, and updated 25 existing publications with even more pages for you to explore.

Here's a full rundown of all that's been added this Findmypast Friday.

Roman Catholic parish baptisms

First up, we've added a total of 8,814 baptism records from St Mary's Batley parish in Leeds to our Roman Catholic parish baptism collection.

A baptism record from 1913.

With both images and transcriptions available, these new additions cover 1853 to 1914. They may just help to shed light on the early lives of your Leeds ancestors.

Roman Catholic parish marriages

We've also added Roman Catholic marriage records for the parish of St Mary's Batley, Leeds. Spanning 61 years, there are 3,012 new images and transcriptions to explore.

Roman Catholic parish burials

Rounding off our trio of Leeds updates is Roman Catholic parish burials, to which we added 1,379 records from St Mary's Batley.

You can discover both images and transcriptions for these new records, which also span over 60 years, from 1853 to 1914.

Discover over 200,000 new pages

The Yorkshire-based Ripon Gazette joined our newspaper collection this week. We also updated 25 of our existing titles, bringing you a total of 201,657 new pages.

Here's everything that's been added to our newspaper archive this Findmypast Friday.

New title:

Ripon Gazette, 1897-1900, 1910, 1950, 1986

Updated titles:

Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, 1994, 1996
Banbury Guardian, 1930, 1938, 1964
Biggleswade Chronicle, 1969
Blackpool Gazette & Herald, 1950
Bo’ness Journal and Linlithgow Advertiser, 1884, 1888
Brechin Advertiser, 1973-1981
Broughty Ferry Guide and Advertiser, 1963-1973, 1982
Buchan Observer and East Aberdeenshire Advertiser, 1930-1960, 1975-1984
Dalkeith Advertiser, 1969-1975, 1977-1978
Leicester Chronicle, 1864
Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, 1908
Maidstone Telegraph, 1970, 1985
Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail, 1869-1891, 1893-1897, 1899, 1953
Mearns Leader, 1976-1980
Melton Mowbray Times and Vale of Belvoir Gazette, 1894-1896, 1898-1905, 1932-1942, 1974-1981, 1985-1989, 1991
Morpeth Herald, 1993
Motherwell Times, 1977, 1979-1982
Northampton Chronicle and Echo, 1989, 1991
Northampton Mercury, 1986
Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale Herald, 1991-1992
Retford, Worksop, Isle of Axholme and Gainsborough News, 1954, 1974-1975, 1982
Shetland Times, 1987-1999
Southern Reporter, 1986
Suffolk and Essex Free Press, 1981
Sunday Post, 1951-1964

Join us for a very special Friday Live...

On 23 February, our very own Rose Staveley-Wadham will be joined on Friday Live by historian Suzannah Lipscomb. They'll be taking a deep dive into researching and writing about female ancestors and discussing the importance of remembering the stories of the women within our family trees.