The Record Office undertakes research for those who are not able to visit in person. The charge is £15.00 for a 1 hour search of documents held by the Office. There are also several private record agents working on the Isle of Wight, and a list of these is available on request; where we believe a search is beyond the resources of the Office, we reserve the right to refer you to this list.

^{Fairlee 1824}

How does the Research Service work?

Either complete a request form

and send it the Record Office, together with a cheque (made payable in pounds sterling to the Isle of Wight Council).

Or complete an online request form and we will contact you as soon as possible confirming the price. You may then send a cheque (made payable in pounds sterling to the Isle of Wight Council) or pay by credit/debit card by ‘phoning 01983 823820

The search will be carried out by an archivist or by staff under the supervision of an archivist.
A reply should be sent to you within 3 weeks of the day when we receive your enquiry.
Note: a copy of our report will be placed in a family file and made available to members of the public after a two year period has elapsed, unless you specifically state that you do not wish this happen.

Please Note

Payment must be made in advance.
You will be paying for the search and not for the results. Unfortunately we cannot refund your fee, if an extensive search has not proved successful.
Photocopies are charged for separately.

Do I pay for all Searches?

No. There is a range of searches that will be undertaken free of charge on a one-off basis:-

Information on sources
Searching for enquirer's own baptism entry
Checking a single year on electoral register, if address is known
Checking a single entry in a rate book, when volume is arranged by address (address will need to be supplied)
Checking up to a 10 year period in the card index to baptisms, marriages and burials (1538 – 1900) or fiche index to baptisms or marriages (1901 – 1910). For baptisms, names of siblings within the same period will be supplied. For marriages, our fiche index to weddings attended by the Registrar (1837-1899) will be checked. For burials, our civil cemetery index will be included.
Post-1910 parish registers (post 1900 for burials): checking a single entry in the original register, if year and name of parish are supplied.
Checking for an individual in the 1851, 1881 or 1891 census surname index
At the discretion of the County Archivist, a search that he believes would take less than 5 minutes.

Microfilm Material

When material on microfilm has to be searched, the fee is similarly £15.00 for up to one hour. Short searches can also be made of material on microform. These attract a charge of £3.00 per film. Entries which can be checked at this reduced rate include the local newspaper, I.W. County Press (month and year needed), census returns (address required) and films of parish registers (year and parish required).

Summary of Charges



Search undertaken by Office		£15.00 per hour

Photocopies		20p A4 25p A3
^{where requested}

Microfilm search		£15.00 per hour

Short microfilm search		£3.00 per film

Print-outs from microfilm		25p A4 30p A3

Postage & packing		charged at cost
^{where photocopies are requested}

Photocopy orders

can be undertaken. These are subject to a minimum charge of £1.00. A £3.00 service charge is applicable for orders of 10 or more copies. Photocopying orders, which we estimate will take more than ¼ of an hour, will be subject to a charge based on our hourly rate of £15.00. Please ask for a quotation.

Research Request Form	Online Research Request Form
PDF form	Electronic form

Isle of Wight Council Logo
County Hall, High Street
Newport, Isle Of Wight.
PO30 1UD
Tel. 01983 821000

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