User Help Guide - Freemen of Chester

To get the best results from this section, please read through this section. If you cannot find any help for a specific question, feel free to email us using the address below:

How to Use the Search

Surname: enter as Smith or smith

Forename: enter as John Henry

If you do not find an entry for someone you think should be listed try John% This will find John Henry, John H, John Joseph etc

Age Range: the ages in the registers are entered in a very varied way. They include 8 years, 4 years 2 months, 5 days - even 4 minutes. Your search results will show exactly what is entered in the register, but we have included this age range search to make searching simpler. Select the most likely age range from the drop-down menu or, if you prefer, select "All".

Using Wildcards within your Search

You can use the "wildcard" symbols to help find variations in spelling.

These are:

% Any string of characters

_ Any single character

eg Phillips/Philips use Phi%ips