This is a brief guide to researching records of civil or crown servants. Many of these records do not survive, except for those serving in a very senior position, and those that do survive can be difficult to find. You will need to know details of what work the civil or crown servant did, when, and in which organisation, to find out more about their employment history.
-
What do I need to know before I start?
-
Try to find out:
- the name of the person
- the organisation they worked in
- the date range to focus search
-
-
What records can I see online?
-
Royal Household Staff 1526-1924
Search for a Royal Household employee from 1526-1924 using the Royal Household establishment lists and Royal Household index sheets (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) on findmypast.co.uk.
-
Civil Service evidences of age (for years of birth between 1752-1948)
Search the index to Civil Service evidences of age (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) records on findmypast.co.uk. The records were originally collected by the Civil Service Commission and are now held by the Society of Genealogists.
-
-
What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
-
Application papers of famous or high-ranking civil servants (1836-1976)
Search the Civil Service Commission records in CSC 11 for application papers of people who were, either at the time of application or subsequently, famous or of high rank.
-
Records of government departments
Although The National Archives does not hold employment records, there are some lists of civil servants in the records of the relevant government departments. Try searching by department code in Discovery, our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies, along with terms such as 'staff list', 'establishment list' or 'register of service'.
-
Correspondence of the Lord Chamberlain's department (1710-1902)
Browse LC 1 in our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies for correspondence of the department. Registers, including those to this correspondence, are in LC 3.
-
Accounts of the Lord Chamberlain's department (1483-1901)
Browse LC 9, LC 10 and LC 11 in our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies for accounts of the department. Many of the volumes are indexed.
-
Warrants of appointment of servants and officers of the Lord Steward's department (1660-1820)
Browse LS 13/246-267 in our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies for Warrants of Appointment.
-
Accounts of the Lord Steward's department (1640-1761)
Browse LS 1, LS 2, LS 3, LS 4, LS 6, LS 7 and LS 8 in our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies for accounts of the department. Those relating to the kitchen are in LS 9, and to the royal gardens in LS 10, LS 11 and LS 12.
-
To access these records you will either need to visit us, commission research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
-
-
What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
-
The Royal Archives
The Royal Archives has references to people employed in the Royal Household from the 18th century, and indexes to names of people employed from 1660 onwards.
-
-
What other resources will help me find information?
-
Websites
Consult Office-Holders in Modern Britain on the Institute of Historical Research website for information up to the 19th century.
Search the Database of Court Officers 1660-1837 on the Loyola University of Chicago website.
-
Printed sources
Consult the Royal Kalendar (1767-1890), the British Imperial Calendar (1809-1972), the Civil Service Year Book (1972- ), the Foreign Office List (1852-1965), the Colonial Office List (1862-1966) or The Diplomatic List (1966- ).
Consult Officials of the Royal Household, 1660-1837, Part I: Department of the Lord Chamberlain and associated offices, and Part II: Departments of the Lord Steward and the Master of the Horse compiled by J C Sainty and R O Bucholz (University of London Institute of Historical Research, 1997 and 1998 respectively).
-
Tracing people in businesses and trades 
Births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales
Census