St Albans Directory from 1798

Click here for full directory entry

At one time a site called Genhound carried some of the Universal British Directories (1790-8) entries for Hertfordshire, and also some other early directory entries. The site has now closed. Does anyone know if there are online copies elsewhere?

Historic Hertfordshire Trade Directories

I have updated the pages which list the Hertfordshire Trade Directories. The most important change is to update the link to the directories digitized as part of the Historic Directories project (which covers the whole country and not just Hertfordshire). I have also listed the Hertfordshire directories which have been digitized as part of the Ancestry data base. The chief loss is of the 1811 Holden directory which was available through the Genhound web site which closed in 2015.

It is not possible for me to scan every genealogy and history web site for other online copies of Hertfordshire directories - or cases where indexed by name information is available a genealogy web site - so if you know of any that I have missed please add a comment below.

See Hertfordshire Trade Directories

The Inns and Beerhouses of Berkhamsted in 1854

I have just posted a

  List of the Inns and Beerhouses of Berkhamsted

as they were in 1854 as described in Craven's Directory of that year.

Brewing

Hertfordshire Fairs in 1854

Craven's 1854 Directory

List of Fairs in Craven's Directory, 1854

ALBAN's ST. - March 20 and 26, Oct. 10 and 11, for servants, horses, cows, and sheep

ALBURY, PATMORE HEATH. - July 18, for toys.

BALDOCK. - March 7, last Thursday in May, August 5, Oct. 3, Dec. 12, large fair for cheese, household goods, and cattle.

BARKWAY.- July 20, for pedlery ware.

BARNET. - April 8, 9, and 11, linen drapery, mercery, toys, etc. September 5, 6, and 7, sheep, Welsh cattle, horses, pigs, mercery, etc.

BENNINGTON. - July 11, pedlery ware.

BERKHAMSTEAD. - Shrove-Monday, Whit-Monday, a small fair for cattle. August 5, cheese. September 29, statute fair. October 11, statute.

... ... MORE

An important Hertfordshire Directory from 1854

Directories

Craven's 1854 Directory

Between 1846 and 1937 a regular series of Post Office/Kelly's directories were published for Hertfordshire at about 4 year intervals. I have access to digital copies of most of them and use them regularly in my research.  A tiny number of competitors entered the market, without much success, and I was delighted when I was able to acquire a pretty good copy of the hard to find Craven and Co's Commercial Directory of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire published in 1854. 

St Albans

I had not seen a copy before and found that it was organised in a different way to, for example, the 1851 Post Office Directory. I was worried when I found that at least some of the place descriptions were little more than a cut and paste rewrite of the 1851 directory. However when I looked at the directory listings I was delighted. The early Post Office Directory were very selective on who they included and it was clear that that the Craven directory was significantly more informative. A quick check of the first 20 "Trades" entries for St Albans included many entries which would have been not important enough to be included in the P O Directory for 1851 - including Eliza Allen (matron of the Goal), John Scott Allen (head turnkey of the Goal) and David Arnold (Town Hall Keeper). Charles Arnold was at "The Goat" which was not named in the P O Directory  and the entry for William Bennett, builder, included the additional information "and brick, tile and lime manufacturer."  

Sandridge

To estimate the amount of extra information in the directory I have transcribed the entry for the village of Sandridge - highlighting the extra information. In addition there are a large number of interesting adverts at the back of the directory and I have added the following to the main web site:

Swan Brewery, Berkhamsted

George Groom, builder, Hemel Hempstead

William Bull, Chemist, Royston

J W King, White Horse Inn, Shenley

You will undoubtedly be hearing more of the "goodies" in this valuable directory.

Better Access to the Trade Directory pages

Directories

While, due to other demands on my time, upgrading this site has a low priority at present I have found time introduce a distinctive logo and a menu/home page to make it easier for visitors to find the pages which contain information on trade directories. Why not explore what is available - and tell me how it could be improved. In particular, let me know if you know of any directories or similar lists (both for the county or individual towns) which are available online which I have not mentioned.