British Prime Minister Receives Personal Family History from Church

British Prime Minister Receives Personal Family History from Church

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rt Hon David Cameron received over six generations of his family history, together with detailed historical background, from representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a meeting at the Houses of Parliament (February 4).

David Cameron is one of several distinguished world leaders who have been given personalised copies of their family history archive.  Previous government heads to be honoured include US President Barack Obama, former Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and previous President of Germany, Johannes Rau.

Making the presentation on behalf of the Church, Elder Patrick Kearon of the Europe Area Presidency, said: “We are so pleased to be able to put together this family history record and present it to the Prime Minister and his family, we hope they will enjoy learning more of their heritage”.  Elder Kearon was accompanied by Elder Clifford T Herbertson, Area Seventy.

The meeting was also attended by David Rutley, MP and Craig Whittaker, MP who are members of the Church. 

The carefully-researched documents were prepared by specialists from the Church’s Family History Department which administers the most extensive collection of genealogical records globally including more than 5.7 billion names and 1.1 billion historic records available for free public access online via familysearch.org and through nearly 4,800 Family History Centres worldwide. Patrons can also build, share, and preserve their own family trees, photos, and stories online at the site.

There are 112 Family History Centres in the United Kingdom, all open to the public. The largest is located alongside the National Archives at Kew, West London.

David Cameron’s genealogy includes information about his ancestors who fought in the First World War, reflecting the Church’s work on World War I records which includes computer indexing of millions of military documents.

The Church now has a membership of almost 190,000 in the UK across 334 congregations.