FFHS-NEWS London Metropolitan Archives launch new records online with Ancestry

Fri Mar 27 07:51:01 CET 2009

Yesterday I attended the launch of the above archives, being placed online,
at the Guildhall in London

Details of records that are now available online are outlined below

David HOLMAN

Chairman FFHS

WORKHOUSES, WILLS, ELECTORAL REGISTERS & SCHOOL RECORDS - 400 YEARS OF
LONDON HISTORY LAUNCHES ONLINE[i] - WORLD FIRST

1 in 2 Brits with ancestors in collection, including J.K. Rowling, David
Beckham and Patsy Kensit

*	77 million records when complete, including workhouse, parish,
school1
*	Famous names include Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys and William
Blake, as well as ancestors of contemporary celebrities JK Rowling, David
Beckham, Patsy Kensit and Britney Spears
*	An estimated 165 million people around the world has an ancestor in
the collection, including more than half of the British population[ii]

**Embargoed until 10:00am on 26th March 2009**

The definitive collection of records detailing the rich history of London
and its inhabitants over 400 years is available online for the first time
today at leading social and family history website Ancestry.co.uk, in
partnership with London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library
Manuscripts following a competitive tender by the City of London to digitise
and exclusively host their collection online.

Starting with records from London's infamous Victorian workhouses memorably
depicted by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist, the London Historical Records,
1500s-1900s will include more than 77 million records, providing an
unprecedented insight into the colourful history of one of the world's
greatest cities. 

Key record types include parish and workhouse records, electoral rolls,
wills, land tax records and school reports. According to a recent family
history survey, more than half of the current British population will have
an ancestor in the London Historical Records, 1500s-1900s.

Furthermore, it is estimated that approximately 135 million people from the
U.S., Canada and Australia will also be able to trace ancestors in the
collection due to London's status as the city at the centre of the British
Empire for centuries2.

Assembled over time direct from various London institutions, the collection
includes the names of millions of ordinary Londoners alongside famous and
infamous figures from the city's past. Notable examples include Oliver
Cromwell's marriage record, the baptism record for poet Samuel Pepys and the
burial register listing for writer and statesman John Milton. 

A number of modern day celebrities can also find ancestors within the
collection. JK Rowling's 3x great-grandfather, William Richard Rowling,
appears in the Mile End marriage registers for 1872, while Patsy Kensit's
ancestor Thomas Kensit can be found in Shoreditch Baptism records from 1815.
David Beckham's London roots are also well documented; with his 3x great-
grandparent's marriage listed in the collection. Even international pop star
Britney Spears can find her great-grandfather, George Portell, listed in the
Tottenham marriage records for 1923. 

The workhouse or 'Board of Guardians' records now online contain the names
of anyone who was born, baptised or died in a London workhouse in the 19th
and early 20th century. During this time, men, women and children who
couldn't support themselves were forced to live in these institutions,
working long hours in tedious jobs in exchange for minimal food and board. 

The conditions were kept intentionally poor to deter others and unofficial
beatings or starving of inmates were not unheard of. Overcrowding was also a
major problem, compounded by the influx of Irish immigrants after the potato
famine of the mid 19th century. While conditions improved slightly in the
early 20th century, the workhouses were still a feared 'last resort' by most
until their abolition in 1930. 

The workhouse records cover 12 key London regions[iii]. Also included today
are a variety of workhouse creed registers, admissions, discharges,
apprenticeship papers and lists of 'lunatics'.

Workhouse records are just one of the record types which comprise the London
Historical Records, 1500s-1900s. Others include:

*	Parish Registers - from 1538, priests had to keep records of all
baptisms, marriages and burials in their parish. These records are taken
from over 10,000 Greater London parishes, and as they pre-date both civil
registration and censuses, they are the essential 'next step back' for
people wishing to trace their family history beyond the 19th century  

*	School Admissions and Discharges - contain records taken from 800+
London schools dating from the early Victorian times through to 1911. They
provide admission details and information about millions of London students

*	Non-Conformist Registers - details the birth, baptism, death and
burial of religious dissenters who did not worship at the established church
in England from 1694 to 1921. The majority of the records are for Methodist,
Baptist and United Reformed churches, although there are smaller collections
of other denominations such as Quakers and Seventh Day Adventists

*	Diocesan Divorce Exhibita - one of a number of interesting records
from the London diocesan courts, when applying for divorce, a husband or
wife would submit evidence for their partner's marital failings, including
love letters, witness accounts and sworn testimony, which were then kept on
record. 

Josh Hanna, Senior Vice President of Ancestry, comments: "We estimate that
half of Brits will be able to find an ancestor in this collection, which
pre-dates civil registration and censuses, and documents the history of a
great city and its people, their birth, poverty, fortunes, faith, education,
marriage and death.

 "No city in modern history other than London can claim to have been the
capital of such a far reaching empire, which really is why this collection
is of such significance not only to Brits, but also to many others around
the world with ancestral ties back to England."

Dr Deborah Jenkins, Assistant Director of the City of London's Department of
Libraries, Archives and Guildhall Art Library, comments: "We are delighted
to work with Ancestry.co.uk to digitise this impressive collection of
documents. 

"Not only will this mean that millions of people will be able to access this
resource from the comfort of their own homes all over the world - it also
ensures that we will be able to support the long term preservation of the
documents and provide fast, free access to researchers who visit our sites."

ENDS

The London Historical Records, 1500s-1900s, can be accessed directly at
<http://www.ancestry.co.uk/lma> www.ancestry.co.uk/lma 

ABOUT ANCESTRY.CO.UK 

Ancestry.co.uk has more than 820 million names in collections including the
most comprehensive online collection of England, Wales and Scotland Censuses
from 1841 to 1901, the England and Wales Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes,
1837-2005, World War One British Army Service and Pension records, UK and
Ireland Parish and Probate Records and the British Phone Books, 1880-1984.

Ancestry.co.uk was launched in May 2002 and is part of the global network of
Ancestry websites (wholly owned by The Generations Network, Inc.), which
contains seven billion names in 27,000 historical record collections. To
date more than 9.3 million family trees have been created and 915 million
names and 16 million photographs uploaded. 7 million unique visitors logged
on to an Ancestry website in January 2009.*

The Ancestry global network of family history websites: www.ancestry.com
<http://www.ancestry.com/>   in the US, www.ancestry.co.uk
<http://www.ancestry.co.uk/>  in the UK, www.ancestry.ca
<http://www.ancestry.ca/>   in Canada, www.ancestry.com.au
<http://www.ancestry.com.au/>  in Australia, www.ancestry.de
<http://www.ancestry.de/>  in Germany, www.ancestry.it
<http://www.ancestry.it/>  in Italy, www.ancestry.fr
<http://www.ancestry.fr/>  in France, www.ancestry.se
<http://www.ancestry.se/>  in Sweden and www.jiapu.com
<http://www.jiapu.com/>  in China. 

*comScore, Unique Visitors, January 2009

About London Metropolitan Archives

London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) is the largest local authority record
office in the United Kingdom. It manages and provides public access to 80KM
of archives, photographs, plans, audio-visual and printed material dating
from 1067 to the present day - an enormous amount of information about the
capital and its people. LMA is the premier destination for family historians
tracing their roots in the London area and for learning about any aspect of
the capital's past.  

About Guildhall Library

The Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library is the local record office for
the City of London (the "Square Mile"). Its holdings date from the 11th
century and include the archives of the Diocese of London, St Paul's
Cathedral, the City wards and parishes, and around 80 of the City livery
companies.

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[i] When complete in 2010

[ii] London roots - research methodology

In order to estimate the percentage of the population with London roots in
four major countries (U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK), more than 9,000
people who had researched their family history were surveyed using Zoomerang
International. The percentages of people who found London ancestors (more
than three generations back) in each country was as follows: UK (60%), U.S.
(55.6%), Canada (59.6%) and Australia (70.8%).These percentages were then
applied to the white/European fraction of the population based on national
census data, giving the following results: UK (33 million), US (107.8
million), Canada (14.6 million), Australia (12.7 million) = 168.1 million -
approx 165 million.

[iii] Records launched today cover 12 major London regions: Poplar,
Paddington, St Marylebone, St Pancras, Southwark, Islington, Stepney,
Westminster, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Holborn and Hampstead. The remaining
regions will launch online in the coming months.

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