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Pigot & Co's Commercial Directories.  These are quite handy and I have found that the 1835 one (covered the Midlands area I was looking at) is all online.   Even if you don't know if your ancestor had a trade it is worth checking and interesting just looking at all the different trades then.   I found a g.g.g. grandfather listed under "Straw Hat Maker" in Stourbridge and Dudley in 1835, which at least backed up his 1841 census entry for occupation, plus put him in a different town.   

When I finally discovered the Google BOOKS tab (yes, you need to click where it says More!!), a whole world opened up. Things appeared that were missed on the basic Google home search. On about page ten of the searches (how sad am I) I suddenly found a Dublin g.g.g. grandmother had been a botanist with a plant named after her - tip when searching for women you need to search for "Mrs Whatever" not just firstname and last name as lots of
references from those days are simply to the married title.

This method also produced another 19th century lady relative from Dublin who had had a book of her verses published - and luckily the whole book was found and
downloadable.
Last but not least, I discovered my naughty g.uncle had written an
autobiography under as assumed name - how obliging of him - filled in all the blanks!

Good luck with your searching - you just don't know what is out there.

Nickie

Don't overlook Google books.  I used to just rely on the main web search of Google, till I found the Books tab.   It was worth the effort as on about the tenth page (yes, I must be nuts) I found a reference to my g.g.g. grandmother being a botanist and having a plant named after her.   A total shock.   I also had a very unexpected bonus discovering another naughty relative had written his autobiography - you just never know what you might find.

I found a lot of births of Baptist relatives via this site:

www.bmdregisters.co.uk
The Official Non-Parochial BMDs Service
For records of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial taken from non parish sources

Wish I'd found it earlier - Ancestry did not have the records.

N

I am looking for a birth and marriage record for Samuel Hallam (born 1800 in England) and Ann Chamberlain born 21 Oct 1799 Nottingham (recorded at Broad Street Baptist Chapel).  She lived in St Mary's Nottingham.   Parents were William and Ann Chamberlain.

As both are Baptists, how easy will this be?  Searching on Ancestry revealed nothing except an 1841 census entry.  They then went to Canada and I have info for there.

Samuel and Ann Hallam's first child Emily was born 1823 so marriage sometime before then. A lot of their children were baptisted at Dudley Baptist Chapel, Warwickshire: Priscilla, Ebenezer, Emily and Leonara in the 1830s.

Any help greatly appreciated.