The main sources of information include the following:

Civil records, Births, Deaths & Marriages for England & Wales from 1837.

Census Returns for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911

Anglican Parish records for England & Wales – Baptisms, marriages & burials

Non Parochial Registers – eg.records of Non-Conformists

Other Parish Records, such as Vestry Minutes, and Poor Law records

Wills and probate records

Historical Directories

Newspaper announcements

Family specific sources – these depend on by example the occupations of your ancestors.

Information that may be recorded in these sources:

Census
Civil Parish, City or Municipal Borough, Municipal Ward, Parlimentary Borough, Town Village or Hamlet, Urban Sanitary District, Rural Sanitary District, Ecclesiastical Parish or District, Name, Street and or Name or Number of House, Name and Surname of each person in the household, relation to Head of Family, condition as to marriage, age last birthday, sex Male or Female, Rank Profession or Occupation, where Born, if deaf & dumb, blind, imbecile or idiot, lunatic.

Birth certificates
Date of birth, place of birth, mother’s name and maiden surname, forenames of the child, informant’s name, address and relationship to the child, name and occupation of the father.

Marriage certificates
Date and place of marriage, names and marital status of the bride and groom, current address and occupation of the bride and groom, ages of the bride and groom (sometimes given as ‘of full age’ – over 21), names and occupations of the bride and groom’s fathers, names of witnesses.

Death certificates
Name of the deceased and their occupation, date and place of death, name, address and relationship if any of the informant, age at death, From Apr 1969 date and place of birth, address and maiden name, cause of death.

Parish records
Parish records are used for events prior to 1837. The civil records start from 1837 while Parish records go as far back as 1538 as all events held in a church had, by law, to be recorded.  Unfortunately not all these records survived. Those that are still available contain Baptisms, marriages and burials.