Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives and Ancestry.co.uk have made available, online, a large collection of Church of England parish registers which span 1541 – 1930. The collection includes over 6,000,000 names recorded during baptisms, marriages and burials at Anglican churches in the Diocese of Manchester.

Before the introduction of civil registration in 1837 the births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials recorded in parish registers were often the only official record of people’s lives. They’re  an invaluable resource for family historians.

The collection contains some fascinating and intriguing entries – the parish registers for Weaste, St Luke document the marriage of Emmeline Pankhurst (née Goulden).

As you can see from the record Emmeline Goulden marries Richard Marsden Pankhurst on 18 December 1879.  You’ll also notice that Emmeline is listed as full age as she is over 21.

Lydia Becker, the founder of the Women’s Suffrage Journal was baptised on 20…