London records go online

More than 77 million historical records, including details of Victorian parish workhouses, are being put online by Ancestry.co.uk.

London Historical Records 1500s – 1900s traces 165 million of the capital's citizens, including such notables as Oliver Cromwell and William Blake. They will be invaluable to professional and amateur genealogists because much of the collection predates civil registration and censuses.

The comprehensive records also mean that about 135 million people whose ancestors emigrated to the US, Canada, Australia and other former colonies of the British Empire may be able to look up their ancestors. For example, Britney Spears would be able to trace her great-grandfather George Portell from the records for 1923.

Josh Hanna, senior vice-president of Ancestry, said: "We estimate that half of Brits will be able to find an ancestor in this collection, which documents the history of a great city and its people.

"No city in modern history other than London can claim to have been the capital of such a far-reaching empire, which really is why this collection is of such significance not only to Brits, but also to many others around the world with ancestral ties back to England."

The online publication has been made possible by a partnership with London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts.

Currently 250,000 records are available to view at Ancestry. But the final collection will number more than 77 million and include parish and workhouse records, electoral rolls, wills, land tax records and school reports.

Details about Victorian workhouses made available from Board of Guardians records cover 12 areas. They list anyone who was born, baptised or died in a London workhouse in the 19th and early-20th centuries.

Ancestry said all the records will be uploaded by the end of 2010.