Home Guard Personnel
Durham Home Guard service papers are available online, see below.
Service histories of members of the Home Guard other than Durham will be available online in March 2028.
What do I need to know before I start?
The Home Guard was organised by region and enrolment forms for the County of Durham have been transferred to The National Archives as a pilot project and are available through our catalogue, Discovery, see below.
Enrolment records for the remainder of England and Wales have been transferred to The National Archives as part of the Ministry of Defence service records project and will be made available through a licensed partnership with Ancestry. It is expected they will be accessible online by March 2028.
What do the records look like?
When a person joined the Home Guard they were asked a series of questions. Their answers were then recorded on the enrolment form.
The records contain the following basic information:
- first and last name
- date and place of birth
- address
- brief details of former military service on the reverse side
Some of the records also include applications for medals, medical forms and general correspondence. The medical forms are closed until 2045 for data protection reasons.
Durham Home Guard enrolment forms, 1940–1945
For papers relating to the rest of the Home Guard see the section below.
Home Guard enrolment forms, 1940–1945
You can request a search for a military service record using one of the following two forms (charges apply):
Form 1: For a deceased person born before 1940
Form 2: For a living person, or your own record, born before 1940
Online records
Recommendations for military honours and awards, 1935–1990
Search our catalogue for recommendations for awards (£) such as the Victoria Cross and the Military Medal. This collection (WO 373) includes awards to some Home Guard personnel.
Home Office Committee on Civil Defence recommendations for gallantry awards, 1940-1949
Search Ancestry.co.uk (£) by name for papers submitted to the committee recommending Home Guard personnel for the George Cross, George Medal or Empire Gallantry Award.
Cabinet Papers
Read our research guide to Cabinet and its committees for advice on searching our catalogue for cabinet papers.
The archived Cabinet Papers site has themed pages which you can browse, some with links to downloadable documents.
Records available only at The National Archives in Kew
To access records held by The National Archives you will either need to visit us, pay for research (£) or, where you can identify a specific record reference, order a copy (£). To access records held in other archives please contact the archives directly.
Home Forces papers and regimental histories
Browse the records of the Home Forces in WO 199 for regimental histories, nominal rolls of Home Guard auxiliary units and other papers. The unit war diary for the Durham Second Battalion is in WO 199/3324.
Treasury Ceremonial Branch Civil Defence Awards Files, 1938-1950
Search the records in T 336 by name, most of the information in these files was published in the London Gazette but some files contain unpublished accounts of actions.
Recommendations for the award of the British Empire Medal, 1944
Consult AIR 2/9040 to find recommendations for the award of the British Empire Medal to some members of the Home Guard on stand-down.
Other records
Records in other archives and organisations
Durham Light Infantry records, 1940s and 1950s
Search the online catalogue of Durham County Record Office to find records of the Durham Light Infantry. These include regulations, orders and instructions for the Durham Home Guard.
Various local records
The National Archives’ catalogue contains collections and contact details of local archives around the UK and beyond. To locate these records, search our catalogue with keywords and refine your results to ‘Other archives’ using the filters.
Other resources
Consult published Home Guard Lists, available at The National Archives library and other specialist libraries, to trace an officer in the Home Guard. These are arranged by area and include name indexes.
1. Why use this guide?
This guide will help you find records at The National Archives of medieval lawsuits and legal cases heard before travelling (‘itinerant’) courts, known as general eyres.
Records of general eyres provide insights into various elements of medieval society in England, including the following:
- the evolution of English common law
- crime and criminality during the medieval period
- the administration of justice in the regions
- local lords and officials, the land they owned and the power they wielded
- specific people and places
The earliest surviving eyre roll dates from 1194 and the last eyre to produce any records was in Kent in 1348.
2. What were general eyres?
During the late 12th and 13th centuries, small groups of judges (often referred to as justices) were sent from the central courts at Westminster to all the counties of England, except Durham and Chester where the royal jurisdiction did not extend, to preside over local courts.
Counties were grouped into circuits, with a group of justices assigned to each one; and the circuits, as well as the courts themselves, were known as eyres. Evidence from the Pipe Rolls suggests that eyres were first held in the mid-1160s. Although general eyres were suspended in 1294, there were isolated eyres during the first half of the 14th century, and a failed attempt at a general revival in 1329-1330. Occasional eyres were summoned until 1374 but there are no known surviving records after 1348.
In theory the eyre justices travelled these circuits at seven-year intervals, although the intervals were in practice often much more varied.
They sat in judgment over various kinds of legal cases, referred to as pleas, that had occurred since the last eyre was conducted – see section 7.3. Among other things, they dealt with:
- lawsuits (known as civil pleas)
- criminal offences (known as crown pleas)
- offences against the King’s property rights (also known as crown pleas)
- after 1278, investigations into the land, property and rights held by local lords with a view to claiming them for the King (a process known as quo warranto)
The term ‘general eyre’ is modern; they were known to contemporaries as eyres ‘for common pleas’ or ‘for all pleas’.
3. How to search for an eyre roll and what they look like
Not all eyre rolls have survived but you can search for details of those that have using Discovery, our catalogue. None of the records described in this guide are available online, so to view any of the documents that you find references for in our catalogue, you will need to either visit The National Archives at Kew or pay for copies to be sent to you. Alternatively, you can pay for research.
For general tips on searching the catalogue, see the Discovery help page.
3.1 All counties except Chester and Durham
Search for eyre rolls by clicking on the following series references, using the name of a county as your search term:
- up to 1216, before the death of King John, in KB 26 (they were mistakenly placed in this series in the late 19th century)
- from 1199 in JUST 1 (this series includes a few veredicta, or original lists of presentments, the earliest from 1238 – see section 7.4 for a definition of these)
3.2 Chester and Durham
The Palatinates of Durham and Chester were areas of special jurisdiction and had their own independent systems of justice.
In Durham, royal officials could only conduct an eyre after the death of the bishop and before the appointment of his successor.
Use our catalogue to search or browse for eyre rolls from 1285 for the Palatinate of Chester in CHES 17.
Search using ‘Durham’ as your keyword to find the few surviving eyre rolls for the Palatinate of Durham in JUST 1.
3.3 What do the records look like and how were they written?
The records of the eyre courts are very formal, and are written almost entirely in Latin, much abbreviated and full of technical legal terminology.
They were kept on rolls of parchment. Each roll is made up of lengths of parchment, known as membranes, stitched together.
The early eyres, during the 13th century, produced one roll per county, but as business expanded and material was increasingly arranged into sections, it was necessary to use more than one roll per county.
4. How to search for related records
4.1 Cases adjourned from other courts
Some of the civil cases which were heard in the eyre courts had been adjourned from the Westminster courts, especially the Bench or Common Bench, later the Court of Common Pleas.
Search for these cases in KB 26, CP 40 and KB 27, using regnal years as your search terms. Browse any of these series to see how the regnal years are expressed.
4.2 Lawsuit agreements: feet of fines files
If the parties in a lawsuit came to an agreement in any of these courts, they frequently recorded this agreement in what is known as a final concord, often referred to as a foot of fine.
You can search for these feet of fines in CP 25/1. Many have been printed in regional record society volumes.
4.3 Writs
A writ was a sealed document conveying a formal command of the court.
Writ files from a small number of eyres survive in JUST 4.
Use the search box in JUST 4 and search using ‘eyre’ and the name of a county as your keywords.
4.4 Copies of eyre court records in Chancery files
Browse by date through C 260 in our catalogue for copies of eyres records that were used in Chancery cases. Most were taken from the earlier eyre rolls.
4.5 Revenues from fines
Eyres generated a large amount of revenue for the crown. Amercements and fines were paid into the Exchequer and recorded on the Pipe Rolls.
Browse the pipe rolls by date for records of revenue generated by eyres in E 372. For more information and advice see our guide on Medieval financial records: pipe rolls 1130-1300.
4.6 Gaol delivery sessions outside eyres
Gaol delivery sessions (see section 7.5 for more on these) can provide evidence of legal process and court hearings during periods when the eyre was not conducted. They record the clearance of gaols and the delivery of prisoners awaiting trial into court.
Search JUST 3 for gaol delivery rolls for separate court sessions outside eyres.
5. Interpreting and understanding the records: general
The courts employed clerks to record the details which appear on the eyre rolls. There would usually have been a panel of two or three judges, sometimes more, hearing cases together, each with their own clerk or clerks to make notes and record judgments. Usually each justice had a roll of his own but a roll may consist of the writing of as many as ten different clerks as notes were added during the course of proceedings. Furthermore, as they moved from town to town, the rolls might be amended as they went – and could be further annotated retrospectively if the case was transferred to Westminster, or the plaintiff failed to appear, or a subsequent hearing was requested.
From around 1280 often all the rolls of the various justices that presided over the same eyre have survived. Although there are usually minor discrepancies – spelling, form of words – between them, the salient points of the case, and its verdict, should be consistent. Where discrepancies do occur, historians tend to give precedence to the records of the named leading judge who had been appointed to lead the commission.
Eyre rolls before 1278 generally consist of two main sections: civil pleas and crown pleas.
6. Interpreting and understanding the records: civil pleas
Most eyre rolls have a separate section for civil pleas.
The order of the civil pleas in their section of the roll probably reflects the order in which the justices heard them; there is no geographical pattern.
The civil pleas section is usually divided into the following sub-sections:
6.1 The pleas
Until 1247, civil pleas both from the county in which the eyre was being held and from other counties (known as foreign pleas) were recorded in the same sub-section.
After 1247, foreign pleas were entered in a separate section and were later often filed as separate rolls.
6.2 Essoins
Essoins were excuses for non attendance at the court. They are recorded on a separate section of the roll, usually at the end of the civil pleas.
6.3 Attorneys
From 1247, there is a separate roll listing attorneys appointed by either plaintiff or defendant. This is often filed at the end of the civil pleas, although occasionally it is at the beginning.
7. Interpreting and understanding the records: crown pleas
Most eyre rolls have a separate section for crown pleas.
7.1 Establishing the place
There are usually separate sub-headings for all the court cases that take place in the following:
- a single hundred or wapentake
- major towns – usually appearing at the end of the crown pleas section (Oxford, for example, has its own heading)
- some minor towns (vills) or even manors (especially in Herefordshire and Shropshire)
7.2 Lists of jurors: the kalendars
In each hundred, vill or town ‘jurors’ were appointed. These men were freeholders and were usually the leading men in the district.
There is usually a separate roll on which the jurors, sometimes referred to as the ‘presenting jurors’, for each hundred, vill or town were listed. This roll is known as the Calendar or Kalendar. The place names on the Kalendar follow the same order as on the main crown pleas roll.
There were twelve men appointed as jurors (including two electors, who usually appointed the other ten men) and a bailiff.
The earliest surviving kalendar is from 1238.
7.3 Articles of the eyre
In the months or years in between visits from the eyres justices, jurors kept records of crown pleas which were then presented to the justices the next time they arrived to hold court. These records of crown pleas were known as ‘articles of the eyre’.
7.4 Veredicta or presentments
The official responses to the articles of the eyre are known as veredicta or lists of presentments.
7.5 Gaol delivery sessions
When all the prisoners awaiting trial in a particular gaol were tried at once, it was known as a gaol delivery session.
Gaol delivery sessions were regularly held in eyres courts and have their own separate sections in the rolls from 1279.
8. Interpreting and understanding the records: new sections after 1278
8.1 Private civil lawsuits
After 1278 the eyre justices also dealt with pleas brought using a bill of complaint, privately drawn up, rather than a royal writ. A bill of complaint was drawn up by a potential litigant seeking justice in the royal court against another private individual. A royal writ, on the other hand, was used to instigate proceedings against an individual on behalf of the Crown. There were sections in the rolls for private civil lawsuits after 1278 but they are rather small.
8.2 Quo warranto
There are often quite large sections, or sometimes whole rolls, devoted to pleas of quo warranto. These were lawsuits brought against local lords who were suspected of holding land, property and rights previously belonging to the crown with a view to claiming them back for the King. Many of these were published in Placita de Quo Warranto – see Further reading below.
9. Further reading
David Crook, Records of the General Eyre (PRO Handbook No. 20), (HMSO, 1982)
C A F Meekings, Crown Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre 1249 (Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Record Branch, 1960)
Michael Clanchy, The Roll and Writ File of the Berkshire Eyre of 1248 (Selden Society, 1973)
C A F Meekings and D Crook, The 1235 Surrey Eyre (Surrey Record Society, 1979)
Alan Harding, The Roll of the Shropshire Eyre of 1256 (Selden Society, 1981)
Placita de Quo Warranto (Record Commission, 1818)
D Crook, ‘The later eyres’, English Historical Review, XCVII (1982), pp 241-268
1. Why use this guide?
Use this guide to find the principal primary and published/secondary sources for the major confiscations of Crown and royalist lands during the Civil War and Interregnum (1642-1660). It can be difficult to identify the most useful records as the descriptions in our catalogue do not contain sufficient details. This guide will highlight the most useful record series .
In some cases records have not survived.
No detailed analysis of the confiscations and sales of Crown, church and royalist lands has been published.
2. How do I search these records?
You will either need to use calendars and indexes to identify relevant records or, if the record references to documents are not supplied in this guide, you will need to browse.
Use Discovery, our catalogue to ‘browse by reference’ through the suggested record series and identify relevant record references.
3. Church lands
Almost all the original records of the trustees and contractors to whom the lands of bishops, deans and chapters were committed and sold have been lost.
Surviving records can be found in the following original sources:
- The deeds of purchase enrolled on the Close Rolls in C 54 – précis in IND 1/17355 and indexed in IND 1/17356
- treasurers’ declared accounts of revenue (1646-1660) in E 351/453 and AO 1/367/1-4
- trustees’ accounts and papers (1646-1648) in SP 28/289
- Vouchers of receivers’ accounts for Canterbury in SP 28/291
- lists of revenues of St Paul’s Cathedral, London (1644-1646) in SP 28/355/1 and of Rochester Cathedral (1644-1646) in SP 28/355/3
4. Crown goods and lands
Sales of the lands of Charles I, Queen Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles were governed by an Act of 16 July 1649. See Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, ii (1911), pp. 168-91. The lands were vested in trustees and the profits from them were used to pay off army arrears.
Contractors were nominated to conclude agreements with the purchasers, and treasurers to receive the money and settle any administrative expenses.
A registrar and deputy registrar kept the records, enrolled the transactions, and gave the purchasers their deeds of title. The trustees appointed surveyors for the lands, and the Act named a surveyor general.
4.1 Original sources
Surviving records can be found in the following original sources:
- the parliamentary surveys of crown lands in E 317; see the eleven-volume typescript calendar available in The National Archive’s Library; duplicates of parliamentary surveys can be found in DL 32 and LR 2
- the entry book of orders and minutes of the contractors (1649-1659) in E 315/314
- particulars for the sale of estates of Charles I in E 320 and an index of places by county is available in the Map and Large Document Room at The National Archives
- the close rolls in C 54 include enrolments of the deeds of sale; use the calendar in IND 1/17353, and the index IND 1/17354
- the inventory of the personal possessions of Charles I in LR 2/124
- papers of the trustees for sale of the King’s goods, 1649-1658 in SP 28/282
- orders and correspondence from the Committee for sale of the King’s lands in SP 28/286
- certificates of sale in E 121, E 308/7 pt I, SP 28/286, folios 425-55 and SP 28/289
- contracts 1650-1659 in SP 26/1-4
- entry books of contracts 1649-1653 in E 315/173-174
- correspondence between trustees and contractors in SP 46/109, SP 46/128, SP 28/286 and E 315/481. Only a small portion survives. See also State papers domestic 1642-1660
- original warrants to the treasurers 1649-1659 in SP 28/271-277 and SP 28/330
- treasurers’ accounts 1649-1659 in SP 28/350/8
- declared accounts 1649-1656 in E 351/602-4
- acquittance books 1651-1659 in SP 28/330
- orders to regional sequestrators in SP 23/18. See also LR 2/81-83 and E 367
4.2 Published sources
Read The Domesday of Crown Lands by S J Madge, (1938), for a useful analysis of the Parliamentary surveys.
5. Sales of fee farm rents
Surviving records can be found in the following original sources:
- local auditors’ certificates of extant fee-farm rents in E 315/37 (with strays in SP 28/286, SP 28/288-289, E 308/7 pt II and LR 13/16/7)
- certificates of sale in E 308/7 and E 315/145
- enrolments of sales on the close rolls in C 54 with an abstract in IND 1/17347
- particulars of sale in E 308 and among the particulars for leases in E 367
- regional entry books of particulars for Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Norfolk in LR 10/24
- requests to purchase in SP 28/286 with counterpart deeds of sale in E 307
- entry books of contracts 1650-55 in E 308/7 pt I and E 315/141, E 315/144
- a chronological summary of purchases 1650-58 in SP 28/288
- an entry book of payments by the treasurers 1650-58 in SP 28/286 ff 401-24 contains warrants from the trustees to the treasurers E 315/143
- a list of sums offset against fee-farm rents 1651-52 in E 369/121
- original warrants to treasurers in SP 28/278
- trustees’ orders (1651) in E 315/139, and parts of their correspondence in SP 46/109, SP 46/128, E 315/481 and SP 28/286
- a chronological list of sales, March-June 1650 in E 308/7 pt I
- entry books of agreements to purchase in SP 26/1-4
- auditors’ entry books of orders for London, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Essex, 1650-1653, in E 164/53, and for the south-western counties, 1649-1655, in LR 1/308
- the parliamentary surveys in E 317, LR 2/276-304 and DL 32
6. Forfeited royalist lands
Royalist delinquents’ estates were generally forfeited until they paid a fine to the Committee for Compounding when their lands were returned.
Those who refused or were not permitted to compound had their estates remitted to the treason trustees (or Drury House trustees). The papers from the trustees have largely disappeared.
The names of the new owners were notified to the Committee for Compounding.
The committee’s papers include names of
- buyers
- agents representing buyers
- people who expressed interest but didn’t complete a purchase
Consult surviving records such as:
- the papers of the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents in SP 23 (use the Committee’s calendars, 1889-1893, published by HMSO to locate records)
- the Close rolls in C 54 – précis in IND 1/17355 and indexed in IND 1/17356
- the entry book of payments by the treasurers in E 164/60 and IND 1/17349, which has an abstract of claims of the forfeited estates of delinquents, made in 1652
7. Forests
Surviving records can be found in the following original sources:
8. The Restoration
From 1660 commissioners were appointed to investigate the ‘late pretended [ie, illegal] sales’. Most of their records were lost, but there are some individual commissions of inquiry in:
- E 178
- E 134
- the Calendars of state papers domestic which supply document references for State Paper records
You could also consult:
- the constat books of the surveyor-general of Crown lands in CRES 6/1-8 which contains material on restitutions
- a book of orders to the commissioners and notes of action taken, 1660-1666 in CRES 6/3
Developments at a local level may be traced through the entry books of the regional officers of land revenue in LR 1.
Look under the heading ‘Crown lands’ in the index of the Calendar of treasury books, 1660-1667 (1904) for relevant records from the Treasury.
9. Other related records
Further light is shed on the activities of the trustees etc in the directives sent to the auditors and receivers of land revenue and in their accounts and correspondence.
Browse:
- auditors’ memoranda in LR 9
- ministers’ accounts in SC 6
- a few strays in Exchequer miscellanea (for example E 163/19/4; E 163/19/10; E 163/24/24)
- the bills and answers against defaulting accountants in E 113 for details of taxes and other assessments. They also include claims connected with tithes and confiscated lands
10. Further reading
The Civil War and interregnum: sources for local historians by Aylmer, Gerald Edward, 1926-; Morrill, John Stephen, 1946. Standing Conference for Local History
J Thirsk, ‘The Sales of Royalist Lands during the Interregnum’, Economic History Review, 2nd series, vol. 5 (1953)
J Thirsk, ‘The Restoration Land Settlement’, Journal of Modern History, vol. 26 (1954)
H E Chesney, ‘The Transference of Lands in England 1640-60’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th series, vol. 15, (1932)
H J Habakkuk, ‘Landowners and the Civil War’, Economic History Review, 2nd series, vol. 18 (1965)
This guide provides advice on how to search for records of Royal Naval Division personnel, whether officers or ratings. When looking for a person who served in the Royal Naval Division, you may find his service history, next of kin, religion and personal description.
What do I need to know before I start?
The Royal Naval Division was established in 1914 and was made up of surplus members of various armed services.
The Royal Naval Division served on shore alongside the Army and was transferred into the control of the Army in 1916.
Online records
Service records (1914-1922)
Search and download (£) Royal Naval Division service records for officers and ratings (ADM 339) on Discovery, our catalogue.
Campaign medals (1914-1918)
Search and download (£) First World War medal index cards for a person in the Royal Naval Division who was awarded an Army campaign medal (WO 372).
War diaries (1914-1918)
Download (£) Royal Naval Division war diaries in WO 95/3118-9.
Royal Naval Division Casualties of The Great War (1914-1924)
Search Ancestry (£) for a person who died in the Royal Naval Division during the First World War. These records were compiled from multiple sources, including The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum.
Records available only at The National Archives in Kew
To access these records you will either need to visit us, pay for research (£) or, where you can identify a specific £, order a copy (£).
War diaries and operational orders (1860-1937)
Read Royal Naval Division war diaries and operational orders in WO 95/4290-1 and ADM 137/3063-3088d.
Campaign and service medals (1793-1975)
Find out about campaign, long service and good conduct medals in the Royal Navy medal roll in ADM 171. The records are usually arranged by battle, ship, rank and then by name and do not usually contain biographical information.
Records in other archives and organisations
Record cards at the Fleet Air Arm Museum
Contact the Fleet Air Arm Museum who hold Royal Naval Division record cards for the Divisional Engineers, Divisional Train, RM Medical Unit and Ordnance Company.
Records held elsewhere
The National Archives’ catalogue contains collections and contact details of local archives around the UK and beyond. To locate these records, search our catalogue with keywords and refine your results to ‘Other archives’ using the filters.
Other resources
Books
Some or all of the recommended publications below may be available to buy from The National Archives’ Bookshop. Alternatively, search The National Archives’ Library to see what is available to consult at Kew.
Read Tracing Your Naval Ancestors by Bruno Pappalardo (The National Archives, 2003).
Consult the published Navy Lists and Army Lists to follow an officer’s career in the Royal Naval Division.
Read Family History in the Wars by William Spencer (The National Archives, 2007).
Simon Fowler, Tracing your Naval Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2011)
Websites
Visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website to search for details of people who died in the First and Second World Wars.
1. What are these records?
These records comprise more than 60 different maps depicting plantations, fortifications and townships in Ireland during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, in the 16th and 17th centuries.
These maps are among the earliest cartographic representations of Ireland and include the famous map of Hibernia drawn by John Goghe in 1567 (MPF 1/68).
The maps come from state papers Ireland, the main record of government business in Ireland during the early modern period. They have been extracted from series SP 64, and are now held in MPF 1/35-102.
2. How do I search the records?
You can search and download the records in Discovery (£) by using the search box below.
Please note, your results will show all instances of the term(s) you searched for within the record descriptions, as this is currently a keyword search.
Alternatively go to Discovery, our catalogue, to search by either the new reference (beginning MPF), or old reference (beginning SP).
3. What information do the records contain?
Most of the maps show areas of Ireland from provinces and baronies to towns and forts, while there are also several maps showing the whole of Ireland. Two of the only maps in this collection that depict areas outside of Ireland are MPF 1/65, a map of the west coast of Great Britain, and MPF 1/66, a map of the Mediterranean.
These maps were drawn at a time when the English were colonising or ‘planting’ Ireland. Maps were one of the English colonists’ tools, along with the written survey and the gun. The English were trying to increase the loyalty of Ireland to the English crown by transferring land ownership from the native Irish to English settlers.
The maps were usually made in response to a particular threat, to show a siege or battle, or to help inform defence strategy against a background of ongoing clashes with Irish chieftains.
The maps show information that would have been used for defence strategies, such as:
- castles and forts
- mountains and lakes
- strategic islands
- rivers and river crossings
- coasts
- harbours
- drawings of ships and boats
- forests
- bogs
- churches
Some maps show actual sieges of towns and military engagements with firing cannon. They often name the local chiefs and the family dominant in particular areas.
We do not know who made all of the maps. Some of them are signed by well-known mapmakers of the day, such as:
- Robert Lythe
- Francis Jobson
- Richard Bartlett
- John Norden
Some of the maps bear annotations and endorsements in the hand of Sir William Cecil, who became Lord Burghley, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s most influential ministers.
4. What do the records look like?
The maps are mostly drawn on parchment, some brightly coloured and decorated, and were originally bound in vellum covers embossed with coats of arms.
To get an idea of what these maps look like, you can download the following map, from MPF 1/58, free of charge:
Map of Tullyhaw, County Cavan (TNA ref: MPF 1/58)
If you have problems with the handwriting of the documents or maps, our palaeography tutorial can help.
You can download the state papers that relate to these maps free of charge using the following links: SP 64/1, SP 64/2, SP 64/3.
5. Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?
The following important points may help you find what you are looking for:
- place names are those used at the time, and are usually old English ones rather than native Irish
- spellings were not consistent in this period and you may need to be flexible when searching; for more advice on searching, see our search tips
- instead of searching you may wish to browse through details of the whole collection
1. Why use this guide?
Use this guide for advice on how to find records of health and social welfare policy, and central health administration, since the creation of the Ministry of Health, established in 1919 under the Ministry of Health Act.
The Ministry of Health records at The National Archives are wide-ranging and cover many aspects of the development of health policy in Britain. They show the ways successive governments tried to tackle social and health problems.
This guide will also point you to some related records held elsewhere.
2. Key changes to central health administration
The Ministry of Health, following its creation in 1919, took on the powers and duties of the health functions of the government, which were previously fragmented across departments, most notably from the following:
- Local Government Board
- The National Health Insurance Commissions of England and Wales
- Privy Council
- The Home Office
- The Board of Education
For papers relating to the formation of the Ministry of Health search within MH 78, RECO 1, CAB 21/72 and PC 8/854.
The principal purpose of the new ministry was to consolidate under a single authority the medical and public health functions of the central government and the co-ordination and supervision of local health services in England and Wales. Revisions to the administration came throughout the 20th century; notably, the co-ordination of local medical services was greatly extended in connection with emergency and wartime services from 1938 to 1945, and these developments culminated in the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948.
The Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) was created in November 1968, merging the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Security. Responsibility for a number of its functions was transferred into and out of DHSS during the twenty years of its existence. In 1988 the department was divided once more and the Department of Health was formed, separate to the Department of Social Security.
Throughout the 20th century there was a rise in lobbying of central government by groups with an interest in health and social welfare issues, and policy on health care provision was affected by the economic events, crises, and developments of the period such as:
- unemployment
- poverty
- maternal and infant mortality
- health insurance
- mental health
- preventative medicine
For information on public health before this period, see our guide, Public health and social policy in the 19th century.
3. How to search for records
Records of the ministry are arranged largely in file series broadly reflecting the functions of its specialised divisions. Due to the complex system of registration each record series can contain very broad topics; for example, MH 148 is a series that contains policy review relating to food hygiene, fluoridation of water supplies, medical examinations of Commonwealth immigrants, and the 1962 survey of children born with congenital deformities due to thalidomide. You can browse each series using the browse function from the catalogue description page.
The MH 148 catalogue description page in our catalogue. The search boxes allow you to search for records within this specific series, as is the case with the catalogue description pages for all National Archives records series.
As health can impact all aspects of life, health records can be found in files of the majority of government departments. Depending on the topic, it is always worth doing a broad key word search in the catalogue to start with.
The majority of records relating to health policy and social care in the 20th century will come under the following record series and department references:
- MH – Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Health and its successor the Department of Health and Social Security, Local Government Boards and related bodies relating to the provision of health and public health services (1798-2001).
- BN – Records created or inherited by the Department of Health & Social Security and related bodies (1834-2003).
- JA – Records created or inherited by the Department of Health (1988 to 2018).
- PIN – Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, and of related, predecessor and successor bodies (1854-1998).
- FD – Records of the Medical Research Committee and Medical Research Council touching all aspects of medical research carried out in the UK (1901-2017). Annual Reports are catalogued by date in FD 2.
- MH 96 – Records of the Welsh Board of Health (1872-1978).
Other significant departments are:
- HLG – Records of branches and divisions relating to the supervision of local government services (1831-1996).
- AST – Records of the Unemployment Assistance Boards, the Supplementary Benefits Commission, and of related bodies (1894-1997).
- INF – Records of the Central Office of Information (COI) and its predecessor government information departments and ministries relating to the provision of government publicity and public information.
These record series and department references will help you to focus your search for relevant records using the advanced search option in our catalogue. For more tips on how to search the catalogue effectively, use the help page.
You can also browse series by record creators, such as the Department of Health and Social Security and the Department of Health.
It is worth bearing in mind that relevant records relating to health and social policy may also be found in other key government departments such as:
- Cabinet Office (CAB)
- Prime Minister’s Office (PREM)
- Department of Employment/ Ministry of Labour (LAB)
- Home Office (HO)
- Department of Education (ED)
- Treasury (T)
4. Online records
Some useful resources relating to health policy are available online.
4.1 Parliamentary Papers (1715-present)
Search Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers for reports relevant to health, unemployment and poverty. This is a subscription website you can access on TNA computers by visiting us at Kew. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library such as a university library. You can:
- search for papers using the paper number and the year
- browse by century, year and volume
- browse the 20th century collection by department
Discussions in Parliament can be found in Hansard, which is available online on the Parliament website. Please note there are some volumes missing from the online data.
4.2 Legislation
Search legislation.gov.uk for relevant legislation. Please note that historic Acts of Parliament are not all available online.
4.3 Government datasets
Search Discovery, our catalogue, for information and statistics related to health policy held in digital datasets. See our research guide on government datasets for detailed advice on how to do this.
4.4 The King’s Fund Digital Archive
Search the King’s Fund Digital Archive for King’s Fund publications and documents from 1898 onwards.
4.5 The Wellcome Library’s Digital Collections
The digital collections of the Wellcome Library cover wide-ranging topics, including public health.
4.6 The UK Government Web Archive
Browse archived websites to view snapshots of the Department of Health and NHS departmental websites. You can also use keywords to search the whole of the UK Government Web Archive..
5. The National Health Service and hospitals
Draft of the Coalition Government’s White Paper on a National Health Service, February 1944 (catalogue reference CAB 66/46/24).
With some minor exceptions The National Archives does not hold records of hospital patients. We do, however, provide guidance on where you can find Historical NHS patient records.
Many hospital records are held at local archives and the records we hold mainly relate to high-level administrative matters. For more information see our research guidance on Hospitals.
Prior to the NHS, joint hospital boards were authorised to establish and maintain local hospitals. Search for their records in:
- Local Government Board correspondence (1868-1935), organised by County and District Councils, in MH 48
- Joint hospital boards’ correspondence and minutes (1903-1961) in MH 67
You should also search for related records in local archives.
After the inception of the NHS in 1948, regional hospital boards (RHBs) were established to administer hospitals in specific regions. You can browse representative correspondence between the RHBs and the ministry (1941-1969) in MH 90.
Target the following key series:
- Committee on Reconstruction Problems and Nuffield College Reconstruction Survey (1940-1945) in CAB 117.
- General policy files relating to the implementation of the National Health Service Act 1946 (1935-1965) in MH 137. Specialist services (1923-1977) are in MH 135.
- Search by region and date the correspondence between the department and selected local regional bodies (North Western, Northern, and Yorkshire) leading up to the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS (1947-1974).
- Search by broad topics and date publicity material on various aspects of the National Health Service (1939-1944) in BN 10.
- Records relating to the Royal Commission on the National Health Service (Merrison Commission 1976-1979) in BS 6 are organised by subject’s name or organisation giving evidence as well as by sub-committee.
6. Public assistance and health insurance
In 1911 the National Insurance Act was passed, which created a system of health insurance for workers based on contributions from individuals, employers and the government.
Search the following key series:
- Papers and correspondence relating to the administration of health insurance (1911-1960) in PIN 4.
- Papers relating to insurance regulations and legislation (1912-1997) in PIN 19.
- Files relating to the introduction and administration of social insurance schemes and allied services under the Ministry of National Insurance (1912-1965) in MH 62.
A main function of the ministry was the supervision of public assistance services. In 1930 the old poor law boards of guardians were replaced, under the Local Government Act 1929, by public assistance committees and county borough councils. High unemployment levels between the wars were a major influence on economic, social and political practice and theory; successive governments sought new ways to address the problems of widespread poverty.
To find relevant records, use the advanced search option in our catalogue and search within department reference MH, PIN, or AST, or click on the following series references to search for records within each respective series, using keywords such as ‘public assistance’, ‘casual poor’, ‘medical relief’, ‘care of the aged’ and ‘welfare’, or try browsing:
- General files relating to public assistance and poor law outdoor relief covering children’s training and employment, pensions in respect of relief, medical relief for paupers and vagrancy (1907-1970), organised by topic in MH 57.
- Social welfare files, including records concerning the care of the aged in Public Assistance Homes and Institutions (1938-1965) in MH 130, organised by topic, with some files organised by area.
- Correspondence of the Ministry of Health with local authorities (1913-1973), organised by county council, topic, and date in MH 52.
The following series are best searched by browsing by date and/or area or county council:
- Circular letters issued by the Poor Law Commission, the Poor Law Board, the Local Government Board and the Ministry of Health (1834-1962), organised by date in MH 10.
- Correspondence of the Local Government Board and Ministry of Health with poor law authorities, including the transfer of poor law functions to local authorities in 1929 (1904-1933), organised by area and date in MH 68.
- Files of the Ministry of Health, with a few earlier ones of the Local Government Board, relating mainly to the administration of casual wards and reception centres in various parts of England (1894-1950) in AST 8 are organised broadly by county or committee with some files catalogued by date only.
7. Food, diet and nutrition
The key records relating to food, diet and nutrition are in record series MH 56, which includes papers from various food and nutrition committees (1850-1967). Use the advanced search option in our catalogue to identify specific records from this series or from across all the records in MH, AST, JV (Milk Marketing Board) and MAF (Ministry of Food).
Search using keywords such as ‘food’, ‘diet’, ‘nutrition’, ‘malnutrition’, ‘children’, ‘families’, ‘welfare’, ‘milk’ – or combinations of these.
- Browse the papers of the Committee on Medical and Nutritional Aspects of Food Policy and Food and Nutrition Surveys (1948-1992), including files relating to imported meat, food hygiene and food additives in MH 148.
Search by keyword or browse the following key series:
- Files of the Milk Marketing Board (1930-1994) relating to the promotion of sales of milk including publicity and advertising campaigns in JV 7.
- General reports and technical information of the Scientific Advisor’s Division of the Ministry of Food on foodstuffs, rations and nutrition (1936-1959) in MAF 98 -some of the committee minutes are organised by date only.
8. Family planning and mother and child welfare
With the rise of the welfare state in Britain and the inception of the National Health Service, educational campaigns on birth control were launched and the provision of mother and child welfare services increased.
The records consist of internal correspondence between officials and correspondence with organisations lobbying for reform, covering issues such as:
- whether ante-natal clinics should be provided by the local authority or the voluntary sector
- moral and social questions relating to birth control including abortion
- religious opinion on the provision of such clinics
To find specific records, use the advanced search option in our catalogue and search across all records within MH and JA, using keywords such as: ‘birth control’, ‘abortion’, ‘birth clinic’, and ‘maternity clinic’ or ‘child welfare’.
Browse the following key series:
- Files covering medical services and public health relating to areas designated as distressed under The Special Areas Acts of 1934 and 1937 (1934-1960) in MH 61/4-10.
- Health Education Council files on Sex Education and Prevention of Unwanted Teenage Pregnancies (1980-1992) in JA 630.
- Files covering Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in England and Wales (1947-1994) in MH 156. Search this series by keyword for other files relating to local authority services, including child welfare and welfare foods.
9. Mental health
The Lunacy Commission and Board of Control had responsibility over admission, detention and discharge of psychiatric patients and had powers to inspect asylums.
- Browse by date the Correspondence, papers and minutes from the Lunacy Commission (1845-1913) and Board of Control (1913-1960) in MH 50.
- Search by asylum or gaol the correspondence and reports from the Lunacy Commission and Board of Control (1798-1971) in MH 51. Some files can be searched by patient name.
- Browse the policy files relating to the implementation of the Mental Health Act 1959 (1958-1966) in MH 140.
For more information about the Lunacy Commission, Board of Control and related record series, read the administrative background to MH Division 14 in our catalogue.
See our separate guide to lunatic asylums, psychiatric hospitals and mental health for how to search records on this topic.
10. Public health: diseases, epidemics, sanitation and health education
Public health is complex and can cover environmental health and the provision of adequate sanitation, responses to infectious, chronic, and epidemic diseases, as well as the introduction of public health services and campaigns.
Advances in medicine reduced levels of infectious diseases, but serious outbreaks of smallpox, typhoid, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and measles were not unusual through the inter-war period, although epidemics were increasingly rare.
By the end of the 20th century, authorities dealing with public health tended to focus on chronic conditions, such as diabetes or obesity, or on health education about lifestyle choices. There were also responses to the appearance of new infectious diseases like HIV/ AIDS.
To identify specific records from the catalogue use the the advanced search option in our catalogue and search by name of a disease, sanitary measure, and/or a place name.
Browse or search by keyword the following main record series:
- Correspondence between the Ministry of Health and local authorities (1913-1973) in MH 52.
- Files relating to public health services, including tuberculosis, medical inspection of aliens, midwifery, propaganda and vaccination, as well as port health authority case files, and reports of medical officers of health (1853-1970) in MH 55.
- Welsh public health and environment matters (1854-1985) in BD 11.
- Committee meetings, papers and correspondence of the Expert Advisory Group on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (1985-2000), including files relating to the interdepartmental group on AIDS and the nationwide advertising campaign, in JA 235.
Browse by date the following series:
- The Public Health Laboratory Board was established in 1961 to provide a continuous picture of the communicable microbial diseases of England and Wales. Public Health Laboratory Service Board minutes and papers (1961-1983) are found in DN 1 and the Public Health Laboratory Service yearbooks (1962-1982) in DN 2.
- Sir George Newman’s diaries (1907-1946), relating to his role as Medical Officer of the Board of Education and Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health in MH 139. Covers subjects such as tuberculosis, medical research, milk, dental registration, medical education and maternal mortality.
- Central Council for Health Education: Minutes and Papers (1927-1969) in MH 82.
- General Register Officer Circulars (1910-1940), containing annual reports of the Medical Officer of Health and mental health statistics (limited years) in RG 41.
A more comprehensive list of key series relating to public health can be found in the catalogue description of the Records of the Health Divisions.
11. Sterilization and eugenics
Physical and mental degenerative diseases were of interest to eugenicists both in Britain and abroad.
Whilst no legislation for legalising sterilization and euthanasia was introduced in Britain, the government corresponded with groups who favoured legislation on sequestration, sterilisation and euthanasia of people suffering degenerative diseases. A report on the illegal sterilisation undertaken in Britain at the Gateshead School is found in MH 79/291.
Search by the key words ‘mental defective’, ‘euthanasia’, ‘sterilisation’ and ‘heredity’ in Discovery or browse the following key series:
- Papers of the Departmental Committee on Sterilisation (1932-1933) in MH 51/208-211 and the proceedings of the Departmental Committee on Sterilisation (1932-1933) in MH 51/212-235, organised by date.
- Papers of the Departmental Committee on Sterilisation (1928-1935), including discussions about sterilising ‘mental defectives’ in MH 58/100-105.
- Papers of the Special Operations Executive’s intelligence reports on euthanasia and genocide in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s in HS 6.
The Foreign Office’s General Correspondence printed indexes, available at The National Archives in Kew also include mention of cases for sequestration of people with mental diseases and also some general reports on genocide. Many papers referred to in the printed indexes do not survive, but those that do are in FO 371. See our guide to Foreign Office correspondence for detailed advice on searching for these records.
12. The pharmaceutical industry
Regulation of pharmaceutical products was limited at the beginning of the 20th century. Throughout the period the industry became increasingly regulated, particularly in the wake of the introduction of thalidomide to the market, which resulted in the births of children with congenital deformities.
The Committee on Safety of Drugs was set up in 1963 to advise government health ministers on the quality, efficacy and safety of medicines and was replaced in 1968 by the Committee on Safety of Medicines following the Medicines Act, 1968. It provides advice to the Licensing Authority on whether new products should be granted a marketing authorisation and it also monitors the safety of marketed medicines.
To identify specific records from the catalogue use the advanced search option in our catalogue and search by name of a Pharmacy Act, poison, and/or drug.
You can target the following series to narrow your search:
- Minutes, papers and reports of the Committee of Inquiry into the Pharmaceutical Industry (Sainsbury Committee) (1964-1967) in MH 104.
- Files relating to regulation of pharmaceutical products (1926-1972) in MH 58.
The following committee minutes are arranged by date and may not include names of drugs or specifics of regulations in the catalogue description:
- Minutes and papers of the Committee on Safety of Drugs and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (1963-1976) in MH 171.
- Minutes and papers of the Committee on Safety of Medicines together with the minutes and papers of its three sub-committees (1970-1988) in BN 116 and minutes of the Committee on Safety of Medicine’s sub-committees (1964-1975) in MH 148.
13. Doctor and nurse recruitment
Nursing shortages throughout the 20th century led to various nursing workforce policies and planning. Ministries dealing with nurse recruitment policy and planning include:
- The Ministry of Labour and National Service
- The Ministry of Health
- Colonial Office
The Ministry of Health took over the recruitment of nurses from the Ministry of Labour from 1957.
Search the following key series using keywords such as ‘doctor shortage’, ‘nurse recruitment’, ‘overseas nurse’, ‘foreign nurse’, ‘recruitment of doctors’ – or combinations of these. You can, alternatively, search across the whole of LAB, MH and CO series using the
- Files relating to nurse recruitment in Department of Employment records in LAB 12 (1915-1978).
- General subject files relating to health, including nurse recruitment (1853-1970) in MH 55.
- Browse the files of the Colonial Nursing Service (1940-1955) in CO 850.
See our guide on Doctors and Nurses for information on other records we hold.
14. Further reading
14.1 Online resources
- The National Archives blogs
- BBC archive Birth of the National Health Service
- National Health Service history from an archived version of the NHS website
- Nuffield Trust NHS timeline
- Search archived data from the Hospital Records Database to find information on the location of hospital records, including those about staff and patients, in the UK
- The King’s Fund’s audio and visual animation of how the NHS works
- Digital resources at the King’s Fund’s library
- The Health Foundation’s ‘Policy Navigator’ time-line of health care reform
14.2 Online journals
Online journals available via our e-library:
Jane Lewis, ‘ Gender, the Family and Women’s Agency in the Building of ‘Welfare States’: The British Case’, Social History, 19 (1994). Access via the e-library on-site at Kew.
14.3 Printed resources
The following recommended publications are available in The National Archives’ Library.
- Christopher Ham, ‘Health Policy in Britain: the politics and organisation of the National Health Service’ (Macmillan, 2004).
- Bryan Rayner, ‘History of the Department of Health’ (DoH, 1994).
- Geoffrey Rivett, ‘From cradle to grave: fifty years of the NHS’. Revised editions of Rivett’s book are available at history.net.
- Sally Sheard and Sir Liam Donaldson, ‘The Nation’s Doctor: the role of the Chief Medical Officer 1855-1998’ (The Nuffield Trust, 1998).
- Pat Thane, ‘Foundations of the Welfare State’ (Longman, 1996).
- Charles Webster, ‘The National Health Service: a political history’ (Oxford University Press, 1998).
1. Why use this guide?
This guide will help you find records relating to sexuality and gender identity history.
Researching this subject can be time-consuming and difficult, as this area of study is still in its infancy and many sources are not immediately obvious.
This guide suggests potentially useful documents and search terms, but is not exhaustive. If you come across other useful sources during the course of your research, we would be keen to hear about them. Please email us.
There is guidance here on researching gay, lesbian and bisexual histories, as well as transgender and gender identity history. In the past, the state often conflated gender identity and sexuality which means that records are often found in the same record series.
2. What kinds of records are held here?
The National Archives’ records give a valuable insight into how government interacted with and viewed LGBTQ+ communities in the past. The state’s attempts to suppress and regulate sexuality and gender has paradoxically left us with many potential sources for the experiences of LGBTQ+ people.
Our collection reflects many of the significant moments and milestones in LGBTQ+ history through police, criminal, policy and legislation records.
We hold many 20th-century criminal records but a significant proportion remain closed under the Data Protection Act. If you come across a closed record like this in our collection, there will be an option to request a Freedom of Information review to see if it can be opened.
A Metropolitan Police map of Hyde Park, London, showing the location of urinals where arrests were made for importuning and gross indecency during 1953 (catalogue reference: HO 345/7)
3. What can I see online?
Although no major LGBTQ+ archive collections have been digitised, we have found some online material that we hope might be of interest to researchers in this area:
- Old Bailey Online – search proceedings from 19,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court 1674-1913. Section 5 explains why criminal records can be useful in this research
- Read our research guide to Cabinet and its committees for advice on searching our catalogue for cabinet papers.
- The archived Cabinet Papers site has themed pages which you can browse, some with links to downloadable documents. The theme Law, liberty and society has pages on homosexuality and the Wolfenden report
- UK Government web archive – search or browse government videos, tweets, and websites dating from 1996 to the present for information, reports and advice published online by government bodies
- Gender Recognition Act – read the full text of the 2004 Act
- Studies in Scarlett – search this collection of narratives of trials from the US and the UK focusing on marriage and sexuality from 1815-1914. They include the sodomy trial of Oscar Wilde and other trials where relationships did not conform to accepted social standards
- Rewind Fast Forward – view this British Film Institute archive of filmmaker Sandi Hughes who preserved images of black and gay life in and around Liverpool in the 1970s
4. Searching our catalogue
4.1 About the catalogue
Discovery, our catalogue, incorporates the catalogues of over 2,500 archives across the UK and some abroad. This means that when you search Discovery your results can include records held at many different archives. For more information about effective searching and understanding your search results use the Disovery help pages.
The records we have at The National Archives are listed in Discovery with descriptions of their content that have varying levels of detail. Identifying records relating to LGBTQ+ history is particularly difficult as the descriptions do not always make it clear that they contain relevant material.
The Your Archives online list of themed documents is a good starting point and will identify documents relevant to a number of the sections that follow.
4.2 Key departments to search within
Records from particular government departments have references that begin with a specific letter code. If you know this letter code you can use it in the Advanced search option of Discovery to search for records from that particular department.
Some of the key departments and their letter codes are shown below:
- RG General Register Office
- HO Home Office
- BN Department of Health and Social Security
- MEPO Metropolitan Police
- DPP Director of Public Prosecutions
- PCOM Prison Commission and Home Office Prison Department
- C Chancery, Wardrobe, Royal Household, Exchequer and various commissions
- J Supreme Court of Judicature (within this department the most relevant record series is J 77 which contains divorce files)
- PIN Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance
Try searching Discovery within these department codes (enter the code in the ‘search for or within references’ box in Advanced search). You can try using current terminology such as LGBT or transgender; but note that searching with historical terms will be more successful in many cases (see section 4.3).
A plan of ‘Billie’s Club’, London, used as an exhibit in a prosecution for conspiracy to corrupt morals (catalogue reference: DPP 2/355)
4.3 Historical terms
Descriptive terms relating to sexuality and gender identity have changed over time. For example the term homosexuality was not used with its contemporary meaning until the end of the 19th century, and many terms used in historical records are considered offensive today. To get the best results from searching our catalogue you will often need to use the language of the time. It is therefore useful to be aware of different terms that have been used for sexuality and gender identity, and for the offences people were often charged with. Similarly, when you search catalogue descriptions of historical records in any archive you will need to use the language of the time and not expect to find everything catalogued under modern day terms.
Some terms you might come across when consulting records are shown below. Try using these terms when you search for records as well.
Historical terms relating to sexuality:
- character defect
- deviant
- immoral
- invert
- pervert
- queer
- sapphism
- sodomite
- tribade
Historical terms relating to gender identity:
- hermaphrodite (for those born intersex)
- masquerading
- males in female attire
- females in male attire
- female husband
- cross-dressing
- sex-change or sex change
- change of sex
- transvestite
- gender
- gender recognition
- transsexuals
Historical terms for relevant criminal offences:
- buggery
- disorderly house
- gross indecency
- importuning
- indecency
- obscenity
- sexual offences
- sodomy
- soliciting
- street offences
- unnatural offences
- unnatural act
4.4 Tagging and taxonomy
You can search for all files currently tagged as ‘LGBT’ in the ‘tags’ section of Discovery. If you find relevant files that haven’t been tagged you can add an ‘LGBT’ tag to help future researchers.
Another technique is to search within the taxonomy subject ‘sex and gender’. To do this, use the Advanced search option in Discovery and
- in the ‘Find words’ section enter a search term; or an asterisk* if you want to see everything under the ‘sex and gender’ taxonomy subject
- in the ‘Date’ section enter a single year or range of years if appropriate
- in the ‘Held by’ section select ‘Search The National Archives’ – this will open up new sections including Taxonomy subjects
- in the Taxonomy subjects section select ‘sex and gender’ and click search
5. Court and legal records
5.1 Records of crimes and criminals
Because male homosexuality was illegal in England and Wales until 1967 there are plenty of criminal records to use in researching this subject. Female homosexuality was not officially criminalised so records weren’t created in the same way.
Similarly, the state never directly criminalised individuals questioning or changing their gender identity or expression, but certain associated characteristics were criminalised by the state. For example, cross-dressing and effeminacy in men were often deemed to be signs of homosexuality.
Read our overview guide on criminal court cases to learn about what records survive and how to search for them.
Alternatively, you can carry out your own search in Discovery using keywords such as a person’s name or a type of crime.
Court records can include:
- indictments that simply list a person’s name and offence
- depositions of the evidence taken by the court
- transcripts of the trial proceedings (less common)
It might be worth browsing Discovery to see if anything looks interesting. Start by looking within:
- court records with the department codes ASSI and CRIM
- appeal records in J81-82
- Metropolitan police correspondence in MEPO 2-4
- public prosecution cases in DPP files – in particular, DPP 1 for papers relating to Oscar Wilde and the ‘Cleveland Street Scandal’
Section 164 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 gave posthumous pardons for convictions of certain abolished offences, including those under certain sections of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. These include convictions recorded in a number of records held at The National Archives series, such as those detailed in this guide.
Other court records are available in local archives and on the Old Bailey Online website.
A photograph of the interior of the Caravan Club, a venue surveilled by police in the 1930s (catalogue reference: MEPO 3/758)
5.2 1950s and 1960s criminal law discussions
Read our guidance on Political history in the 20th century for some general background to researching in this area.
Read our research guide to Cabinet and its committees for advice on searching our catalogue for cabinet papers.
Correspondence and papers from the Prime Minister’s office contain records of policy and legislation discussions. The period of the Wolfenden Committee is covered in PREM 11 and PREM 13.
5.3. Divorce records
Records of divorce cases can be useful in researching LGBTQ+ history. Sexuality and gender identity have often been cited as causes for divorce; and divorce cases have sometimes been the catalyst for establishing legal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.
Read our guide on divorces to learn about what records survive and how to search them. Use the search boxes within the guide as a quick way to search our catalogue for relevant records.
Debates over divorce law reform in the early 20th century repeatedly raised the question of whether homosexuality should be grounds for divorce. Search Discovery for relevant records from the Prime Minister’s Office (PREM) and the Lord Chancellor’s Office (LCO).
6. Home Office records
Home Office files contain discussions of individual cases, considerations of appeals, and debates around the operations of the law. Key Home Office records include:
HO 17 and HO 18 – petitions for the revocation or reduction of sentences
HO 19 – indexes to the files in HO 7 and HO 18
HO 345 and HO 291 – papers from the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (Wolfenden Committee, 1954-1957)
Read our guidance on Home Office correspondence 1839-1959 to find out more about how to use Home Office records in your research.
7. Civil service and armed forces employees
7.1 Civil service
The civil service considered the potential blackmail of LGBTQ+ employees a risk to state security. This concern was strongest during the Cold War and employment policies discriminated against LGBTQ+ applicants and employees.
In 1967 homosexuality in the UK was partially decriminalised and the civil service was put under pressure to change its attitude. Cabinet papers and Civil Service management files for the following years reflect this pressure.
7.2 Armed forces
Since the year 2000, LGBTQ+ personnel have been able to serve openly in the British military forces. Prior to this, service personnel were regularly prosecuted, court-martialled or discharged for sexual offences.
Use the advanced search option in our catalogue to look for relevant files. Use keywords such as ‘homosexual’ and search within the department codes ADM, WO, AIR and DEFE to restrict your search to military records.
8. Politics of sexuality and gender identity
Political organisations such as the Homosexual Law Reform Society and the Campaign for Homosexual Equality were involved in the fight to improve the rights of gay people.
The activities of these organisations and the political debates they generated are reflected in government records – particularly those from the Home Office (HO), Cabinet Office (CAB) and Prime Minister’s Office (PREM).
Search Discovery using the names of the organisations or other keywords to identify relevant documents.
The files of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (Wolfenden Committee) are a rich source of evidence about gay men’s lives, and medical, legal and official understandings of homosexuality in the mid-20th century.
Because the records held at The National Archives are usually at least 20 years old, you are less likely to come across mention of gender identity protest and pressure groups. However, as time moves on, these records, where they are selected for permanent preservation, will be transferred from various government departments into The National Archives.
Local and newspaper archives might be useful sources for researching more recent history. See section 11 for some specific archives that will be useful in this area of research.
9. Further key areas of research
9.1 Censorship
Issues surrounding the portrayal of gay men and lesbians in art, literature and the media were discussed within government. For example, the 1928 novel ‘The Well of Loneliness’ was the subject of an obscene publications trial, and records of this case can be found at The National Archives.
Search our catalogue using keywords for records relating to censorship and prosecution under obscenity laws.
To focus your results use ‘advanced search’ and look for records from the following departments:
- Home Office (HO)
- Lord Chancellor’s Office (LCO)
- Central Criminal Court (CRIM)
- Metropolitan Police (MEPO)
- Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
9.2 Fraud, defamation, slander and libel
Search our catalogue for records relating to defamation, slander, libel and blackmail (or demanding money with menaces) which often involved allegations of sexual immorality.
To focus your results, use the filter options on the left of the results screen to select results from the Central Criminal Court (CRIM) and the Metropolitan Police (MEPO).
9.3 Public health, medicine and the welfare state
UK official bodies often perceived homosexuals as ‘ill’ or ‘diseased’, and consequently a potential source of danger to public health. This was evident as recently as the 1980s with the Government’s reaction to HIV and AIDS, as detailed in The National Archives blog The AIDS health campaign, but official concern dates back at least to the 19th century.
It is logical to assume there will be similar records relating to gender identity; although we have not found any at the time of writing this guide.
Particularly since the 1920s, the state has tried to deal with its concerns by incarcerating, ‘treating’ and ‘curing’ gay and lesbian individuals.
Search our catalogue for relevant records using keywords. To focus your results try searching for records from the following departments:
- Welsh Office (BD)
- Ministry of Health (MH)
- Home Office (HO)
- Prison Commission (PCOM)
- Medical Research Council (FD)
- Cabinet Office (CAB)
9.4 Education and single sex institutions
From the 1930s onwards, gay men in prison were increasingly referred to prison medical officers for diagnosis and ‘treatment’. Search our catalogue using keywords such as ‘prison’ and ‘medical’ (together) for relevant records from the Home Office (HO) and the Prison Commission (PCOM).
Single sex institutions also attracted the attention of the authorities in relation to gender identity; such as where decisions had to be made about whether individuals should be placed in a male or female prison.
Many authorities wanted children to grow up to conform to heterosexuality and the gender they were assigned at birth; and those with responsibility for education and young offender institutions were wary of permitting LGBTQ+ teachers to influence children.
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 stated that a local authority ‘shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality’. Section 28 was also known as Clause 28.
Search our catalogue for records from the Education Department (ED) which regulated borstals and reform schools as well as mainstream schools. Local archives may also have relevant records (see section 12).
10. Parliamentary records
Discussions in Parliament on sexuality and gender identity history from 1803 can be found in Hansard, which is available online on the Parliament website. Please note Hansard is a selective record until 1909, and there are some volumes missing from the online data.
Committee reports (for example the Wolfenden Report), bills, and other records relating to sexuality and gender identity history may be found in published Parliamentary papers. You can access these online via Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers. This is a subscription website you can access on The National Archives’ computers by visiting us at Kew. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library such as a university library.
Public Acts of Parliament are all online on legislation.gov.uk from 1988 to present. Before that they are not all available online.
11. Background information
We have drawn together a list of some key events in the history of sexuality and gender identity which might help you to make choices about where and how to search for records at The National Archives and elsewhere.
- 1534 Although already proscribed under Canon Law, ‘buggery’ was first made a criminal offence
- 1861 King Louis XV France orders the Chevalier d’Eon Baumont to dress permanently as a woman
- 1861 The Offences Against the Person Act consolidated this provision, together with the further offence of ‘indecent assault’, which had emerged within common law during the 18th century
- 1865 James Barry, army surgeon, dies and is allegedly found to have been a woman
- 1885 The Criminal Law Amendment Act was passed making any act of ‘gross indecency’ between men a criminal offence, whether it occurred in public or in private
- 1898 ‘Cruising’ streets, parks or urinals was criminalised as the offence of ‘importuning’ through the Vagrancy Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1912)
- 1921 The House of Lords rejected a proposed new offence of acts of gross indecency between women under the Criminal Law Amendment Bill
- 1932 Valerie Barker was indicted for bankruptcy and discovered to be a woman when imprisoned
- 1946 Harold Gillies and a colleague carried out one of the first sex reassignment surgeries from female to male on Michael Dillon
- 1957 The Wolfenden Committee recommended that private homosexual acts between consenting adults should no longer be a criminal offence
- 1967 Following campaigns from gay political organisations the Wolfenden recommendations were enacted into law
- 1969 First International Symposium on Gender Identity, London
- 2001 The age of consent was lowered to 16 in England, Wales and Scotland for gay men and became equal for all
- 2004 Gender Recognition Act allowed for people having gender dysphoria to change their legal gender
- 2009 The age of consent for gay men in Northern Ireland was lowered from 17 to 16
12. Records in other archives
There are many records relating to LGBTQ+ history in other archives across the UK.
- Manchester Central Library – see under LGBT history
- Liverpool libraries and archives – see under other collections for LGBT heading
- Glasgow Women’s Library, The Lesbian Archive
- The London Archives – see their information leaflet on LGBT archives
- British Film Institute – Sandi Hughes film archive
- Bishopsgate Institute – includes Lesbian and gay newsmedia archive
- LSE Women’s Library
- LSE Library, LGBT collections
- Historic England Archive – see the page on England’s LGBTQ heritage for relevant aspects of this collection
- LGBT archive – formerly the LGBT History project
To find other collections in local archives, search Discovery using relevant keywords, and refine your results using the filters.Find contact details for archives elsewhere using Find an archive.
13. Further reading, websites and podcasts
Visit The National Archives’ bookshop for a range of publications on sexual and gender identity history. See also our recommended list of publications held at The National Archives Library. You may also be able to find these books in a local library.
Lesbian history of Britain: love and sex between women since 1500, Rebecca Jennings (Greenwood World Publishing 2007)
The lesbian history sourcebook: love and sex between women in Britain from 1780-1970, Alison Oram & Annmarie Turnbull (Routledge 2001)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history in The National Archives: identified documents by theme, Your Archives, (retrieved 28 November 2012)
Historic England’s LGBTQ Heritage resource
Go to our podcasts page to listen to a series of talks highlighting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender histories found in government records.
This guide provides advice on how to search for records of non-commissioned ranks in the Royal Marines. As soldiers trained for service at sea, marines have served as part of the Royal Navy for more than 260 years and the records of the marines are, therefore, Admiralty records.
Records held at The National Archives include service records for marines who enlisted up to 1926, records for marines who enlisted after 1926 are held by the Ministry of Defence.
The evolution of the Royal Marines
The Royal Marines trace their beginnings to the formation in 1664, under Charles II, of the ‘Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot’.
In 1755 a permanent Marine Corps of 5,000 marines was established and grouped into 50 companies under three divisions: Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth. It became the ‘Royal Marines’ in 1802, by an order of King George III.
In 1855 the Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI) was formed, followed by the Royal Marine Artillery (RMA) in 1859. The RMLI and RMA merged in 1923 to form a single Royal Marine Corps.
Online records
Royal Marines enlisted 1842–1926
Search by name and download (£) Royal Marines’ service records using the search box in series ADM 159, for marines who enlisted between 1842 and 1926 from Discovery, our catalogue.
Royal Marine campaign medal rolls, 1793–1995
Search the award of campaign medals (ADM 171) for Royal Marines on Ancestry.co.uk (£). This database provides a complete listing of all Royal Marines who served in the First World War and also has service details for a large number of men.
Recommendations for honours and awards, 1935–1990
Search online by name and download (£) Recommendations for Honours and Awards (WO 373) from our catalogue. These are mainly British army awards but do include some for the Royal Marines.
Registers of births, marriages and of the deaths of children, 1830–1920
Search marriage registers by name for marines who served in the Chatham Division (ADM 183/114–120) and Portsmouth Division (ADM 184/43–54) on findmypast.co.uk (£). Included among these records are details of the births and deaths of the children of marines.
Registers of deaths, 1893–1948
Download and browse through digital microfilm copies of the registers of those killed or wounded on board ship between 1893 and 1948 (ADM 104/109 to ADM 104/142). The registers are arranged by ships and later in alphabetical lists by surname. Details recorded changed from era to era but can include:
- rank
- age
- date, place and cause of death
- place and date of birth
- next-of-kin
- some information on their posting from the division to a ship, or station, under the heading ‘Disposal’
Second World War lists of prisoners of war in Germany
Search by name for entries from the nominal lists of Royal Marines who were held as prisoners of war in Germany, 1939-1945 (ADM 201/111) among the prisoners of war records digitised by findmypast.co.uk (£).
Wills, 1786–1909
Search by name for Royal Marines’ wills, 1786–1882 (ADM 48), part of The National Archives online collections.
You can also browse digital microfilm copies of the registers of seamen’s wills (ADM 142), which include some Royal Marines among the Royal Navy personnel, for a date of death and in some cases the name, address and relationship of the executor or administrator of the will. These are very large files and only suitable for download on a fast and unlimited broadband connection.
How to find a Royal Marine’s division
Most of the original Royal Marines records were arranged by division so if you can find out what division a marine belonged to it may help to locate and use the records presented in the next section. You can find a marine’s division by locating his service record in ADM 159 (see above) or locating him in the campaign and medal rolls in ADM 171 (see above) but you can also try the following:
- If you know which ship/s he served on, search ships’ musters 1688–1878 (ADM 36 to ADM 39) by ship’s name and date in to establish the home port. Before 1947, marines served on ships drawn from the same division as the home port of the ship.
- If the marine was a war casualty, consult the war graves roll (ADM 242/7–10), for the First World War, or the book A Register of Royal Marine Deaths, 1939–1945 for the Second World War.
- If you know or can find out his home address it should indicate his division as most marines were drawn from the ‘catchment area’ of the nearest division. Check the birth or marriage certificate of a marine or the census to find his address.
- Consult the book The Records of the Royal Marines by Garth Thomas which provides guidance on how to find a division if you know a marine’s company number.
Records available only at The National Archives in Kew
Attestation and discharge forms, 1790–1925
Search our catalogue for an attestation form in ADM 157. These were compiled for each Marine on enlistment and show birthplace, previous occupation, physical description and often a record of service.
Please note, this is a search across the entire catalogue description of each record, not just the name. A search for someone called Barnes, for example, may give some results for people born in Barnes.
Narrow your search by using quotation marks to find a person’s full name, such as “John Williams”
Index to attestation forms, 1914–1925
Consult index ADM 313/1–26 if you cannot find an individual’s attestation paper. Failing this, browse ADM 157 and choose the relevant file.
Description books, 1750–1940
Consult description books in ADM 158. These volumes summarise the information given in attestation forms and provide a useful alternative where the attestation no longer exists. They are arranged largely by division and then by last name and provide a reason for and date of discharge.
Birth, baptism and marriage registers, 1810–1921
In addition to the online birth and marriage registers (see above), you can also look through the following registers:
- Portsmouth Division marriage register, 1869–1881 (ADM 185/69)
- Woolwich Division marriage rolls and registers, 1822–1869 (ADM 81/23–25)
- Royal Marine Artillery register of marriages and baptisms, 1810–1853 (ADM 193/9)
- Royal Marine Artillery register of baptisms, 1866–1921 (ADM 6/437)
First World War war graves roll
Locate some First World War marine casualties in ADM 242/7–10, which are arranged by first letter of surname. Details in these records include:
- name
- rank
- service number
- ship’s name
- date and place of birth
- cause of death
- where buried (including plot number)
- next-of-kin
First World War medical records
A representative sample of medical records from the various theatres of war can be found in series MH 106 . You can search admission and discharge registers by name or regimental number on Findmypast (charges apply) in the collection British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers’ Medical Records, which includes registers from 1918 of No.2 General Hospital, based in Le Havre (MH 106/986–997) and Royal Marines treated at 18th General Hospital (MH 106/1163).
The series also contains 306 boxes of medical case sheets and medical cards for individual service personnel. Use the search option in our catalogue at MH 106 to search by name, regimental number, unit, and condition, injury and disease. These records are only available as original records and cannot be downloaded.
Wills and administrations, 1740–1764 and 1836–1915
Search for marines’ wills or administrations, 1740–1764 (ADM 96/524), within the records of the Royal Marines Pay Office.
You can also search for letters of administration from the Army and Navy, 1836–1915 (PMG 50), in the probate registers of the Paymaster General’s Office.
Records of good conduct medals and gratuities, 1849–1884
Search in the records of good conduct medals and gratuities, 1849–1884 (ADM 201/21), within the correspondence and other papers of the Royal Marine Office.
Courts martial registers and case files, 1803–1978
Search the courts martial case files, 1890–1965 (ADM 156), by the name of a marine or Royal Navy ship.
Search courts martial registers, 1812–1978 (ADM 194), by year and division to find the appropriate register.
Look through the indexed registers of courts martial, 1803–1856 (ADM 13/103–104).
Correspondence, registers, muster lists, pay lists and other records of the Royal Marines Pay Office, 1688–1862
Search by date in the records of the Royal Marines Pay Office, 1688–1862 (ADM 96), or browse through the series by reference, to find correspondence, muster lists, pay lists and other records of the Royal Marines Pay Office. These records do not contain detailed information of individuals but can be used to connect marines to ships or to dates.
Records in other archives and organisations
Service records, 1927 to date
Look on the GOV.UK website to find out how to obtain service records from the Royal Navy for Royal Marines who enlisted after 1926.
Short and continuous service records
Consult the ‘Research’ pages of the Fleet Air Arm Museum website to see a list of the service records they hold.
Other resources
Websites
Browse the collection of research documents which are available to download from the Royal Marines Museum website.
Books
Read A Register of Royal Marine Deaths, 1939–1945, which gives rolls of all ranks, lists of casualties by ship and unit, and burial details for Second World War casualties.
Visit The National Archives’ bookshop for a range of publications on the Royal Marines.
Use our library catalogue to find a recommended book list or look for the same books at a local library.
Richard Brooks and Matthew Little, Tracing your Royal Marine Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2008)
Ken Divall, My Ancestor was a Royal Marine (Society of Genealogists, 2008)
1. Why use this guide?
This guide briefly describes:
- how to search for records of gardens held in archives across the UK
- the principal relevant repositories with strong collections relating to garden history
- other useful links and general works of reference
This guide predominantly focuses on records not held by The National Archives.
2. How to search for records
Search Discovery, our catalogue, to find records from over 2,500 archives across the UK, as well as from The National Archives itself. Your search results will include details of which archives currently hold the records.
Click on the title of a result for the contact details of the archive which holds the record – you will need to contact this archive for further information about the collection or the record itself.
Where the keywords you searched for appear in the description of a record, the search results are displayed under the ‘Records’ tab.
Where the keywords you searched for appear in the name of the institution or person that originally created the record (often not the same as the institution or person that currently holds the record), the search results are displayed under the ‘Record creators’ tab. For further tips on searching, see our Discovery help pages.
3. Major collections
The following provides details of repositories and institutions that hold major collections relating to garden history.
Holds the archives of the Linnean Society, founded in 1788, the papers of Carolus Linnaeus and manuscripts from contemporary naturalists such as William Swainson. The archive is therefore rich in 18th and early 19th century material and includes prints, watercolours and sketches. See the Catalogues of the manuscripts in the library of the Linnean Society of London (1934-1948).
Formerly the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), now absorbed within English Heritage. Maintains the National Archaeological Record, including written reports, measured surveys, drawings and reports, as well as the record files of the RCHME dating from 1908. Also maintained by the RCHME are the National Library of Air Photos and a number of special collections of papers, including copies of a collection of Gertrude Jekyll’s papers. See RCHME The National Monuments Record: a guide to the archive (1992).
Holds a collection of manuscripts associated with scientists such as Sir Joseph Banks. Non-manuscript material includes watercolour paintings and sketches of natural history subjects and a collection of portraits of naturalists. See also Catalogue of the books, manuscripts, maps and drawings in the British Museum (Natural History) (8 volumes, 1903-1949).
Holds records of gardens in central government and royal custody, generated especially in the Office of Works; for example, WORK 16 contains files on the Royal Parks and Pleasure Gardens. For a description of the history and records of works departments see department and series level information for WORK on Discovery, our catalogue.
Textual records, maps and plans are scattered throughout many different series of records. Consult our catalogue and the research guides Maps: further research and Architectural drawings.
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh,
Originally established in 1670 as a physic garden for growing and studying medicinal plants, it has developed as a distinctive focus within Scotland for world-wide botanical research and horticulture. Holds much historical published and unpublished material, the latter including the correspondence of George Forrest, Joseph Rock and others.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Library and Archives
Holds letters, diaries, files and field notebooks of those botanists and horticulturists involved in the creation of Kew’s plant collection, as well as the registered files of the garden itself.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Maintains the National Monuments Record of Scotland, with similar archaeological responsibilities as English Heritage.
National Monuments Record of Wales
Maintains the National Monuments Record of Wales, with similar archaeological responsibilities as English Heritage.
Founded in 1804 to encourage the science, art and practice of horticulture in all its branches. It is now the world’s leading horticultural organisation, with extremely active science and educational departments based at RHS Garden, Wisley. The Society is responsible for organising a number of shows, of which the Chelsea Flower Show is the most famous.
Besides the archives of the RHS, the Lindley Library holds the English Heritage Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest, and sets of gardening magazines, including The gardener’s magazine and The gardener’s chronicle.
Local record offices
These repositories have a fairly standard collection of estate, enclosure, tithe and Ordnance Survey maps for the area they cover, all of which may help in tracing the development of parks and gardens. They also usually have a good collection of prints, drawings, photographs and sale particulars, as well as the standard sources such as census and land tax returns. Contact details can be found using the Find an archive tool.
4. Other useful resources
The Archives Hub – provides descriptions of collections held at archives in UK universities and colleges. At present the descriptions are primarily of the broad themes and subject matters of the collections, although where possible they are linked to more detailed descriptions of the records that make up each collection.
Archives in London and the M25 area (AIM25) – AIM25 provides online descriptions of collections held at the archives of over fifty higher education institutions and other academic and cultural organizations within the greater London area.
The Scottish Archive Network – the project aims to revolutionise access to Scotland’s archives by providing a single electronic catalogue to the holdings of more than 50 Scottish archives.
Parks and Gardens UK – provides a searchable directory of historic gardens and parks with biographies of the garden creators.
5. Further reading
Rebecca M Bailey, Scottish architects’ papers: a source book (1996)
HM Colvin, A biographical dictionary of British architects 1600-1840 (third edition, 1995)
HM Colvin (ed), The history of the King’s works (1973-)
HM Colvin, English architectural history: A guide to sources (second edition, 1976)
Roger Dixon and Stefan Muthesius, Victorian architecture (1978)
Alison Felstead, Jonathan Franklin, Leslie Pinfield, Directory of British architects 1834-1900 (1993)
A Stuart Gray, Edwardian architecture: A biographical dictionary (1985)
John Harvey, English mediaeval architects: A biographical dictionary down to 1550 (1987)
John H Harvey, Sources for the history of houses (British Records Association, Archives and the User No 3, 1974)
Rolf Loeber, A biographical dictionary of architects in Ireland 1600-1720 (1981)
Nikolaus B Pevsner (et al), The buildings of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (1951-)
This is a brief guide to researching records of an apprentice or master. Official records of apprentices were kept in England and Wales between 1710 and 1811, when stamp duty was payable on indentures of apprenticeship. Registers of the duty paid were kept by the Commissioners of Stamps.
What do I need to know before I start?
You may not be able to find records for common trades such as weaving or other 18th century industries because:
- informal indentures became increasingly common with fathers often teaching sons and nephews
- the Statute of Apprentices only applied to trades which existed when it was passed in 1563
Try to find out:
- the date of birth of the apprentice
- in which area they were apprenticed and where the stamp duty would have been paid
The indentures on which duty was payable cover Great Britain but not Ireland.
Online records
Apprenticeship books (1710-1811)
From 1710 to 1811 masters paid stamp duty for taking on apprentices. Details of the stamp duty paid were recorded in apprenticeship books. Search the apprenticeship books from 1710 to 1811 (IR 1) on Ancestry.co.uk (£) by name of master. Alternatively, you can browse the apprenticeship books on digital microfilm.
The apprenticeship books are divided into Town Registers (London, 1711-1811) and Country Registers (elsewhere, 1710-1808), depending on where the stamp duty was paid. There are original indexes of masters to some of these registers, available to view online, in IR 1/74-79. The catalogue description for each index indicates the series of volumes to which they refer (for example, IR 1/74 refers to volumes 22-25). These volume numbers equate to National Archives piece numbers (so, using the previous example, IR 1/74 refers to IR 1/22-25).
If the apprenticeship was in Middlesex or one of the home counties the duty may have been paid in London and the details entered in one of the London registers.
The payment could be made at the start of the apprenticeship or any time up to one year after the expiry of the indenture.
Indexes to apprenticeship books, 1710-1774
Search the indexes of apprentices from 1710 to 1774 on findmypast.co.uk (£)
Indexes to apprentices registered in the Merchant Navy, 1824-1910
Search by name the indexes of apprentices registered in the Merchant Navy between 1824 to 1910 (BT 150/1–53) on Ancestry (£).
These index the original indentures in BT 151 and BT 152. Please note only a sample of the original indentures survive – for more information see below.
Articles of clerkship, 1756-1874
Search articles of clerkship (KB 105-107) by name on Ancestry (£). These are the contracts between an apprentice clerk, who wanted to become an attorney or solicitor, and an attorney who agreed to train the clerk. The contracts were often entered into by fathers (or other sponsors) on their sons’ behalf.
Records available only at The National Archives at Kew
To access these records you will either need to visit us, pay for research (£) or, where you can identify a specific record reference, order a copy (£).
Apprenticeship records of the Merchant Navy, 1824-1953
Consult BT 150 for indexes of apprentices registered in the merchant service between 1824 to 1953. Please note the indexes for 1824-1910 are available online (see above).
The earlier volumes give:
- the apprentice’s name
- age
- the date and terms of his indenture
- the name of his master
- the port where he signed on and the name of the ship (in later volumes only)
Browse by date and by port BT 151 and BT 152 for samples of the original indentures, including some for fishing vessels. Please note only a sample survive (a two-month sample for every five years).
Apprenticeship records in the Admiralty, 19th century onwards
Browse records such as:
- ADM 12 under the headings ‘Boys’ (code 13) and ‘Apprentices in Dockyards’ (code 41.16)
- ADM 1 and ADM 106
- ADM 73/421 and ADM 73/448 for apprenticeship registers
- CSC 10 for marks and results of examinations of dockyard and artificer apprentices from 1876
Board of Trade papers, 1846-1895
Find references to apprenticeships in the indexes to papers (BT 19). Read the catalogue details for BT 19 to find related correspondence from various departments of the Board.
Poor Law union indexes and papers, 1836-1920
Find mentions of apprenticeships in the index of subjects (MH 15). This index may help you find additional related papers of individual Poor Law unions in MH 12.
These records relate to children of paupers and orphans who were apprenticed out by the guardians and overseers of the poor. They frequently relate to administrative and policy issues.
Records in other archives and organisations
Apprenticeships at London livery companies, 1442-1850
Search London Apprenticeship Abstracts 1442–1850, held at the Guildhall Library, on the Findmypast website (£) for apprenticeship records of London livery companies.
Livery companies, also known as guilds, were (and still are) trade and craft associations. They encompass a wide variety of trades, from fishmongers, butchers and grocers to blacksmiths, clothworkers and brewers. Not all London apprentices came from London.
Various apprenticeship records held at the London Archives
The London Archives hold a huge collection of records of companies and businesses mainly based in the ‘Square Mile’ of the City of London and in the wider Greater London region. These include records of company members and apprentices.
Various apprenticeship records held at local archives
A variety of apprenticeship records are held at county and metropolitan archives throughout the country. The National Archives’ catalogue contains collection and contact details of local archives around the UK and beyond. To locate these records, search our catalogue with keywords such as ‘apprenticeship’ and ‘indenture’ and refine your results to ‘Other archives’ using the filters.
Other resources
Books
Search The National Archives’ shop to see whether any of the publications below may be available to buy. Alternatively, look in The National Archives’ library catalogue to see what is available to consult at Kew.
Amanda Bevan, ‘Tracing your ancestors in The National Archives’ (The National Archives, 2006)
Paul Carter and Kate Thompson, ‘Sources for local historians’ (2005)
Websites
Visit the Children’s Homes website for information on apprenticeships and the training of poor children.
Journal articles
Read ‘The City Boys: records of London apprentices’ by C Webb and E Churchill (Ancestors, 21, 2004).