Ancestry adds UK electoral registers 2011-2018

A new collection on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

UK, Electoral Registers, 2011-2018
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62855/
Source: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2024.

General collection information

Registering to vote is mandatory in the United Kingdom. This collection contains an index of all persons appearing in the electoral register in the years 2011-2018. An electoral register is a list of the people entitled to vote during the period of the register, which usually spans one year.

If a person does not appear on the register and the registration officer has the person's name and address, the person will be invited to register. Failing to register may result in penalties, such as a fine.

Importantly, before 2014, one person in each household registered everyone in the household to vote. Since 2014, all persons of voting age are now required to register individually.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Residence Date
• Address
• Residence Place

When registering, residents may also be required to provide their national insurance number, nationality, and age, but this information does not appear in the index.

Although residents are not eligible to vote until age 18, they can complete their registration beginning at age 16 (age 14 in Scotland and Wales). To register, one must be a British citizen, a European Union citizen living in the United Kingdom, or be one of certain individuals with permission to stay in the United Kingdom or who do not need permission. 

Comment - I've no idea what the source for this collection is, Ancesty is citing itself as the source!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

PRONI's Armagh and Londonderry, Ireland, Absent Voters Lists, 1918 added to Ancestry

There's another PRONI colelction now on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) as a third partry index: 

Armagh and Londonderry, Ireland, Absent Voters Lists, 1918
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70915/
Source: Absent Voter Lists 1918. Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/absent-voters-lists-1918 Accessed 2022.

About Armagh and Londonderry, Ireland, Absent Voters Lists, 1918

This collection contains an index of information derived from absent voters lists from counties Armagh and Londonderry, Ireland, for elections in 1918. This was the final year of the First World War, and many of the absent voters were in the military, the Merchant Marine, or the Red Cross. The index is arranged alphabetically by the absent voter's surname. The Londonderry list includes about 4,500 names, and the Armagh list contains about 3,500 names. The collection doesn't include images of the original documents, but they may be found on the website for the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name of absent voter
• Polling district
• Registration unit
• Address
• Military service number, rank, and unit

For further details visit the collection link, above.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Cyber attack compromises UK electoral register

The UK's electoral register has been the victim of a cyber attack, with those affected including those who don't keep their details on the open register, and those living overseas. It involves the period from 2014-2022 - and they've known about it since October last year. 

The full story is at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66441010/.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

MyHeritage adds pre-1840 Ulster freeholders records

MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has added a new collection for those with ancestors from the Irish province of Ulster:

Ireland, Ulster Freeholders

This collection contains records of freeholders in the province of Ulster, Ireland, between the years 1662 and 1839. Freeholders are men who owned or held land in lease for the duration of a lifetime, giving them the right to vote in an election. Records typically include the name of the freeholder, and the year and residence of the freeholder at the time the election occurred.

Due to the scarcity of records in Ireland from this period of history, they can be invaluable to deduce more about the residence, living conditions and social class of your ancestors.

Although these records can contain details of the candidates that individuals voted for, before the 1872 Ballot Act, voters had to publicly declare their allegiance, which could lead to landlords putting pressure on their tenants to support their chosen candidate. The people allowed to vote also changed through this period, notably with only Protestants with a freehold of at least 40 shillings a year able from 1727 to 1793, both Protestants and Catholics with 40 shilling freeholds could vote from 1793 to 1829. After 1829 the rate was increased to 10 pounds, removing the right to vote from all 40 shilling freeholders and confining the electorate to those with considerable property and money.

This collection Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.

COMMENT: This is the same collection that is found on PRONI's website as 'Freeholders' records' (https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/freeholders-records), with MyHeritage helpfully giving the catalogue reefrence with each search result, even if not noting which archive it came from! There are 138,778 individual name records available.

For additional MyHeritage records released this week visit https://blog.myheritage.com/2022/10/myheritage-publishes-30-new-historical-record-collections-and-31-million-records-in-september-2022/

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast updates Scottish monumental inscriptions and English/Welsh electoral records

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has updated the Scottish memorial inscriptions collection and added further records to its English and Welsh electoral registers collection, now spanning 1910-1932. 

For further details and links visit www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/electoral-registers.

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FamilySearch releases Ontario tax rolls and New Zealand electoral rolls

The following releases this week on FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) may be handy for tracing your emigrant ancestors and relatives in Canada and New Zealand:

Canada, Ontario Tax Assessment Rolls, 1834-1899
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/4130007
Description
Tax assessment rolls from Ontario from 1834 to 1899. These records may include the name, age, occupation, and possibly the religious affiliation of the head of household along with information about his lands, home, family members (by age categories) crops, and animals.

New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1865-1957
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/3662227
Description
This collection contains electoral rolls from New Zealand for the years 1865 to 1957. Microfilm of original records now at the Wellington General Assembly Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

For further releases visit https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-21-june-2021/

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Glasgow's 1920 Absent Voters List now online

From Glasgow City Archives via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowCityArchives):

New online resource for family historians!

Following a year-long transcription project, we're delighted to release an index to Glasgow's 1920 Absent Voters List. This fantastic database will be of interest to those whose ancestors served in the First World War and contains the names of more than 13,000 men and women who lived in Glasgow.

The Absent Voters List is a register of those who were absent from home but eligible to vote. This makes it an excellent source of information about those serving in the forces, merchant seamen and other occupations supporting the war effort.

Find out more and search it at: https://bit.ly/3grNWoF

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast updates UK electoral register and Companies House Directors lists

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has updated the following collection:

UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors
These publicly-available modern records are perfect for tracing long lost relatives or house history. We’ve added another 2.9 million entries. Provided by 192.com, the records include names, addresses and other details of the UK electorate from 2002 right up to the present day. Business directors also feature. 

For the relevant link and other releases this week, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/victualler-records

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

TheGenealogist releases Edinburgh and England/Wales Poll Books

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist releases over 260,000 individuals in a new selection of Poll Book records

TheGenealogist has just released over 260,000 records into its ever growing Poll Book Record Collection. This useful resource for family historians can be used to find the address of an ancestor's residence from the period before and after the census records. The newly released Poll Books range from 1747 to 1930 and join records that also cover periods between the census years.

The release allows researchers to:

• Find ancestors who had the vote
• Discover where ancestors were registered to cast their ballot
• See the nature of their qualification to vote, such as owning rateable property
• Search Poll Books that range from 1747 to the 1930s

The records cover 36 different registers of people who were entitled to vote and covers constituencies situated in Bath, Devon, Hampshire, Hertford, Kent, Lincolnshire, London, Monmouthshire, Northumberland, Rutland, Scotland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk and Surrey.

They join the millions of electoral resources on TheGenealogist which include Electoral registers, Voters Lists and Absentee Voters.

Read TheGenealogist’s article at:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/poll-books-and-electoral-rolls-used-to-locate-ancestors-address-1296/

COMMENT: From what I can see, the 'Scotland' collection is actually one book for Edinburgh! It's the Street List of Electors of the City of Edinburgh from 1854, available in the site's 'Polls and Electoral Rolls Searchable Books' database (rather than the similarly sounding 'Poll Books' database, which has no Scottish records). Certainly handy if you have ancestors in the capital in the mid-19th century!

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast adds Scottish Roman Catholic and electoral records

From FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
We’ve added almost 69,000 additional records to this collection, covering 11 parishes across Scotland.

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records
We’ve added over 55,000 congregational records to our Scottish Roman Catholic collection. Congregational records include registers of confirmations and communion recipients, as well as parish lists, seat rentals, and lists of people who converted to Catholicism.

Scotland Roman Catholic Marriages
Over 27,000 new marriage records across 11 parishes.

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Burials
The Scottish Roman Catholic collection is rounded off with brand new burial records from eight parishes, nearly 9,000 of them.

All of the latest additions to our Scottish Roman Catholic parish record collection have been provided by the Catholic National Endowment Trust Charity No. SCO 16650 (known as The Bishops' Conference of Scotland) and form part of our groundbreaking Catholic Heritage Archive.

Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Electoral Registers 1864-1931
We've added over a million names to this collection in partnership with the British Library. Published as searchable PDF documents, using keywords and wildcard searches can help you pinpoint the record you're looking for.

Scotland BillionGraves Cemetery Index
More than 59,000 records have been added to our cemetery index for Scotland.

Newspapers
This week, we've added five brand new titles to our newspaper collection:

• Wakefield and West Riding Herald covering the years 1839, 1844, 1853-1871, 1873-1896 and 1898-1913
• South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times covering the years 1877-1897, 1899-1942 and 1956-1959
• Link covering the years 1915-1921
• Wakefield Free Press covering the years 1860-1891 and 1894-1900
• Wakefield Advertiser & Gazettecovering the years 1906-1925

As well as those brand new editions, Cricket has been updated with pages from 1882-1913.

For further details and links visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/scottish-family-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast adds English, Welsh and Canadian records

The latest additions to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

England & Wales Electoral Registers 1920-1932
In partnership with the British Library, we’ve added over 16 million names to this collection. Voting lists are compiled annually of people who are eligible to vote and include their reason for eligibility, such as their residence or ownership of a property. You're likely to find your ancestor featured more than once. This invaluable record set includes those first entitled to vote after 1918 and is an excellent substitute for the lost 1931 England & Wales Census.

Britain, Histories & Reference Guides
A General and True History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, etc. has been added to our collection of publications relating to British history, heraldry, culture and genealogy.

Canadian Directories & Almanacs
433 additional volumes with over 353,000 images covering Newfoundland, Ontario and Toronto have been added to help research your Canadian ancestors. This collection of directories spans over a century from 1853 to 1975. Published as searchable PDF documents, using keywords and wildcard searches can help you pinpoint the record you're looking for.

Canada, Ontario, Toronto Emigrant Office Records Index
This new index includes over 29,000 names of those who received assistance to emigrate to Ontario between 1865 and 1883. Created by the Toronto Emigrant Office, there are four volumes of assisted immigration registers. The registers are a chronological listing of those new immigrants broken down as follows:

Volume 1: 3 January 1865 to 20 September 1870
Volume 2: 26 September 1870 to 31 July 1873 and 2 October 1874 to 29 December 1876
Volume 3: 1 January 1877 to 31 January 1883
Volume 4: 24 May 1873 to 2 October 1874

Newspapers
Two new publications and updates to other titles make for an exciting week of discoveries in our newspaper archives. Brand new to the collection this week are:

Colonies and India covering the years 1885-1898
Reveille covering the years 1940-1942 and 1946-1948

As well as those brand new editions, the following three papers have been updated:

Munster News covering the years 1916-1918 and 1920-1921
Penrith Observer covering the years 1905-1906
Sunday Mirror covering the years 1919-1938, 1947-1952, 1954-1955, 1957-1963, 1965-1975, 1977-1985 and 1987-1999


For further details and links visit www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/british-canadian-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast expands English and Welsh electoral registers collections

The latest records added to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) are an update to the site's English and Welsh electoral registers:

England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1832-1932
Covering a century of British history, this mammoth collection is the single largest set of family records on Findmypast and it's just gotten even bigger. We've added a further 116 million names in partnership with the British Library.

Published as searchable PDF documents, using keywords and wildcard searches can help you pinpoint the record you're looking for.

Newspapers
This week, we've added two brand new publications along with extra year coverage for another. New to the site are:

North Wilts Herald covering the years 1867-1895 and 1897-1941
Home News for India, China and the Colonies covering the years 1847-1865

As well as the two new releases, we've also supplemented Truth with issues from 1894, 1896 and 1897.

For further information and links visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/british-electoral-registers

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.