How to handle change of County Boundaries when recording Locations?

[Tikva]

Hi There,
During my genealogy research, I have encountered a number of parishes/towns that in the earlier 1800's were considered to be part of one County, but later on were considered to be part of another one.  An example of this is the town of Measham, which was originally part of Derbyshire, but later become part of Leicestershire.  I was wanting to find out from others who also research their genealogy whether or not they use the 2 separate location County's, depending on what time period the event occurred in, or if they use the County that is used today?  I am doing a lot of work on tidying up my family tree, and am just not sure whether to have one location (i.e. Measham, Leicestershire, England) listed for all events that occurred there, or whether to keep them separate depending on when the event was (i.e. Measham, Derbshire, England AND Measham, Leicestershire, England).  I hope I'm explaining myself well enough for people to respond with how they handle such occurrences.  Many thanks!

[LizzieW]

I always use the name of the county as it was when my ancestors lived there.  So for instance, many of my ancestors were from places which used to be in Lancashire but are now in Cumbria, but I use Lancashire as that was what it was when they were alive.

[KGarrad]

I would use the county that was current at the time of the event.

E.G. somebody born in Measham, Derbyshire may have been married in Measham, Leicestershire!

[youngtug]

Personally I use the county name that was in use at the time of the event. If there is a need to, you could add a note explaining the difference over time.

[stanmapstone]

You could have a look at The Association of British Counties, Notes for Historians and Genealogists http://www.gazetteer.co.uk/section4.html

Stan

[Billyblue]

Goodness, Stan!
I'm more confused than ever!        

What a mish-mash.  You'd think they would have kept their registration and administration districts within matching boundaries??

Dawn M

[Skoosh]

The Glasgow, Lanarkshire, business is a bit of a nonsense. The city hasn't been in Lanarkshire for  about a century and some of it was originally in Renfrewshire anyhow, but if you're buying online they often insist on a county.

Skoosh.

[KGarrad]

And the Association of British Counties refuses to accept that Bristol was City & County for over 600 years!

[pinefamily]

All these last technicalities aside (no offence to anyone  ), it seems the consensus is to use the county as it was at the time, or as your ancestors knew it. If your ancestors stayed in the same place, and it changed counties, then you might need to record the fact of the the change for future reference. Otherwise someone else reading it might think they had moved.
My London area ancestors I often just record the parish or place, just to keep it simple.