Once you have traced your ancestor by these lists, it may be sensible to carry on looking through the series of these volumes as far as you can in both directions, learning more information (and seeing much of the same, too) as you proceed. Significant runs of these volumes can be found at the LMA, TNA and the Guildhall Library.
Directories will also list these people, perhaps in both the ‘Court’ and ‘Business’ sections. They are more likely to have obituaries (for dates of death see burial registers or wills) in the local press as they are often significant figures in the local community. Newspapers carried adverts for private schools, giving details of the curriculum, fees, when the school was established and so on. Clergymen were often schoolmasters, too; in theeighteenth century, the Revd William Dodd ran a boys’ school in Ealing as well as being a royal chaplain (and a forger).
Priest, Holy Cross Church, Greenford, Middlesex. 2010 Author.
There are other sources. For clergy, ordination papers for the diocese are often held at county record offices, and the ongoing clergymen’s database (www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/cce/), aiming to cover all Anglican clergy for 1536–1834, may also be worth a look and is expanding constantly. Many of the professions are listed in directories, too, and lawyers should appear in records of trials.
Business Records
It is always easier to learn about the man at the top than his clerks and labourers. Senior figures in the business world are usually allotted obituary columns in the local and sometimes national press. But what about the majority of employees? Tracking them down is often a matter of luck. Some business archives do survive, but many tend to be account books, minutes of board meetings, advertising material, product details and so forth, all of which help give an impression about the company, but may say little about employees – as with school log books.
Some local authority archives have excellent holdings of business archives. However, staff records only survive for a very few firms.
Businesses often took out insurance on their property and goods. Several insurance firms sprang up in the later seventeenth century, partly as a response to the Great Fire of 1666. Their archives can provide useful information about businesses, although they also covered domestic property. In some cases, of course, the business was run from the owner’s house. The information given in the following sets of registers usually includes the number of the policy, the name/location of the agent, name, status, occupation and address of the policy holder, location of the premises, type and nature of the property, its value, the premium paid and when the renewal was due. Details of any tenants might also be given, if applicable. Fire policy registers exist for the Hand-in-Hand insurance company for 1696–1865 (Ms 8674-8, 166 vols), the Sun, 1710–1863 (Ms 11936–7, 1262 vols) and the Royal Exchange, 1753–9 and 1773–1883 (Ms 7252–5, 173 vols). All are held at the Guildhall Library. If these huge numbers of registers arranged chronologically sound daunting, do bear in mind that there are a number of indexes. There is an online name index for the Sun for 1800–39. When researching a book about Richmond murders in 2009, I was pleased to discover that in March 1834 Thomas Smethurst (who was tried for the murder of his bigamous wife in 1859) took out a policy with the Sun on his apothecary’s business in south London – although he was not to qualify as an apothecary until some months later! There is also a card index at the LMA for the Sun’s policies for 1714–31 (Ms 17817) and a microfiche index to both Sun and Royal Exchange policies for 1775–87 (Ms 24172). Those for that other major London insurer, the Phoenix, are located at Cambridge University Library.
The City of London Livery Companies
In the Middle Ages, a number of livery companies were formed in the City, eventually numbering over 100, and encompassing numerous trades and professions, including leather sellers, apothecaries and booksellers, to name but three. These companies had extensive powers over the individual trades which they represented. They could fix prices, working conditions and regulate the quality of goods for sale. They could also prohibit trade by non-members and undertook the training of apprentices. Once a man became a Freeman of the Company he could legitimately set up shop in the City. In fact, trading in the City was prohibited unless a man was a member of one of these companies, though he did not necessarily have to be of the Company in which he was trading. In order to become a Freeman, a man had to either undertake several years of apprenticeship, or his father had to be a member of the Company (through patrimony), or rarest of all, through redemption, a man could buy his way in. However, as the centuries passed, the role of the companies altered and they became more and more involved in charitable undertakings and education: the Stationers’ Company founding the Stationers’ School in Hornsey in the nineteenth century for example. Most still survive to this day and are involved in such roles.
Records of Freemen and apprentices exist for most of these companies, dating from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Those for the Grocers’ Company date from 1345–1652 and 1686–1952 for membership, and for apprentices from 1457–1505 and 1629–1933, for example. Those for London are available at the LMA on microfilm. These records can give the name, date of birth and address of the apprentice, and perhaps his father’s details, plus details of whom he was apprenticed with and for how long. For the Apothecaries’ Company, for example, there are registers of the Court of Examiners, for the apprentices had to take examinations (after 1815). These tell which apothecaries the apprentices worked under, the hospitals they worked in and which subjects they were taught. It then states when they were examined and whether they passed or not. Since apprentices had to be successful in all counts, some had to retake examinations a number of times. However, some companies have not deposited their records at the LMA, such as the Leather Sellers, and anyone interested in these should contact the Clerk of the Company in the first instance.
It should be noted that the membership of these livery companies was low, and decreased as the proportion of the men in London engaged on that particular undertaking decreased as time went on. If, for example, your ancestor was working as a leather seller near St Paul’s Cathedral in the early eighteenth century, it is highly likely that he was a member of the Company in question. However, if your ancestor was engaged in the same trade in, say, Bermondsey in the following century, it is highly unlikely that he would have been a member. The archivist to the Company informed the author that he receives many enquiries from those with London ancestors involved in the leather trade whom they imagine must have been members of the Company, but has to inform them that this was not the case.
Politicians
It is relatively easy to learn about MPs from official publications, especially the HMSO House of Commons volumes, available in all good libraries, covering the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, listing MPs alphabetically and providing a brief biography of each. Newspapers also refer to candidates prior to elections when they use the press to solicit the electorate’s votes.
Many more men were involved in local government. In my career, I am frequently asked by researchers who are convinced that their ancestor was a former mayor to produce lists of mayors of all the local authorities covered by the present borough. Some researchers are quickly disillusioned to learn that their ancestor was a councillor but never mayor. Many will appear in corporation minute books, found in borough or county record offices.
Geoffrey Chaucer, royal servant and poet. Paul Lang’s collection.
Local newspapers are another good source for the history of councillors and would-be councillors, especially towards the end of our period. In the lead-up to any local election, there will usually be brief biographies of each candidate, and what they stood for, as well as which party they represented. Election addresses and results will tell you how successful they were, and these, together with obituaries of local politicians are regular staples of the local press.
Civil Servants
As the seat of central government from the eleventh century, most of the gov
ernment’s employees have worked in London, and as the scope of governmental activities increased in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, their number has soared. However, the survival of records concerning individual civil servants is patchy.
As ever, it is easier to find out about those who held senior grades. The British Imperial Calendar, from 1809 to 1972, listed those at senior grades, with name, rank and department and educational achievements. Earlier civil servants can be located in The Royal Kalendar, 1767–1890. Incomplete series can be found at TNA.
Details of officials from 1557 to 1745 may be found in the Calendars of Treasury Papers and Treasury Books, which are published and indexed. Civil Service Evidence of Age records for 1752–1948 can be seen online at Findmypast.co.uk.
The Army
Britain did not possess a standing army until 1660, and although England has been involved in numerous conflicts at home and abroad from earliest times to the emergence of the Tudors, we know little of them. However, there are a number of sources which may be worth investigating for the Middle Ages. The first concerns those who came over with William the Conqueror. The best source for these is A J Camp’s book, My Ancestors Came over with the Conqueror (1988). Very few people, of course, can trace their ancestors this far back, and usually only through a female line. A list of some of those who fought on Henry V’s side at Agincourt in 1415 can be found in The History of the Battle of Agincourt … the Roll of the Men at Arms (1827). Thousands of men who fought in the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) are listed at www.medievalsoldier.org. Names of gentry and nobility present at the battle of Bosworth can be found in M Bennett, The Battle of Bosworth (2000). Finally, there may be other military muster rolls taken in counties in the Middle Ages, and now possibly located at county record offices. They may list, parish by parish, some at least, of those able-bodied men of the county, along with their weapons, who were eligible for military service. Whether they did see active service, against either the French or the Scots, is unknown, but these lists could be a useful tool, especially if you had an ancestor in that parish in this period. Expect them to be written, of course, in Latin.
The most serious conflict in English history was the Civil Wars of 1642–51, which cumulatively killed proportionately more Britons than the First World War: at least 100,000 of a population of perhaps about 4 million. However, we know more about those who were officers than the majority of men who served in the ranks. For example, there are published lists of men who officered regiments on both sides during the Civil Wars, and these have been published in various books (C Firth and G Davies, The Regimental History of Cromwell’s Army (1940) and S Reid’s Officers and Regiments of the Royalist Army (4 vols, 1985–8)). Those on the war’s losing side suffered, and there is much about them and their finances in two indexed calendars at TNA: Calendar of the Proceedings of the Committee for Advance of Money, 1642–1656 and Calendar of the Proceedings of the Committee for Compounding … 1643–1660.
After the Civil Wars were over and Cromwell was triumphant, substantial armed forces were maintained. This was unusual in peacetime, but since his power derived from the army it could hardly be otherwise. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, the army was reduced in size, but was maintained as a useful adjunct to civil power. With Britain becoming a great power by the beginning of the eighteenth century, the numbers in the regular army increased.
Fifteenth-century knights’ arms and armour. Paul Lang’s collection.
As ever it is easier to trace officers. There are published lists of officers for Queen Anne’s reign, Charles Dalton’s George I’s Army and the army list for 1740. From 1754 there is the annually produced Army List. All these publications list officers by unit, and give a brief account of their service history. All are indexed. There is also an indexed list to officers from 1702–52 at TNA, WO64. For the rank and file, you will need to know in which unit he served, or be prepared to spend much time researching. Regimental pay and muster rolls from 1732–1878 exist in WO12, and description books for 1756–1900 in WO25.
Some men, having left the army, were granted pensions and lived at the Chelsea Hospital, founded in 1691. Soldiers’ Documents for pensioners can be found at TNA, WO97 (1760–1913). These give name, age, birthplace, trade prior to enlistment, service record and reason for discharge. Disability pension records can be found, in date order, for 1715–1882 at TNA, WO116/1–124. Other discharge documents covering 1782–1833 are at WO121/137–22. Muster Rolls (1702–1865) and admissions books (1778–1917) can be found at TNA, WO23. Registers of baptisms (1691–1812), marriages (1691–1765) and burials (1692–1856) are also at TNA, RG4/4330–2 and 4387. Men discharged from 1760 to 1854 can be searched for on TNA’s online catalogue. Deserters are occasionally listed in the marching order books, at TNA in series WO5.
Officers and men of the regiments of Guards are to be found at the Guards’ Museum in London. Records of cavalrymen from 1799–1919 are at TNA.
Soldiers who served at Waterloo can be found online at ancestry.co.uk, which has the Waterloo Medal Roll (37,000 names), and the medal roll for soldiers, 1793–1949. For details of about 9,000 soldiers serving in the Peninsular War of 1807–14, try napoleon-series.org. Rolls of other soldiers from 1656–1888 are on Origins.net, as are births, marriages and deaths of soldiers from the late eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.
Records of the militia and volunteer forces are dealt with in Chapter 11.
The Royal Navy
As with the army, few personal records survive prior to the Restoration. Ships’ muster books survive from 1667, and these list sailors. They are located at TNA, ADM36. More detailed records commence in 1764, when men’s age and birthplace are given. Ships’ pay books also list sailors. As always, tracing officers is easier, with the quarterly Navy List from 1814. The National Maritime Museum has a typescript listing all naval officers from 1660–1815. The 28,000 men who served at Trafalgar can be searched for on a database, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors. Ancestry.co.uk has a roll of naval officers from 1660–1815.
There is little information about Merchant Navy men prior to 1835, but the LMA has a list of petitions from 8,000 of them and their families from 1787–1854, or they can be searched for on www.originsnetwork.com. Muster rolls of seamen post-1747 are to be found at the Maritime History Archive at Newfoundland University on www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/crewlist.php.
The Royal Household
Monarchs have employed many people in their households. The Royal Archives holds a card index for those employed in the Lord Chamberlain’s and Lord Stewards’ from 1660–1837, and there are lists by Sainty and Burcholz in Officials of the Royal Household, 1660–1837. TNA has a number of archives pertaining to royal servants’ appointments and payments on series LC3 and LC5. Garden and kitchen staff are in series LS. Records for the household prior to 1660 are generally fewer, but for 1523–1696 some are listed separately in tax records, E179.
East India Company
This joint stock company was incorporated in 1660 and established trading posts in India. It also maintained its own armed forces. Its archives are at the British Library and include records of births, marriages and burials of its employees in India. From 1803 printed lists of all its employees were published annually, and these survive. They also have lists of Company ships’ surgeons and ship log books list particulars of men punished.
The Police
Apart from the railway police, the Metropolitan Police Force was Britain’s first police force, founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829, and is the largest one in terms of personnel, budget and in renown. Originally there were but 3,000 men, who patrolled central London.
The archives for its personnel are to be found at TNA, because it was originally under the control of the Home Secretary, so was part of central government’s records (county forces were under the control of the county magistrates, then the county councillors, and so are often held in county record offices).
There are various sourc
es of information about members of the force. Probably the best method is to begin by using the alphabetical list of men who joined, which covers 1830–57, which has been microfilmed (MEPO 4/333–8). This will give rank, division, dates of appointment and removal, and also the warrant number, which is a key reference for further research.
If the ancestor might have died in service between 1829 and 1889, check MEPO 4/2, which is indexed and gives the cause of death. For the first few thousands of recruits, HO 65/26 is an alphabetical register, 1829–1836. Early recruits from 1829–30 can be located in MEPO 4/31–2, arranged by warrant number. These give the officer’s height and why he was dismissed (often due to drinking on duty). There are also a number of name indexes, compiled using these records, and which are available at TNA.
Before the Metropolitan Police were introduced into outer London parishes, many had their own watch forces, and records often survive of personnel. Lewisham Archives have documents listing their special constables for 1830–2. TNA holds records of the Bow Street Runners, the force predating the Met. Horse Patrol records are in MEPO2/25; for the men of the Foot Patrol, see MEPO4/508. Provincial police forces did not exist until after the 1839 Police Act, so need not concern us here. However, towns often employed watchmen, sometimes discharged servicemen, and urban magistrates’ records may mention the names of men employed on such duties.
Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837 Page 6
