The Manchester Collection is a series of school board, workhouse, industrial school and prison records about our city held by us. They have been digitised and indexed by findmypast.
The collection is free to use from any of our library computers. Access to the index is free from any computer but access to details and images from home is by credit or subscription.
The collection includes:
- Churchwardens and overseers apprentice indentures, 1700-1913
- Burial registers and monumental inscriptions for Ardwick Cemetery, 1838-1950
- Burial registers for Cheetham Hill Cemetery, 1815-1968
- Monumental inscriptions for Rusholme Road Cemetery
Industrial school admission records
- Manchester Certified Industrial School, Ardwick Green: 1866-1912
- Barnes Home, Heaton Mersey: 1867-1908
- Manchester Certified Industrial Schools, Branch for Girls, Sale: 1883-1904
- Giles Shaw transcripts for Oldham, St Mary, 1662-1826
- John Owen transcripts for Gorton, Flixton and Newton, 1571-1785
- Admission registers for School Board schools, c.1870-1914
- New Bridge Street Workhouse creed registers, 1881-1911
- Birth registers, 1857-1920
- Death registers (includes place of burial), 1857-1949
- Creed registers (give admission and discharge details), 1869-Sep 1911
- Admission and discharge registers 1870-1884
- Interment registers Mar 1898-May 1922
- New Bailey Prison, Salford, 1847-1872 (some gaps)
- Belle Vue Prison, 1850-1880 (some gaps)
- Strangeways Prison, 1867-1881 (some gaps)
Also available on Findmypast
- Index of burials at Manchester Cathedral, 1573-1868
- Index to Prestwich Hospital, 1851-1901
- Manchester rate books (searchable by name), 1706-1941
To find catalogue descriptions for these collections and many more, search the Greater Manchester Lives archives catalogue.
More resources
We have a vast collection of information which covers all of this and more, whether you are interested in tracing your family history or discovering more about the past using our archive collections.