One sixth of the population of England and Wales live in the London area, and a high proportion of the population has always lived in London. Most genealogists will have, sooner or later, to tackle the tracing of London ancestry.
Indeed, much London genealogy in reality consist of trying to get out of London as quickly as possible and tracing ancestry to some nice small country village, preferably with an excellent set of registers!
Tracing London ancestors is difficult, but not impossible! Now into its sixth edition, Cliff Webb's introductory guide to research in London is a must for those researching this region.
However, tracing London ancestors is not impossible, and relies on much the same techniques used elsewhere, however with different emphases. The purpose of this book is to review those techniques in the specific circumstances of London, which has been made enormously easier by the development of internet resources.
This work concentrates on the period after 1600. The beginnings of many of the sources discussed pre-date 1600 but there is no discussion of sources which are only or predominantly useful before that date.
Contents:
About the author
The scope of this book and what is meant by London
1. Administrative divisions
2. London family history societies
3. Registrar-General's records
4. Census returns
5. Parish and non-parochial registers and records
6. Directories, lists of tax-payers, voters and other name lists
7. Poor law records
8. Wills and administrations
9. Apprenticeship, livery company and occupational records
10. School records
11. Newspapers
12. Manorial and other records of land ownership
13. Criminal and civil legal records
14. Depositions
Footnotes
Appendix 1: London record repositories
Appendix 2: Parishes in Greater London
Footnotes to Appendix 2
Appendix 3: The suburbs and smaller areas of London
Appendix 4: Addresses of family history societies
Appendix 5: Online availibility of London census records
Maps of metropolitan boroughs and London boroughs
