Back to School - Introducing historic School Registers on Familyrelatives.com

New and exclusive to Familyrelatives.com - The most recent additions to our ever expanding collection are the School registers to over 120,000 pupils and masters dating back to 1500.

The list is comprised of major schools which are among the oldest of independent educational establishments in the United Kingdom, such as Sherborne School which was founded in 710 and re-founded in 1550 by Edward VI. The young King, a keen reformer, took an interest in establishing a system of grammar schools through endowments providing free education for the talented poor. The charitable concept of education for scholars of limited means gradually changed over the centuries to that of education for gentlemen entering the military, church and professions.

The term Public Schools is often confusing especially where Americans consider Public Schools to be government or state sponsored education available to all. The distinction is that the British Public School system was available to anyone who could afford it and was independent of the State.

It became a part of the structure to instill service to the Crown and Empire and provide future rulers for the nation and administrators for the Empire. Although with many detractors, the excellent all-round education provided by the British Public School system is envied by other countries and has been successfully exported across the world.

Many of the schools now available online are famous for their traditions and rich history as well as the famous pupils they turned out most notably the war time leader Winston Churchill, the first Prime Minister of modern day India - Jawaharlal Nehru and the great explorer of the Antarctic Sir Ernest Shackleton with a host of former and current British Peers and members of Parliament, as well as future Monarchs and members of foreign royal families. There are Victoria Cross holders, famous individuals and many leaders in the arts, sciences and business.

Many Public School pupils decided to study at the universities that existed in the early 1800s but in the 1900s many former alumni were called to Military service and distinguished themselves.

The registers are fully searchable and provide a useful resource. They are exceptionally well detailed and usually give the surname, father’s name, address, birth date, date of death. School and University education, School sports teams, qualifications or profession, Military service and achievements.

A spokesman for Familyrelatives.com added “We are pleased to be releasing this dataset as the School Registers provide a useful source of quality detail to family historians in their research. This is a growing dataset and more School and Alumni registers will be added to the records online”.

The collection is part of over 650 million historic records available online to all members and visitors by way of an annual subscription of only £30.00 or US$50.00 at www.familyrelatives.com

Familyrelatives.com has recently added the following records;

School Registers Collection
The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland 1883
Burkes Landed Gentry of Great Britain
London Marriage Licences 1521-1869
Directory of Directors 1897 - 1946