The digital collection of local and trade directories in Wales and England from 1750 to 1919 have been completed by the University of Leicester and will assist the family researcher immensely. The online site is free and open for the public to use.

The earliest dates of 1750 to 1849 offer only a sampling of some published directories, but does offer a good comparison with the later directories. Even with the later part of the 19th century and into the 20th, not every town is published. The maps included in many directories had to be eliminated as they were not suitable for scanning.

On the homepage of the historical directories site the selections include ‘Find by location’, Find by decade’ or ‘Find by keywords.’ Using anyone or a couple of them in the search should produce some information.

Selecting the decade of the 1900s produced 85 different directories. There were ones for 1903 in Kent County, 1907 in London and Middlesex, 1905 in Yorkshire and 1902 in Somerset, just naming a few. Clicking on the ‘directory’ produced a scanned image of the actual booklet. Each page can be advanced and enlarged with zooming in or out for easier viewing. A search box for each directory helps in locating a specific person. There is also a ‘file fact’ section providing details about a certain directory.

The amount of listings will vary based on the location and the time period but just review the surname of ‘Kerr’ in Manchester & Salford Directory for 1895 produced about 35 listings. Individual names (head of households) were given, their trade or occupation, their home address, as well as those with their own business name. Just reading over the numerous jobs for 1895 is an education in itself. There were hay and straw dealers, a bleacher, millwright, pawnbroker, brush maker and cotton spinner to name a few.

When researching your family tree, investigate as many different locations and sources. The numerous directories are a wonderful foundation for primary sources.