Trade Directories on CD

Directories are very useful to genealogists because they often provide details of individual residents, usually listed alphabetically as well as by street. They also provide lists of businesses, alphabetically and by trade. Finally, there is usually a description and considerable detail of the location itself - its key attributes, lists of the key institutions (like the Council, the Churches, Magistrates, Schools, and so on). Although they are an invaluable source, it should be remembered that they do not record every person who was living in a town or was commercially active. No directory (or for that matter, no archive) is ever perfect.

Although the directories listed here are from different publishers, they generally follow a similar format, as follows:-

Section		Description of contents

Introduction		Key facts about the location which the directory covers. Includes history, main institutions (e.g. Council, Magistrates, Churches, Schools), and other general information.

Court Directory (sometimes called Private Residents directory)		An alphabetical list of residents. Generally, it was only the more affluent residents who are to be found in this section.

Street directory		List of residents and traders by street. Streets are in alphabetical order, and residents listed by the number of their house if there was one (or sometimes by name of house)

Commercial directory		List of traders in alphabetical order. Frequently, a resident who does not appear elsewhere appears in this section, but the address given is usually the trading address

Trades Directory		Same traders as listed in the Commercial directory, but summarised by trade

Contents will obviously vary, depending on the year of publication (for example, the Council in Birmingham was not established until 1834, so details of it cannot appear before that date). Generally, the earlier directories contain less detail than the later ones.