Herefordshire Newspapers Online

I have just discovered this great free resource online. http://www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk/archive/herefordshire-newspapers Herefordshire newspapers from around the county from the year 1832 where available. Titles include: Hereford Times Hereford Journal Kington Reporter Kington Times Ledbury Guardian Leominster News Ross Gazette They are not searchable at the moment but are fascinating to broswe through – you can easily loseContinueContinue reading “Herefordshire Newspapers Online”

Using English Prison Registers

Prior to the 1877 nationalisation of prisons in England and Wales, local prisons kept their own registers and as a result they vary between county and indeed between individual gaol. The number and time-span of registers available also varies from place to place as well as the number of registers that have been digitised. Normally,ContinueContinue reading “Using English Prison Registers”

Using Irish Catholic Parish Registers online

Church registers of marriage and baptism are considered to be the single most important source for family history researchers before the 1901 census. The National Library of Ireland has made available on –line their complete collection of Irish Catholic parish registers from1740s to the 1880s. They are available for free which is wonderful but thereContinueContinue reading “Using Irish Catholic Parish Registers online”

Using gazettes for official records

The London Gazette, The Edinburgh Gazette and The Belfast Gazette are published in the United Kingdom and their archives are a useful source of information for finding out about your family history. The website https://www.thegazette.co.uk is free to use and is searchable by name as well as being available to browse through. The London GazetteContinueContinue reading “Using gazettes for official records”

Using Church of Ireland Vestry Records

The parishes of the Established Church of Ireland were both religious and civil units with the civic functions mirroring those of our local government today.[1] The vestry was an assembly of parishioners that met to discuss parochial business and was split into two[2]. The select vestry was a committee of rate-paying protestants that levied smallContinueContinue reading “Using Church of Ireland Vestry Records”

Using Poll Books In England & Wales

Poll books list the men who voted in parliamentary elections and the candidates for whom they voted until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872. Poll books can be used like the trade directories of the 19th century to locate individuals and to trace their life spans, as well as to discover their political affiliations.ContinueContinue reading “Using Poll Books In England & Wales”

Electoral Registers for England & Wales

Findmypast in association with the British Library have made available online Electoral Registers for England & Wales 1832-1932 . You can search the records by personal name, polling district, county and constituency, as well as by keyword search to discover the history of your family home in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Electoral Registers areContinueContinue reading “Electoral Registers for England & Wales”