Bankrupts
(1808-1810)
William Smith's abstracts of bankruptcies for England and Wales from 1 January 1808 to 1 August 1810. Bankruptcy causes abrupt changes in people's lives, and is often the reason for someone appearing suddenly in a different location or in a different occupation.BLAZE. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Bilston Directory
(1818)
The Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory was published by W. Parson and T. Bradshaw in 1818 in sections, 21 to 30 relating to towns in the south of the county: 21. Bilston; 22. Brewood; 23. Darlaston; 24. Handsworth; 25. Tipton; 26. Walsall; 27. Wednesbury; 28. West Bromwich; 29. Willenhall; 30. Wolverhampton. In each section the traders are listed alphabetically under surname, with occupation and address.BLAZE. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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 British merchant seamen
(1835-1840)
At this period, the foreign trade of ships plying to and from the British isles involved about 150,000 men on 15,000 ships; and the coasting trade about a quarter as many more. A large proportion of the seamen on these ships were British subjects, and so liable to be pressed for service in the Royal Navy; but there was no general register by which to identify them, so in 1835 parliament passed a Merchant Seamen's Registration Bill. Under this act a large register of British seamen was compiled, based on ships' crew lists gathered in British and Irish ports, and passed up to the registry in London. A parliamentary committee decided that the system devised did not answer the original problem, and the original register was abandoned after less than two years: the system was then restarted in this form, with a systematic attempt to attribute the seamen's (ticket) numbers, and to record successive voyages. The register records the number assigned to each man; his name; age; birthplace; quality (S = seaman, &c.); and the name and official number of his ship, with the date of the crew list (usually at the end of a voyage). Most of the men recorded were born in the British Isles, but not all. The system was still very cumbersome, because the names were amassed merely under the first two letters of surname; an attempt was made to separate out namesakes by giving the first instance of a name (a), the second (b), and so on. During 1840 this series of ledgers was abandoned, and a new set started with names grouped together by surname. BT 112/6BLAZE. Cost: £8.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Inhabitants of Birmingham
(1850)
Francis White & Co.'s History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Warwickshire for 1850 lists nobility, gentry, clergy, other private residents, farmers and traders, hundred by hundred and village by village, with separate sections for the large towns. This long alphabetical section lists inhabitants of Birmingham.BLAZE. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Royal Artillery fighting in China
(1856-1860)
The China Medal was awarded to soldiers and sailors who took part in the prosecution of the war against the Chinese from 1856 to 1860. Separate clasps were awarded for men who had been in receipt of the China Medal of 1842; for being actually present at Canton on 28 and 29 December 1857, when that city was bombarded and finally captured; for being actually engaged in the operations which ceased with the first capture of the Taku Forts, 20 May 1858, and led to the Treaty of Tientsin; for being actually present at the capture of the Taku Forts 21 August 1860; and for being actually present before Pekin the day the gate of that city was given up to the allied (British and French) army, viz. on 13 October 1860. Several batteries of the Royal Artillery took part in these actions.BLAZE. Cost: £8.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Residents and Traders in Birmingham
(1861)
William Cornish's Corporation General and Trades Directory covered Birmingham, Coventry and the towns of the Black Country. The Birmingham section contains both street lists and this general alphabetical directory. BLAZE. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Inhabitants of Halesowen in Worcestershire
(1868)
Gentry, farmers and traders listed in J. E. R. Kelly's Post Office Directory of Worcestershire. (The sample scan is of the section for the little parish of Hadzor)BLAZE. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Inhabitants of Ceylon (1871)
'The General Directory: of European Residents; Principal Public Servants; and Inhabitants, generally, of Respectable Standing:- including the Secretaries and Principal Clerks in the Various Public and Private Offices; and the Principal Native Headmen, Traders, &c., &c.' corrected up to 16 October 1871, published in A. M. Ferguson's Ceylon Directory.
BLAZE. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Baptists
(1876)
The Baptist was a weekly newspaper, with some general news and political coverage, but mainly devoted to chronicling Denominational Intelligence, i. e. the doings of the Baptist churches in Britain and Ireland. January to June 1876.BLAZE. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Debtors, Insolvents and Bankrupts
(1880)
Bills of sale (binding assets to a creditor/lender), insolvencies and bankruptcies in England and Wales, April to June 1880BLAZE. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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