Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain

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Email addresses of some record offices

Here are some of the more frequently used abbreviations relevant to genealogy in the UK:

Admon        Letter of Administration
Ag lab       Agricultural labourer
AGRA         Association of Genealogists & Record Agents
BAHL         British Association of Local History
BL           British Library
BMD          Births, marriages & deaths
BNL          British Newspaper Library
Boyds        Boyd's Marriage Index
BTs          Bishops' Transcripts
C of E       Church of England
CP           Civil parish
CR0          County Record Office
DNB          Dictionary of National Biography
FFHS         Federation of Family History Societies
FHG          Fellow of the Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies
FHS          Family History Society
FSG          Fellow of the Society of Genealogists
IFTM         Family Tree Magazine
FWK          Framework knitter (Hosiery knitter or Stockinger)
GLRO         Greater London Record Office
GRO          General Register Office
GSU          Genealogical Society of Utah
IGI          International Genealogical Index
illeg        illegitimate
IOL IOLR     India Office Library
IRC          Intemational Reply Coupon
ISBN         International Standard Book Number
ISBGFH       International Society for British Genealogy and Family History
JP           Justice of the Peace
LDS Church   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
MIs          Monumental Inscriptions
mss          manuscript
NGD          National Genealogical Directory
NLW          National Library of Wales
notp         not of this parish
NRA          National Register of Archives
ONS          Office of National Statistics. (Myddelton Place, London. It was formerly known as the OPCS, The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, and used to be situated at St Catherine's House. Also in the same building are the Public Record Office (PRO) census returns 1841-1891 on microform.)
OPRs         Old Parochial Registers (pre1855 parish registers in Scotland)
otp          of this parish
PCC          Prerogative Court of Canterbury
PCY          Prerogative Court of York
PLU          Poor Law Union
PPR          Principal Probate Registry
PR(s)        Parish register(s)
PRO          Public Record Office
PROONS       (See ONS above)
QS           Quarter Sessions
RD           Registration Districts
RO           1) Record Office
             2) Removal Order
SAE          Stamped Addressed Envelope
SASE         Self Addressed Stamped Envelope
SC           Settlement Certificate
SE           Settlement Examination
SF SoF       Society of Friends (Quakers)
SLC          Salt Lake City (The American headquarters of the LDS Church)
SoG          Society of Genealogists
soj          sojourner
SRO          Scottish Record Office
tp           this parish
TS           Typescript
VCH          Victoria County Histories
W Meth       Wesleyan Methodists
WO           War Office
yeo          yeoman

Source :  Practical Family History Magazine, June/July, 1997

Poll books as a genealogical resource

The criteria for voting elegibility have changed many times but, for the period around the mid- 1800's, firstly voters had to be over 21 and male.  There were some local variations and it also depended on whether the constituency was a County or Borough one, but the general major changes were:

1832      All male householders of land worth over £10 per year were permitted to vote.  In the
              Boroughs, this included tenants as well as land-owners;  in the Counties it applied to
              owners only.

1867      Suffrage was extended in the Boroughs to all male owners of dwelling houses and to
              occupiers who paid rent of £10 per year, and in the Counties to all owners of property
              worth more than £5 and to occupiers who paid rent of over £50 per year.

1884     The County qualification was brought largely into line with that of the Borough,
             giving most male householders over 21 the vote.

It follows that a person could vote in a parliamentary constituency where he owned land but didn't actually live.

Poll Books actually listed people who voted and how they voted.  In 1872 the secret ballot was introduced.  Electoral Registers, which list people entitled to vote, have been published every year since 1832, except the war years. 

Missing GRO marriages

If you have been unable to find a marriage in the GRO indexes for the years 1856, 1858 or 1861, try Mike Foster's list of missing records at

www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/StCathsTranscriptions/CATHNU.TXT
 
 

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