John Wintrip - Tracing Your Georgian Ancestors, 1714–1837: A Guide for Family Historians

TRACING YOUR GEORGIAN ANCESTORS 17141837

The Family History Web Directory

Jonathan Scott

Tracing British Battalions on the Somme

Ray Westlake

Tracing Great War Ancestors

BHTV

Tracing History Through Title Deeds

Nat Alcock

Tracing Secret Service Ancestors

Phil Tomaselli

Tracing the Rifle

Ray Westlake

Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors

Phil Tomaselli

Tracing Your Ancestors

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837

Jonathan Oates

Tracing Your Ancestors Through Letters and Personal Writings

Ruth A Symes

Tracing Your Aristocratic Ancestors

Anthony Adolph

Tracing Your Army Ancestors

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Army Ancestors - 2nd Edition

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Army Ancestors - 3rd Edition

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Birmingham Ancestors

Michael Sharpe, Michael Sharpe

Tracing Your Black Country Ancestors

Michael Pearson

Tracing Your Boer War Ancestors

Jane Marchese Robinson

Tracing Your Canal Ancestors

Sue Wilkes

Tracing Your Channel Islands Ancestors

Marie-Louise Backhurst

Tracing Your Criminal Ancestors

Stephen Wade

Tracing Your East Anglian Ancestors

Gill Blanchard

Tracing Your East End Ancestors

Jane Cox

Tracing Your First World War Ancestors

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Glasgow Ancestors

Ian Maxwell

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Gallipoli Campaign

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Somme

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: Ypres

Simon Fowler

Tracing Your Huguenot Ancestors

Kathy Chater

Tracing Your Jewish Ancestors

Rosemary Wenzerul

Tracing Your Jewish Ancestors - Second Edition

Rosemary Wenzerul

Tracing Your Labour Movement Ancestors

Mark Crail

Tracing Your Legal Ancestors

Stephen Wade

Tracing Your Liverpool Ancestors

Mike Royden

Tracing Your Liverpool Ancestors - Second Edition

Mike Royden

Tracing Your London Ancestors

Jonathan Oates

Tracing Your Medical Ancestors

Michelle Higgs

Tracing Your Merchant Navy Ancestors

Simon Wills

Tracing Your Northern Ancestors

Keith Gregson

Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors

Ian Maxwell

Tracing Your Pauper Ancestors

Robert Burlison

Tracing Your Police Ancestors

Stephen Wade

Tracing Your Pre-Victorian Ancestors

John Wintrip

Tracing Your Prisoner of War Ancestors: The First World War

Sarah Paterson

Tracing Your Railway Ancestors

Di Drummond

Tracing Your Royal Marine Ancestors

Richard Brooks, Richard Brooks and Matthew Little

Tracing Your Rural Ancestors

Jonathan Brown

Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors

Ian Maxwell

Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors

Phil Tomaselli

Tracing Your Servant Ancestors

Michelle Higgs

Tracing Your Service Women Ancestors

Mary Ingham

Tracing Your Shipbuilding Ancestors

Anthony Burton

Tracing Your Tank Ancestors

Janice Tait, David Fletcher

Tracing Your Textile Ancestors

Vivien Teasdale

Tracing Your Twentieth-Century Ancestors

Karen Bali

Tracing Your Welsh Ancestors

Beryl Evans

Tracing Your West Country Ancestors

Kirsty Gray

Tracing Your Yorkshire Ancestors

Rachel Bellerby

Your Irish Ancestors

Ian Maxwell

A Guide for Family Historians

John Wintrip

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

PEN & SWORD FAMILY HISTORY

an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright John Wintrip 2018

ISBN 978 1 52670 422 1

eISBN 978 1 52670 424 5

Mobi ISBN 978 152670 423 8

The right of John Wintrip to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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I would like to express my thanks to all my previous clients, who collectively have given me the opportunity to examine a far wider range of sources while researching their ancestors than would have been possible through personal research alone. I am also grateful to the staff of the large number of archives throughout the country where I have carried out both personal and professional research over many years. I would particularly like to register my gratitude to Jacky Casson, Karen Cummings, Judy Lester and Malcolm McEachran for reading through drafts of the text and making valuable suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Jessica for her constant support and encouragement while I was writing this book. vi

The following abbreviations have been used throughout this book:

GRO General Register Office

LDS Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

TNA The National Archives

Over two decades ago, as a relatively inexperienced researcher, I searched in vain for a book that focused specifically on research in the period immediately before civil registration. In the continuing absence of such a book, and after several years as a professional genealogist, I began to think about writing one myself. I subsequently came to the conclusion that two complementary but self-contained books might be more appropriate: one would describe the sources, and the other, aimed at more experienced researchers, would concentrate on research methods. As so little had been written on research methods, I decided to write that book first. Tracing Your Pre-Victorian Ancestors: A Guide to Research Methods for Family Historians was published by Pen & Sword in February 2017. I then turned my attention to the present book.

The aim of this book is to describe the sources available for researching ancestors in Georgian England. The period defined as the Georgian era is often considered to include the short reign of William IV, who died only a few days before civil registration was introduced in 1837. This definition is particularly apt in the context of family history research, and has therefore been used in the context of this book.

The genealogical sources surviving from the Georgian era are essentially the same as they were many decades ago, but what has changed, and has been increasing rapidly in recent years, is the availability of online search tools and digital images of sources. Online resources can enable research to be accomplished in hours that would previously have taken months or years, but the material available online represents only the tip of the iceberg, the size of which is dependent on the area of the country in which research is being carried out and specific characteristics of the individuals and families being investigated. Overcoming brick walls before 1837 often requires using sources that are only available in archives. Researchers are more likely to be able to find information about their ancestors by first identifying appropriate sources and then establishing how they can access them, rather than the other way around. Focusing only on sources available online, or only on those held in a conveniently located local archive, can result in significant information not being found.