Genealogy Chat

Some places (like Portsmouth!) have Burgess Rolls. The voting rules are slightly different for those in a general election and, even in 1900, women who were widows were able to vote in local elections in their own right. The snag with electoral and burgess rolls is that they are not indexed (though Portsmouth is for 1900!) so you have to know the address.

Was being a bit lazy there Nell , please don't shout at me!!!!!!!!!!! I forget to look on there and having read Alters reply just popped the question on here without thinking. Thanks for your answers tho (you and Alter)

Ive seen Gores or street indexes going back to 1870's in Liverpool Central->>>>up to 1970's. in addition to electoral roles ive seen reference to poll books going back to the 1700's in some archive sections listed in the Familia site which specifies the location of archives for specific counties.

THIS IS FROM THE GETTING STARTED SECTION OF THIS WEBSITE, BUT YOU HAVE TO SCROLL DOWN THE HOMEPAGE TO FIND IT AND THEN CLICK. I AM SHOUTING BECAUSE IT ANNOYS ME THAT GR HAVE THE INFO BUT DON'T PUT IT SOMEWHERE MORE OBVIOUS FOR PEOPLE! Directories and electoral registers Directories are published lists of names and addresses, variously covering prominent, private and commercial residents of parishes, towns and cities. Although published for large cities since the 18th century, they are most common for the 19th and early 20th centuries, until their role was taken over by telephone directories. On a commercial level, they tended to list men trading in their own right, but seldom employees. Some also provide street-by-street lists of inhabitants. Contact the nearest local studies library or county record office to discover what is held there, or you can use the substantial collection at the Society of Genealogists in London. Electoral registers began in 1832 and by 1884 all male householders over the age of 21 were entitled to vote. By 1918 all men over 21 and women over the age of 30 could vote, changing to the age of 21 for women in 1928. In 1969 the age was lowered from 21 to 18. They are usually kept by local libraries and county record offices

Does anyone know when Gores and the Electoral Registers were first introduced? Kat

Dont see why not........if that is the main library there.

1902........lol Sorry, couldn't resist that. Sue.................

Thank you so much for that information. Perhaps I might be able to find my ellusive Andrews/Norman family. They were in the 1901 census in Burnley but story goes she ended up in Salford and died c1905 and husband/son in Bradford!!! though can find no trace of her. So would I be able to get Gores and electors register in Burnley library. He was 47 and she was 42 in 1901.

A combination of Gores or Street directories and the electoral are needed. I found using these in my local library was a must . I was able to work out peoples ages from the time that they first appeared in an electoral role,knowing the laws on voting and how they changed as the decades proceeded. If you have very little to go on try doing this............. Lets presume you are looking for Harriet Fielding,you know her mother and father were called Frank and Doris.The parents were born say in the 1880's,turn of the century and youve found them on the 1901 census as kids. You know the rough area town,and have their marriage cert from 1906.Lets say Norwich.So youre looking for Frank and doris Fielding and daughter harriet in norwich,no dates for harriets birth,no address for them.You dont even know what Frank did for a living. (1)Go to Norwich main Library and search out microfilm gores directory or book version-its done year by year.There are 2 indexes-alphabetical and address.You dont know the address so you lookup alphabetical.This will show up just head of household-in this case frank. (2)Go to gores 1919, alphabetical fielding-frank-theres a good chance that there will only be a few ,maybe only one-occupation and address will be given. Write down the address(s) and then go to the corresponding electoral role 1919 for that address. (3) In 1919 any woman,wife would show up in the house if she were 30 years old or older.....therefore if a Doris shows up straight away at one of the addresses,then thats your family(and you know she is 30 or over). (4)If she doesnt show up in 1919,keep looking those addreses up each year,1920,1921,1922 and so on until she appears .If she suddenly appears in 1925,you now know she was born approx. 1895.If Harriet suddenly appears in say the 1931 role you now know she was born in 1910 ish because voting for women at the age of 21 was made law in 1928. (5) If you track the address year after year and suddenly they disappear,then you know they have moved house.>>>>say this happens 1934.>>>>>off you go and get gores 1934/5 and lookup the name frank fielding again,like you did last time. (6) You now have new adress from gores>>>go back to the electoral role and continue tracking. (7)You track the address and suddenly in 1936 Harriet disappears>>>shes either died or got married in this year>>>go to 1837 site or microfiche for that year to find her death or marriage. (8)So now its just frank and doris.In the role in 1938,franks isnt on it>>>check deaths etc. As you can see by tracking through the years you are aquiring leads for more detailed info,and building up a picture.

If you are doing family search, the first big rule is start with yourself and go backwards, working through birth, marriage and death certificates. So doing that you should come to ancestors born prior to 1901 and you can pick them up on the previous censuses. Though you will still need certs to back up your info.

But be warned - 1911 is in loose, smelly sheets and no plans to index or microfilm it. 1931 was destroyed. 1941 wasn't taken. If you want to find people after 1901 you can find adults able to vote in electoral rolls and householders in street directories. These are in records offices, local history centres and some central libraries. nell

They only become available after 100 years. 1911 will be available 2012, 1921 in 2022 and so on.

i know you can search names & adresses in 1901, but why can`t i get anything after this year... i thought the census was every ten years..... ( iam new to this so shout at me if i sound dull ) many thanx