๐ How to Find Your Relatives at Bukit Brown
A step-by-step guide for families searching for their loved ones
Before You Start
You will need at least one of the following: the name of the deceased (in English),
the approximate year of death or burial, or the grave/plot number.
The burial registers cover April 1922 to December 1972 only.
Step 1: Search the Database
Go to the ๐ Search Records tab. You can search in several ways:
By Name (recommended first step): Type the surname or full name.
Select "Surname" from the dropdown for best results. Chinese names in the registers are transliterated
into English (e.g., ๅญ = SNG / SOON, ้ = TAN / CHAN, ๆ = LIM, ้ป = NG / WONG, ๆ = LEE).
By Grave Number: If you know the
plot number (e.g., "General(a) 606"), select "Grave Number" and type it.
By Year: Select "Year" and type a
year (e.g., "1935") to find all burials recorded that year.
All Fields: A general search across
all fields โ good if you are unsure which field your information belongs to.
Step 2: Review the Results
Each record card shows all available information extracted from the register:
โข Grave Number โ The plot identifier (e.g., "General(a) 606")
โข Full Name โ English transliteration of the name
โข Chinese Name โ If it could be read from the handwritten register
โข Death Date / Burial Date โ When the person passed and was buried
โข Age, Gender โ As recorded
โข Occupation โ Profession listed in the register
โข ๐ Open source PDF โ Click to view the original register page from NAS
Step 3: Cross-Reference with NAS
If you find a potential match, click the "๐ Open source PDF" link on the record card to view
the original handwritten register page. This lets you verify the record yourself, as OCR of
handwritten text from the 1920sโ1970s may contain errors.
Step 4: Use the Index Files
If searching by name does not yield results, try the NAS Alphabetical Index:
1. Go to ๐ Upload & Import tab
2. In the dropdown, look under the "Burial Register Series E / Index" group โ
these include alphabetical indexes (AโK and LโZ)
3. Select the appropriate index file and click "Use Selected" then "Import Link"
4. Once imported, click "โ๏ธ Process with AI & OCR" to extract searchable text
Step 5: Contribute Corrections
If you find an error in any record (misspelled name, wrong date, etc.), go to the
โ๏ธ Contribute tab and submit a correction. Every correction helps improve
the database for all families.
Tips for Successful Searching
โข Try multiple spelling variations โ old registers used various romanizations
(e.g., WONG / ONG / ANG for ้ป, CHAN / TAN / CHEN for ้)
โข Names may be recorded as surname first (e.g., "TAN Ah Kow") or in
various orders
โข Try searching by year of death if the name search returns too many or
too few results
โข The register records burial dates, not death dates โ a burial might be a few days
after death
โข Women may be listed under their maiden name or married name
โข Some entries may be marked as "โ Unverified" โ this means the OCR
extraction has not been manually checked yet
Need More Help?
For more detailed research, visit the Archives Reading Room at the
National Archives of Singapore, 1 Canning Rise, Singapore 179868.
Contact: nas@nlb.gov.sg or call 6332 3255.
You can also browse the full collection directly on the NAS website at:
๐ www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/bukitbrown/