Over 2 million more records can now be searched online on the family history website Ancestry.co.uk:  Surrey Land Tax Returns 1780-1832; Surrey Licensed Victuallers Registers 1785-1903; and Surrey Jury-Qualified Freeholders and Copyholders Lists 1696-1824.

These new record sets were all kept by Surrey's Clerk of the Peace.  At a time when political rights were far more restricted, he used the Land Tax returns to work out who should have the vote in elections and also kept lists of property holders so properly qualified juries could be appointed.  Rowdy or unlicensed drinking houses were as much a concern in the 18th and 19th centuries as they are now and it was the Clerk's responsibility to keep lists of those innkeepers who had been approved by the local magistrates.

You can search for your Surrey ancestors on Ancestry free of charge at any Surrey Library and at Surrey History Centre in Woking. If you have an Ancestry subscription, you can also view the records in the comfort of your own home, no matter where you live!  

Over 2 million Church of England baptism, marriage and burial records dating back to 1538 are already available to search; as well as over 10 million Electoral Register entries 1918-1945.  Look out for 100,000 more early parish register records which have also now been added.  

Other records to appear online soon are: Electoral registers 1832-1915; Brookwood Hospital Woking, Registers of Admissions 1867-1900; Holloway Sanatorium, General Registers 1885-1899; Calendars of prisoners: Surrey Sessions and Assizes 1848-1902; Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment enlistment registers 1920-1946; Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment transfers in registers 1939-1947; Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment World War II Honours Indexes [1939]-1946; East Surrey Regiment enlistment registers 1920-1946; East Surrey Regiment transfers in registers 1924-1946; and 21st - 24th Battalions the London Regiment Nominal Rolls of Officers 1914-1919.  

The original records, on paper and parchment, are all held in Surrey History Centre in Woking where they are preserved in temperature and humidity controlled strongrooms.  Through this partnership, these precious documents will become far more accessible to researchers around the world whilst at the same time protecting and preserving the fragile originals for future generations.