RECORD ROUND-UP
What’s available online and in the archives
Locate the records
Use The National Archives ( TNA) Catalogue ( discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk), Scottish Archive Network ( scan.org.uk), Archives Hub ( archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk) and local archive catalogues to help you find records of schools, children’s homes, hospitals, factories, businesses, reformatories, youth organisations and charities.
Poor Law records
Before 1834, records include payments of relief to families, poor house records, apprenticeships, bastardy bonds and more. Post-1834 records include smallpox vaccination registers, creed and admission registers. Some records held at local record offices have been digitised by Findmypast ( findmypast.co.uk) and Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk). For Scottish poor records see the guide at nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/poor- relief records
Apprenticeship records
Records of apprenticeships arranged by parishes or Boards of Guardians if they have survived will be held with local Poor Law records. Some are now online at Ancestry and Findmypast.
Criminal and prison records
TNA holds many records of criminal trials ( nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/lookingfor-person/criminal-trial- or- conviction.htm) and many of these records have now been digitised and are avilable on Findmypast and Ancestry. The National Library of Wales has a database of crimes, criminals and punishments covering 1730–1830 ( www.llgc.org.uk/sesiwn_fawr/index_s.htm). Juvenile and youth court cases heard before magistrates are held in local record offices; look in quarter sessions and petty sessions. Newspaper reports of court cases often have family details ( www. britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). Scottish
records are held in Edinburgh ( nrsscotland.gov. uk/research/guides/crime-and- criminals)
Health record databases
Local record offices may have hospital records including workhouse and asylum registers. The Hospital Records Database, a joint project between TNA and the Wellcome Trust, includes maternity and lying-in hospitals, plus over 130 specialist children’s hospitals ( nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords). The Historic Hospital Admission Records Project ( hharp.org) has hospital admission records for over 140,000 children from the 1850s up to the First World War, including London and Glasgow.
School records
Registers and log books are archived at county record offices. Findmypast has a huge collection for National Schools (1870-1914), and Manchester industrial schools. Ancestry has over 800 London school registers (1840-1911) including the training ship Exmouth. Records for public schools and grammar schools may be at the school’s own archive; several registers can be found free online at archive.org. Sunday school registers will be archived with church records held locally. For Scottish school records see: www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/education- records
Gone away
During the Second World War, sometimes whole schools were evacuated and surviving records will be held locally. Board of Trade outward passenger lists 1890–1960 ( BT27 at TNA), digitised by Findmypast, have details of child migrants including those sent by charities.