Electoral Rolls

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

Hi

This shows the differences in areas
I have never used a library for such things - they just don't seem to hold anything for my areas

There is a distinction between the lending library and reference library though, here in the Scottish borders my local town library is only a small lending library although the town is the second largest in the region.

The reference library is located ten miles away in a smaller town, combines lending and reference in a smaller building than my local site.

Lincolnshire has a couple of reference libraries but the main one is in Lincoln itself and only 200 yards from the county archives office and family history society.


As an afterthought, the price diferential i mentioned can sometimes be because of the way the electoral roll is displayed, it isn't arranged by name but by address, the initial problem is finding the correct ward that applies to an address then going through the ward street by street. Some streets are covered by two or more wards and can be difficult to trace easily, also ward boundaries changed over the years. All this adds time to the search process and when charged by the hour explains the price hike when the archives are involved.

I believe (possibly incorrectly) that the library either cannot make a charge for searching or has a maximum fee that can be applied due to some quirk of public access/funding reuirements.

Glen

[toni*]

do you mean registers of voters ? aka poll books ?
try the book poll books and lists 1696-1872 a directory of holdings in great britain by J Gibson and C Rogers#and consult familia.org.uk for library collections

so from 1696 after each election they were publised and listed
names
addresses
and qualifying properties along with who they voted for until the ballot became secret

electoral registers have been printed annually since 1832 bar 1916/17 & 1940-44

the most complete series of electoral registers for the UK is held at the British Library in London pre 1832 survivalis patchy
and there is a complete set 1937/38 and then from 1947 onwards

to 1915 the regsters were arrnaged by constituecy , ward, polling district township and voting qualification
constituency boundarys change time to time
the names of voters are listed alphabetically wth their actual qualifying address and electoral numbers
after 1918 the registers were organised alphabetically by street name and then alphabetically by voters surname - so if you dont know where they lived these might prove a problem in searching

[eadaoin]

hi toni*

I suppose the Welsh ones would be in the British Library, too.

I've only used their newspaper section, which is way out in North London. where would they have the Electoral registers/Poll books? I've used the Irish ones for the 20th Century, and they've been great for sorting out cousins etc.

eadaoin

[toni*]

this link might tell you where the Welsh ones are held
 familia.org.uk 

if you can't get to the British Library try emailing them see what they can offer for free 

[stonechat]

Don't rely on the familia link it no good for the areas I am intersted in

[toni*]

try this site
it might help you locate what you need - and then again it may not

 

http://www.cyndislist.com/voters.htm

[eadaoin]

thanks, toni* and stonechat

I might try the British Library website too
eadaoin

[newburychap]

do you mean registers of voters ? aka poll books ?

Poll Books and Electoral Rolls or Registers are different beasts.

Electoral Registers hold the names of all those elligible to vote. They exist for parliamentary constituencies and for municipal wards (sometime found as Burgess Rolls). Those elligible vary with time and the two types become one at some point (1920s at a guess). Elligibility for parliamentary and municipal elections was different (eg. women could vote in municipal elections long before they could vote for a MP). Electoral registers were updated annually from 1832 and still are.

Poll Books hold lists of people who voted in an election - and who they voted for. They would only be created if there was a poll - many/most elections did not result in a poll as the number of candidates nominated equalled the number of seats available. Poll books are often printed, the information given varies. Some are manuscript lists and later ones are often annotated electoral rolls. They had to be made following legislation in 1696 and stopped being published after 1872 when the secret ballot came in.

There are separate Gibson guides giving the locations of Poll Books and of Electoral Rolls (1832-1948)

[toni*]

my copy of Sussex Electors 1832
states
Votes - the votes cast have been entered afetr the electors name
Cast - using the foloowing numerical code 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...etc.
Notes
Parish of registration is entered in ()brackets whe it is different from that of the parish in which the person resides
entries in Italics did not vote either through death of loss of qualification