Non-conformist registers
Non-conformists were religious dissenters who did not worship at the established church. They were, for example, in England and Wales; Baptists, Presbyterians or Methodists. In Scotland, they would include those outside the Church of Scotland, such as Episcopalians (after 1690), and members of the Free, or United Presbyterian churches.
After civil registration started in 1837, two Parliamentary commissions were set up to collect registers of chapels outside the Established Church. Most Protestant non-conformists complied with the Act, but many Roman Catholic churches withheld their records, and the Jews did not send in any records.
You can find out what records are available in The National Archives
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Some Protestant non-conformist and Roman Catholic registers and other records are described in the A2A (Access to Archives) database - a good way to look for these is to search A2A on the name of the place where a chapel or church was located.
The National Library of Wales holds a database, Capeli-Chapels, listing the availability and location of non-conformist registers of Wales. See the National Library of Wales for more details.
