Directories are books that can help us to discover information regarding individuals, organisations and businesses. They can also be used to help us to discover more about the history of a local area and the trades and industries prevalent in a specific town.
What are Trade Directories?
Trade directories were initially compiled to help merchants, the earliest directory being published by Samuel Lee in 1677, being a list of London merchants.
Some town directories of the eighteenth century included an alphabetical list of citizens and traders.
Court books, which listed the most affluent members of society, were published from 1790.
A directory was sometimes devoted to one trade.
Bailey’s Northern Directory of 1781 was the first national directory, but the vast majority of towns and cities had their own directory.
Books for specific towns were published in the late 18th century. These included Elizabeth Raffald’s Directory of Manchester and Salford, published in 1772, which contained an alphabetical list of citizens and traders.
For people studying family history, the most useful directories are those published by Pigot and William White, beginning in the 1820s, and Slater’s, which began to be published from the 1840s.
A directory can help you to discover what the area your ancestor lived in was like because it began to include information regarding transport facilities, churches, shops and pubs.
If you would like to know what changes were made to a town or city and how that area was affected by events such as the advent of the railways, try searching in directories a decade apart so that you can see what industries were growing and/or declining.
Your ancestor’s life and career may well have been affected by those changes. He may have decided to obtain a business premises close to good transport links so it was easier to send his goods around the country if required.
Pigot’s Directory
Pigot’s Directory was established by James Pigot. Most of these books cover the period prior to the advent of Civil Registration in 1837, dating from 1830 to 1839, and contain details of major professions, gentry, nobility, clergy, and trades and occupations including taverns and public houses.
The directory also contained information regarding the parishes within each area, and included the number of people living in the parish, a description of its geography, and what trades and industries were prevalent in the area.
Slater’s Directory
Following James Pigot’s death in 1843, Isaac Slater, who had become a partner in James Pigot’s firm, began to publish directories under his own name.
The directories listed the gentry, nobility, clergy and traders.
Because of the fierce competition emanating from Kelly’s Directory, Slater’s firm stopped publishing directories for Southern England, focusing on Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England.
Slater died in 1883, with the majority of the shares of Slater’s Company being bought by Kelly and Co. in 1892.
Kelly’s Directory
Kelly’s directory was published by Frederic Festus Kelly.
After becoming chief inspector of letter-carriers for the inland or general post office, Kelly began to publish the Post Office London Directory after purchasing the rights to the directory from his predecessor’s widow.
Kelly established Kelly and Co., this company becoming known as Kelly’s Directories Ltd in 1897.
Kelly’s Directories Ltd was renamed Kellysearch in 2003 to signify that the company had moved away from printing paper directories towards an internet-based search engine.
Kelly also published Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes from 1875. A copy of this directory from 1917 is available at archive.org.
Kelly also published Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers from 1877, which was a ‘guide to the export and import, shipping and manfacturing industries’. A copy of this directory dating from 1920 is available at archive.org.
An example of a Kelly’s directory from 1930 shows that a list of advertisers organised alphabetically and by classification is included, making it that much easier to find your ancestor’s name or profession in the directory if he was in business.
A detailed description of the area is also included, which provides historical information and town population data. This gives you more information about the area your ancestor was living in and its social structure.
Each town, village and city is included in the directory, with information given regarding its history and geography.
If you find your ancestor in the directory, you will have details of their business and address, and can then consult other trade directories to follow your ancestor’s journey. You may be able to pinpoint exactly when he ceased trading.
Main Sections of City Directories
City Directories listed tradesmen, craftsmen, merchants, professionals, farmers, clergy, gentry and nobility, but as time passed, they also began to include private residents, whether they were rich or poor.
From the nineteenth century city directories were often divided into Commercial, Trades, Streets and Court sections. The Commercial section covered professionals, farmers and traders, entered alphabetically.
The Trades section was a list of the foregoing, but this time listed by trade or profession. The Streets section was a list of private residents and tradesmen, listed street by street and house by house.
The Court section started off being a schedule of heads of wealthier households, but became a list of the heads of most families, excluding the poor.
City Directories are very useful if you are researching in a large city where many people were renters or temporary residents.
If your ancestor was not a landowner and was not registered to vote, the only place you may find him or her is in a directory.
You can also trace how long they lived at a specific address.
Other Information You Can Find in a Directory
It is possible you could discover an ancestor previously unknown to you. If you find other people with the same surname as your ancestor in the area they lived in they may be their relatives, especially if their surname is less common.
If you find your ancestor in a directory and it was published in a year close to a census year, looking up the address in the census return could lead to you discovering more family members because census returns gave more information such as age and place of birth.
A book from 1885 could in fact cover the year of 1884. The books did not give much information about individuals, so if your ancestor was named Philip Williams and was a farmer, it is possible an entry could in fact relate to his son who had carried on the family business as Philip Williams, senior, may have died or had retired.
Where Can I Find Directories?
County directories are held by local county record offices and libraries.
A full collection of directories is available at the Guildhall Library. For more information about this archive, please visit my page regarding Guildhall Library.
Some directories are also available through the University Of Leicester’s special collections.
Some directories are also available online via sites such as Ancestry and FindmyPast.
Ancestry
Ancestry is great for anyone who does not have the time to, or is unable to, visit Record Offices or Libraries.
It is especially good if you wish to access records from the comfort of your home.
Read my in-depth review to find out more about its features, advantages, and disadvantages.
FindmyPast
FindmyPast is good for anyone, whether they are just starting their family history journey, or have already conducted some research.
It is especially good for people who wish to read newspaper articles.
Read my in-depth review to find out more about its features, advantages and disadvantages.
Telephone Directories
Telephone Books began to appear during the 1880’s, taking over from Street and Trade directories after the Second World War. Coverage of telephone books is incomplete because not all households had telephones.
The earliest people to have telephones were usually the more affluent members of society or large businesses, so finding your ancestor in an early telephone directory can give you some idea as to their economic and social status.
They only usually list the main householder and not other household members, but they do list the person’s address and exchange up to 1968.
Older books may include adverts for local businesses, which may be one your ancestor was connected with. Telephone books were usually published every one or two years, making it possible to locate the whereabouts of individuals in between census years. It is especially useful if you are searching for someone during a period where census returns are not publicly accessible.
People included in British Phone Books during the period 1880-1984 is available on Ancestry. This collection is predominantly from the historic phone book collection held by BT Archives.
The listings contain details of the following:
- Surname of person or name of business
- Address
- Exchange (up to 1968)
- Telephone Number
Local and operational information may also be available in the phone book.
Other Directories
Cyndi’s List is a wonderful resource which has a list of wonderful websites from all over the world.
Another site that may assist you further with your research and possibly break down some brick walls is Genealogy Links, which is a site that has links to numerous family history resources.