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London Research Aids

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Location: London, Englandmap
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This profile won Profile of the Week the Fourth week of December 2013.

Contents

Introduction

A collection of FREE London research resources to help you trace your London ancestors.

For free research resources relating to other parts of England please see HERE and click on the County of your choice

For a full list of research resources available on Wikitree see Genealogy Help

If you would like help researching your London ancestors, please leave a message on this page or post a question in the G2G Forum

If you are unsure which Borough of London a certain place is in, then see this GUIDE supplied by London Metropolitan Archives (LMA)
LMA

Apprentice Records

St Giles Camberwell Register of Apprentices 1802-17 Compiled be Maureen O Sullivan and June White, members of East Surrey Family History Society. Published by kind permission of the Corporation of London L.M.A

Bow Parish Apprenticeship Register 1803 Alphabetical name index giving the name, sex and age of each child, together with details of parents and their residence. Also the name, trade and residence of the person to whom the child is to be bound together with the term of the apprenticeship and the amount of the fee.

Registers of the Company of Stationers London apprentices from Gloucestershire

Cemetery Records

For a list of Victorian London Cemeteries please see HERE

London Burial Grounds excellent site with in depth information on all London burial grounds.

Abney Park Cemetery Searchable database of burials. Results contain name, age, burial, section and index number. There is also a cemetery plan to enable you to see where the grave is. Areas covered, Hackney, Dalston and Stock Newington. For photos of graves at Abney Park Cemetery see here

City of London Burial Registers The first ten registers covering the dates 24 June 1856 to 1865 are currently available for viewing online and the remaining registers will be made available in the coming months. You will need to enter a month and year for both the start and end date of your search so have your search criteria ready. You may also use the burial number if it is known. Please note that the records are arranged by date of burial, not date of death. Your result will be an image of the original entry in the register.

Burial Registers of the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames covers multipal cemeteries.

Victoria Park Cemetery 1853-1856 contains more than 20,000 burials.

The Churchyard Inscriptions of the City of London published in 1910

Deceased Online cover the whole of the UK but has plenty of London burial records, with new ones being added daily. The site is free to search and see the results. You only pay if you would like a scanned copy of the entry in the register.

Billion Graves covers the world! Lots of London cemeteries. Your results will include a photograph of the headstone.

Gravestone Photographic Resource another site that has worldwide coverage but plenty of London cemeteries and as the title suggests your results will include a photo.

West Norwood Cemetery Database free, searchable database of burials.

Ladywell & Brockley Burials free, searchable database of burials at Ladywell & Brockley cemetery located at Lewisham.

Criminal Resources

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913 A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

Historic London Photographes

Lost London 75 early photographes. Fascinating site.

Lambeth Landmark a showcase of images from Lambeth archives. Historical and contempary pictures of the borough's streets and buildings, portraits of people, the communities and the personalities of Lambeth.

Hospital Records

Historic Hospital Admission Records the home of 19th century children’s hospital records. Databases available for three London hospitals: the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, the Evelina Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease. It provides access to nearly 120,000 individual admission records between 1852 and 1914; and a collection of articles on the early history of the hospitals, pen-portraits of personalities who inhabited them and a gallery of images. Children from outside London were also sent to these hospitals for treamtment.

Jewish Resources

For a list of Jewish cemeteries in Victorian London see HERE

Cemetery Scribes covers many areas but has a very large London database. Find headstone inscriptions, including Hebrew transliterations (where possible) and mini family trees for each individual. Also included are records from various sources such as census returns, wills, birth and marriage registers, and many more, to help you complete your genealogy and understand your ancestry.

Jewish Community in London a collection of miscellanies, historical and genealogical information.

JewishGen The home of Jewish genealogy, free, easy-to-use genealogy website features thousands of databases, research tools, and other resources to help those with Jewish ancestry research and find family members.

Princelet Street Synagogue, Spitalfields, Marriage Register 1897 - 1907 surname searchable database which directs you to the correct page in the original register. Images of over 100 marriages.

Charles Booth's Notebooks on the Jewish Community four notebooks from the Charles Booth collection relating to the Jewish community in London in the 1880s and 1890s.

Livery Companies

The Records of London's Livery Companies Online (ROLLCO) a truly fascinating site providing records of Apprentices and Freemen in the City of London Livery Companies between 1400 and 1900. The database contains the details of 60,000 apprenticeship bindings, 40,000 admissions to the freedom, and 270,000 named individuals from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The London Livery Companies are: The Clothworkers' Company, The Drapers' Company, The Goldsmiths' Company and The Mercers' Company.

Liverymen of Spitalfields London 1776 the database lists names, trade and address.

Merchant Taylors Company The Merchant Taylors' Membership Index 1530 - 1928 is a free searchable database and there is a very informative history section explaining all about Livery companies.

Londoners

London Hackney Coaches of 1662 a database of details on people who licensed their Hackney Coach in 1662

London Merchants 1677 A-Z searchable database giving first and last name, address and occupation.

London Inhabitants within the Walls 1695 An index of London inhabitants within the city walls in 1695.

Maps of London

London, Five feet to the Mile, 1893-1896 one of the most detailed maps of 19th-century London ever created is now available (as of 28/11/2013) to view free of charge on the National Library of Scotland website. Family historians can now get an accurate picture of the city when their ancestors were alive and explore streets that have long since disappeared.

East London History Society Map Gallery brilliant resource enabling you to pick a map of either Bethnal Green, Stepney, Bow, Bromley or Poplar in your chosen year and splitting the screen so you can compare to today's maps.

Historical Maps of London 1862-1871 Maps of all areas of London.

Greenwood's Map of London 1827 this web site, hosted by Bath Spa University is a wonderful resource. The map has been made interactive, allowing searches by browsing the map of entering a place name. The zoom facility is excellent. You are also given suggestions on where to search the map based on your selection and a list of references and links.

Poverty Map of London (1889) Charles Booth interactive poverty map of London.

Bethnal Green (1848) map of the parish of Bethnal Green dated 1848.

Reynold's Shilling Map of London (1889) super detail on this map, zoom into any area of London and all the streets are clearly labeled enabling you to find where your ancestors lived.

Old London Maps provided by London Ancestors.

Newspapers

The London Gazette The London Gazette is a highly specialised publication, yet caters to a wide range of users in the public, private and voluntary sectors, libraries and researchers. If your not familiar with the London Gazette, put an ancestors surname in the search book, you will be suprised at the results.

Local London Newspapers this list gives links to all the local London Borough newspapers that are available online. Many links are to subscription sites BUT I would advise looking at the said site as you can by 24hr passes for a few pounds.

Main London Newspapers this list gives links to all the main London newspapers.

Parish Registers

All Hallows' Marriages 1558-1837. All Hallows' church is in Tottenham, North London. It is one of the oldest buildings in the London Borough of Haringey. As Tottenham was seen as a very fashionable place to get married you will find many entries for people who were not residents of this area.

St Leonard Shoreditch Baptisms 1558-1640 searchable through your browsers search facility. Dates in the registers and thus in the database are 'Old-Style,' which means, among other things, that the year changes on 25 March rather than 1 January. For most purposes, therefore, it is necessary to increase year-dates from 1 January to 24 March by one. Thus 16 January 1574 should be understood as 16 January 1575 etc.

St Leonard Shoreditch Marriages 1558-1640 This database is listed in alphabetical order by Brides surname.

St Leonard Shoreditch Marriages 1558-1640 This database is listed in alphabetical order by Grooms surname.

St Leonard Shoreditch Burials 1558-1640 Surnames A-M

St Leonard Shoreditch Burials 1558-1640 Surnames N-Z

Registers of St Marylebone Marriages 1668-1812

Parish of St George Hanover Square Register Book of Marriages 1725-1787

Parish of St George Hanover Square Register Book of Marriages 1788-1809

Parish of St George Hanover Square Register Book of Marriages 1810-1823

Parish of St George Hanover Square Register Book of Marriages 1824-1837

Middlesex England Parish Marriage Records 1563-1895

Middlesex Parish Registers of Marriages includes:- New Brentford 1618-1812, Hounslow 1708-1812, Stanwell 1632-1812, Sunbury 1566-1812, Ashford 1696-1812, Feltham 1634-1812, Hanworth 1732-1837, Pinner 1654-1837

St Giles In The Fields - Baptisms 1750-1760

Bethnal Green Congregational Church Baptism Register 1860-1945

The Registers of Christenings, Marriages and Burials at Kensington 1539-1675

The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in the Parish of St Martin in the Fields 1550-1619

The Registers of Baptisms and Marriages at St. George's Chapel, May Fair 1889

Marriage Registers of St Dunstan's Stepney 1640-1696

Baptism Registers of St Dunstan's Stepney 1798-1808.

Baptism Registers of St Dunstan's Stepney 1808-1816

The registers of St.Vedast, Foster Lane and of St. Michael le Quern, London 1559-1836

Baptism Register of St Peter's, London Dock, Wapping 1878-1933

The registers of St. Olave, Hart street, London 1563-1700

Stephen Walbrook with St Benet Sherehog 1716-1860

The parish registers of St. Mary Aldermarry, London 1558-1754

The Parish Registers of St Margaret's Church Westminster 1539-1660

Marriages at St James', Duke's Place 1684-1690

Poor Rate Books & Taxes

Bow Poor Rate Book December 1820 information is arranged in four columns. The first column gives the rateable value of the property, the second the name of the owner (tenants names are sometimes also included here); the third column gives a brief description of the property (tenants names are sometimes shown here also); and the fourth column shows the actual amount to be paid.

Bromley St Leonard Poor Rate Book 1821 information gives the name of the owner, a brief description of the property, the rateable value of the property and the actual amount to be paid.

Limehouse Poor Rate Book 1767 information gives the name of the owner, the rateable value of the property, and the actual amount to be paid.

Hampton Wick Poor Rate Books 1808-1915 images of every page in the 32 poor rate books available on this site.

St Anne's Poor Rate Books 1767 this is an index to all the names.

Spitalfields Rate Book 1700 this is the only rate book held for the Hamlet or Parish of Spitalfields. Rate books covering the period 1713 - 1846 (with gaps in the sequence) are among the records of the Tower Hamlets Commissioners of Sewers at the London Metropolitan Archives.

London Hearth Tax The returns of the Hearth Tax assessment for metropolitan London in 1666, as collected by the AHRC London Hearth Tax Project (2007-2010).

Four Shillings in the Pound Tax The returns of the Hearth Tax assessment for metropolitan London in 1666, as collected by the AHRC London Hearth Tax Project (2007-2010).

Schools

The Bow Creek School Pupil Admission Register 1896-1935 The Bow Creek School Pupil Admission Register is a rare documentary survivor from the early days of universal education in the East End of London.

Admission Register of The North London Certified Truant and Industrial September 1891 to April 1899

Westminster St George's Union 1889-1897 Register of deserted children

Settlement Examinations

St Martin in the Fields Settlement Examinations Index these records are held by the Westminster Archives who have now made it free to search the settlement examinations of St Martin in the Fields, at the moment dates covered are 1732-1775

Streets of London

Old to New London Street Names A-Z of lost London Street names giving you the name of the street today. There is a link on the page if you want to use it the other way around, new to old.

London Street Index 1722 every Street, Lane, Court, Alley, Green, Yard, Close, Square, or any other Place, you are sure to find it location here.

Visitations of England and Wales

Visitation(s) of England and Wales County Index entries for persons whose pedigree first entry in the Visitation(s) commences in London, or who appears listed in a pedigree, addendum or correction to the Visitation(s) as born in London. Includes Middlesex as London. Other areas, now in London, will be found under their original county.

Other Resources

Docklands Ancestors primarily a website run by family historians for family historians. Many databases and packed with informative articles. Parish registers are just one of the great databases.

FamilySearch numerous indexes/databases including birth, marriage, death and burial records as well as census records. And more.

Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial BMDs free index to non-parochial registers transcriptions.

London Lives is a fully searchable edition of 240,000 manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets, giving access to 3.35 million names. Date range is 1680-1820. Includes coroners inquests, criminal, hospital and guild records, abstract of wills, fire insurance register, rate books and workhouse records plus much more.

Stepney Union Casebooks 1889-1890 containing detailed case histories of the inmates of Bromley and Stepney workhouses and of people who received outdoor relief from the union. This really is worth searching if you have ancestors from this area. The information in the records will be a delight to all family historians. See a sample page from Stepney Union Casebooks Here

Gift to Seaman's Widows St George in the East, gift to seaman's widows-1860

Match workers strike, Bow 1888 The main part of the Register provides details of the workers on strike at the Bryant & May match factory at Bow, East London in March 1888. There are three lists showing 263 workers from the Centre and Top Centre workshops, 186 workers at the Victoria factory and 263 workers at the Wax and Box Stores and Patents. The lists show the name and address of each worker, together with marital status, occupation, last week's wages and whether living at home or independently. Additional notes show rent owed or dependents. Boy workers are indicated. This is followed by the Payments Register for all three workplaces, showing strike pay allotted and amounts actually paid out to each striker on July 14 and July 21. All workers received a minimum of 4 shillings [20p] , those who had earned over 6 shillings received 5 shillings and married women and widows received more.

Locating London's Past This website allows you to search a wide body of digital resources relating to early modern and eighteenth-century London which in turn shows you where you can find the resource, and can also map the results on to a fully GIS compliant version of John Rocque's 1746 map.

Hidden London the London less obvious. Hidden London takes an informative, historically inclined look at a variety of the capital’s more obscure attractions, curiosities, districts and localities.

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Comments: 13

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This is a wonderful resource page!! Thanks so much for all the hard work!!
posted by Paula J
Thanks for sharing , such a lot of work researching all this and brilliantly presented.
posted by Deborah (Smith) Talbot
Hi, just updated the London categories, no other changes to this page made.
This is an awesome profile and so glad you won the first free space profile of the week.
Image:Profile_Photo_s-268.jpg December 8, 2014
posted by Paula J
Awesome! Thank you for all your hard work putting together these resources!
posted by [Living Troy]
Love this!! Looks great!!!
posted by Paula J
A magnificent resource and beautifully presented. Congratulations Michele.
posted by Peter Knowles
Wow. Great job on this!
posted by [Living King]
Astounding breadth and depth of free resources - THANK YOU MICHELE!