Online books for Essex and Suffolk research

Thousands of out-of-print, out of copyright books from research libraries worldwide have been scanned and made available online for free. Find links below to books at archive.org, The Hathi Trust, Google Books, and the Suffolk Records Society.

• Visitations
• Marriage licence allegations and bonds
• Memorials and church monuments
• Manors
• Parish registers
• Wills
• Local histories
• Elsewhere

Visitations

Essex

• The Visitations of Essex, part 1: 1552, 1558, 1570, 1612, 1634, ed: Walter C Metcalfe, 1879 (Harleian Society Publications, vol 13, archive.org)
• The Visitations of Essex, part 2: additional pedigrees and index to both parts, ed: Walter C Metcalfe (Harleian Society Publications, vol 14, archive.org)
• Parts 1 and 2 (above) bound together (archive.org)
• A Visitation of Essex: 1665-1668, ed: J J Howard, 1888 (archive.org)

Suffolk

• The Visitations of Suffolk: 1561, 1577, 1612 & additional pedigrees, by Walter C Metcalfe, 1882 (archive.org)
• The Visitation of Suffolk, 1561, was published in two volumes by the Harleian Society in the early 1980s. It’s not online as it’s still in copyright, but you can find copies in research libraries, and you can search its contents at the Hathi Trust.

Marriage licence allegations and bonds

Allegations for marriage licences in the archdeaconry of Sudbury, in the county of Suffolk (1918-1921)

• Part 1: 1684-1754 (Harleian Society, vol 69, archive.org)
• Part 2: 1755-1781, with index to parts 1 and 2 (Harleian Society, vol 70, archive.org)
• Part 3: 1782-1814 (Harleian Society, vol 71, archive.org)
• Part 4: 1815-1839, with index to parts 1 and 2: (Harleian Society, vol 72, archive.org)

Bishop of London & Archbishop of Canterbury

People from Essex and Suffolk might appear in these:

• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Bishop of London, part 1: 1520-1610 (Harleian Society, vol 25, 1887, archive.org)
• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Bishop of London, part 2: 1611-1828 (Harleian Society, vol 26, 1887, archive.org)
• Allegations of Marriage Licences issued by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury at London, 1543-1869 (Harleian Society, vol 24, 1886, archive.org) [see also vols 33 & 34 for omitted entries]
• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1660-1668 (Harleian Society, vol 33, archive.org)
• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1669-1679 (Harleian Society, vol 34, archive.org)
• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury , 1679-1687 (Harleian Society, vol 30, 1890, archive.org)
• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1687-1694 (Harleian Society, vol 31, 1890, archive.org)
• Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 1558-1679 (Harleian Society, vol 23, 1866, archive.org)

Memorials and church monuments

Essex

• Memorials of the Antiquities and Architecture, Family History and Heritage of the County of Essex, by Rev Alfred Suckling, 1845 (Hathi Trust)

Suffolk

Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk and Suffolk, tending to illustrate the the Ecclesiastical, Military and Civil Costume, as well as to preserve memorials of ancient families in that county, by John Sell Cotman esq et al, 2nd edition, 1839

• Volume 1 (Hathi Trust)
• Volume 2 (Hathi Trust)

Manors

Essex

• The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, vol 1, by Rev Philip Morant, 1768: half-hundreds of Becontree and Waltham, liberty of Havering, hundreds of Chafford, Ongar, Barstable, Rochford, Dengey, [Dengie], Thurstable, Winstree and Tendring (archive.org)
• The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, vol 2, by Rev Philip Morant (not available online. See Abebooks or Amazon, where you can buy a reprint)

Suffolk

Suffolk Manorial Families, being the County Visitations and Other Pedigrees, by Joseph James Muskett [incs transcriptions of many wills, PCC, SRO, etc.]

• Vol 1: Winthrops of Groton and allied families inc: Ponder, Sharpe, Mildmay, Alabaster, Vesey, Risbey, Still, Browne, Fones, Gostlin, Downing, Hilles, Munning, Forth, Crymble, Bode, Powell, Clopton, Tyndal, Rainsborough, Reade, Cullum, Boldero, Garneys, Elmy, Grigg, Goodwin, Taylor, Hammond, Gurdon, Sexton, Burrough, Appleton, Doggett, Drury, Langham, Arnold (see index for all names) 1894 (archive.org) [See Evidences of the Winthrops of Groton at archive.org as well]
• Vol 2: Hovell, Smith alias Hovell, Folkes, Morden, Whiting, Bright, Barrett, Partridge, L’Estrange, Suckling, May, Fulmerston, Heyward, Bolton, Carey, Kempe, Barrow, Jermyn, Garneys, Keble, Pretyman, Beaumont, Stubbing, Collett, Muskett, (see index for all names) 1908 (archive.org)
• Vol 3, parts 1 & 2 bound together: Reeve, Wentworth, Andrews, Fairclough, Mann (no name index) 1910 (archive.org)

The Manors of Suffolk by W A Copinger

• Vol 1: Hundreds of Babergh and Blackbourn, 1905 (archive.org)
• Vol 2: Hundreds of Blything, Bosmere and Claydon, 1908 (archive.org)
• Vol 3: Hundreds of Carlford, Colneis, Cosford and Hartismere, 1909 (archive.org)
• Vol 4: Hundreds of Hoxne, Lackford and Loes, 1909 (archive.org)
• Vol 5: Hundreds of Lothingland, Mutford, Plomesgate and Risbridge, 1909 (archive.org)
• Vol 6: Hundreds of Samford, Stow and Thedwastry [Thedwastre], 1910 (archive.org)
• Vol 7: Hundreds of Thingoe, Thredling, Wangford and Wilford, 1911 (archive.org)

Parish registers

Essex

• The Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials at St Margaret’s, Toppesfield (bound with “A Sketch of…” (archive.org)

Suffolk

• The Registers of the parish of Bramfield, ed: Thomas S Hill, 1894: 1539-1596 and 1693-1839 (archive.org)
• The Parish Registers of Brundish, Suffolk: baptisms and burials 1562-1785, marriages 1563-1749 (archive.org and Google Books)
• The Parishes Registers of Carlton, Suffolk: 1538-1886 (Google Books)
• The Parish Registers of Culpho, Suffolk: baptisms 1721-1883, marriages 1760-1821, 1841-1882, burials 1813-1886, Anabaptist births 1785-96 (Google Books)
• The Parish Registers of Ellough, Suffolk: baptisms & burials 1540-1812, marriages 1545-1754 (Google Books)
• Great Whelnetham Parish Registers, 1561-1850. Suffolk Green Books, vol 15, 1910 (archive.org)
• The Parish Registers of Frostenden, Suffolk: baptisms & burials 1538-1791, marriages 1538-1754 (Google Books)
• Horringer Parish Registers, 1558-1860 (archive.org)
• Ickworth Parish Registers, 1560-1890 (archive.org)
• The Registers of St Nicholas, Ipswich, trans Rev Edward Cookson, 1897: baptisms 1539-1709, marriages 1539-1710, burials 1551-1710 (archive.org)
• The Parish Register of Ingham, Suffolk, trans. William Brigg, 1909: baptisms 1538-1804, marriages 1539-1787, burials 1538-1811 (archive.org)
• The Parish Registers of Kelsale, Suffolk: marriages 1538-1886, baptisms and burials 1538-1812 (Google Books)
• Little Whelnetham Parish Registers, 1557-1850. Suffolk Green Books, vol 15, 1910 (archive.org)
• The Parish Registers of Pakenham, Suffolk: 1563-1766 (Google Books)
• Rushbrook Parish Registers: 1567-1850 (archive.org)
• Shotley Parish Registers, 1571-1850 (website)
• The Registers of the Parish of Thorington, Suffolk: 1561-1884: incs memorial inscriptions and Bence family info (Google Books)

Wills

• Wills of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury, 1431-1474, part II: 1461-1474, edited by Peter Northeast and Heather Falvey, 2010, published by the Suffolk Records Society. The book contains an index of testators, but for indices of beneficiaries, placenames, occupations etc, see the companion volume to parts I and II, available from the SRS.
• Wills of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, 1620-1624, edited by Marion E Allen, 1989, published by the Suffolk Records Society.

See more printed books of wills – most aren’t available online, but hardcopies can be purchased.

Local histories

Essex

• A sketch of Toppesfield parish by G F Dow, 1900 (archive.org)

Suffolk

• The Placenames of Suffolk by Rev Walter W Skeat, 1913
• Evidences of the Winthrops of Groton, by Joseph James Muskett and Robert Charles Winthrop, 1894-6 [appears to be similar to vol 1 of Muskett’s Suffolk Manorial Families] (archive.org)
• The Oakes Diaries: business, politics, and the family in Bury St Edmunds, 1778-1827, vol 1, 1778-1800, edited by Jane Fiske, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 1990
• The Oakes Diaries: business, politics, and the family in Bury St Edmunds, 1778-1827, vol 2, 1801-1827, edited by Jane Fiske, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 1991
• The Bailiffs’ Minute Book of Dunwich, 1404-1430, edited by Mark Bailey, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 1992
• Rookwood Family Papers. 1606-1761, edited by Francis Young, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 2016
• Letters from Redgrave Hall: The Bacon Family, 1340-1744, edited by Diarmaid MacCulloch, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 2007
• Two East Anglian Diaries: Isaac Archer and William Coe, 1641-1729, edited by Matthew Storey, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 1994
• Savage Fortune: an aristocratic family in the early seventeenth century, edited by Lyn Boothman and Sir Richard Hyde Parker, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 2006
• A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk: French impressions of Suffolk life in 1784, translated and edited by Norman Scarfe, published by the Suffolk Records Society, 1988

See also the SRS’s digital series.

Elsewhere

All the Harleian Society Publications, with links to free, online scans where available. Includes many London parish registers as well as nearly all the county visitations. Also includes a list of later publications which are still in copyright and not available as free scans, but should be sourceable from research libraries (ask about inter-library loans at your local library).

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Created: 3 January 2021
Updated: 6 January 2021, to include parish registers and Suffolk Records Society links.