RECORD ROUND-UP
What’s available online and in the archives
British Library (BL)
Copies of the historic electoral registers should be found at the relevant local library or archives. The only national set ( England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is kept at the British Library ( BL). It dates from 1947 but has a reasonable collection of earlier registers. A comprehensive list of what’s held by the BL is available on its website at bit.ly/1LWKWMG.
Local archives
The London Metropolitan Archives ( LMA) holds the most comprehensive collection for the London and Middlesex areas up to 1963. The LMA’s collection only covers the Greater London area from 1964 onwards.
The National Archives of Scotland holds a near- complete collection of electoral registers for Scotland, and the National Library of Wales holds many for Wales. The National Library of Ireland holds county and city electoral registers. Its holdings are listed on the library’s online catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie.
The whereabouts of locally held copies of the historic registers in England, Wales and Scotland are listed in Jeremy Gibson & Colin Rogers’ Electoral Registers Since 1832; and Burgess Rolls.
Findmypast
Findmypast was the first website to provide access to indexed and digitised copies of electoral registers in November 2011, with its release of the Cheshire Electoral Records, covering 1842-1900. These have been joined by Somerset 1832-1914, Manchester 1832-1900 (available to browse only) and County Clare, Ireland.
Made available in association with the British Library, the recent upload of England and Wales electoral registers for 1832-1932 covers 220 million names and is the website’s single largest collection.
Findmypast also has more recent editions of the edited versions of the electoral registers from 2002-2014.
Other websites offering recent editions for a fee include: 192.com ( 192.com); People Trace Online ( peopletrace online.co.uk); Peopletracer ( peopletracer.co.uk); and UKroll.com ( ukroll.com).
Ancestry
Ancestry has electoral registers including London, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965; Midlands 1832-1965; West Yorkshire 1840-1962; Surrey 1832-1945; and Dorset 1839-1922.