Directories
The Unsung heroes of Local and Family History
1939 Ward Croydon Street Directory
Directories include an abundance of information relating to a particular area and are a primary source for researching family, local and social history. The original purpose of directories was to provide detailed information about towns and the local community for travellers and other visitors. The directories, often named after the publisher, such as Kelly or Ward sometimes initially included maps.
In the directory would be a general description of the town or area and details on local transportation, churches, schools, government offices, shops, and businesses, etc. Information relating to specific people, such as tradesmen, businessmen and shopkeepers, was included as well. You will find some of the directories even list notable dates. Later, directories began to include sections on private residents. At first this mainly consisted of the wealthier and more prominent individuals but eventually the directories became more comprehensive and more residents, especially householders, were included regardless of their social status.
1849 Street Directory Advertisement
Directories are great sources for locating people in a particular place and time. They are especially useful to fill in the gaps between the census years and in earlier years when censuses are non-existent. However, directories are also an excellent source for gathering details to help you place your ancestors in historical context. As most directories provided descriptions and other information about the town and surrounding localities, directories really can help you paint a picture of what life was like during the time your ancestor was living in a certain place.
Street Directories were published for towns and cities across the UK so it is worth contacting your local archives/record office to see if they hold a collection for your research. At the Museum of Croydon we have a large collection of street directories. Our earliest directories from 1851 are published by a range of companies including Jesse Ward, founder of the local newspaper, the Croydon Advertiser. He saw an opportunity and the first directory in our collection by him dates from 1874. They were published each year until 1939 and ceased during WW2. After the war, some directories were published but as populations grew, it was more difficult to make them comprehensive and phone directories were in direct competition.
One great thing about this resource is that they have a range of indexes to navigate through them. In Ward’s 1880 Croydon directory, there is an alphabetical arrangement of the principal tradesmen and residents with a reference to find out more. Further indexes provide links to each street in the borough, an index of churches & chapels, literary & musical societies, public charities, political associations, religious & benevolent societies. Further on is an alphabetical list of private residents, lists by trade and of the principal residents in neighbouring parishes, really useful if your ancestor lived in a small village, not covered by the main directory. If your ancestor moved around within the area, you can track that between directories.
There are some limitations to using this as a source for your research. They show the main householder, whether they own, rent or occupy as part of their job. They won’t show if a resident is married or where several families are sharing a dwelling. The information was collected by individuals knocking on doors who would sometimes misspell names. It took time to compile the lists so they may be up to a year out of date and you need to look at other sources such as Electoral Rolls to get a clearer picture.
Street Directories are an amazing snapshot of social history about the area they cover. They are one of the most used resources and are top of our list to recommend to researchers when they start on the journey to find out more about their ancestors.
Lindsay Ould, Borough Archivist and
Mandy Smith, Collections Access Officer
Museum of Croydon
