Archives & resources for The Potteries
Stoke- on-Trent City Archives City Central Library, Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke- on-Trent ST1 3RS 01782 238420 stoke.archives@stoke.gov.uk www.staffordshire.gov.uk/ archives One of three archive offices run by the county archive service. Located at the main city library, holdings include electoral registers, rate books, plus microform and digital access to all sorts of key resources. It also looks after education, Methodist and business collections. Remember too that Findmypast, which hosts the vast Staffordshire collection, is free to access in all archives and libraries across Staffordshire. Staffordshire Name Indexes www.staffsnameindexes.org.uk This site provides an expanding and very useful hub of finding aids and indexes, many the work of local volunteers.
Gateway to the Past www.archives.staffordshire.gov. uk/ CalmView This online catalogue contains descriptions of the holdings of Staffordshire Record Office, Lichfield Record Office, Stoke- onTrent City Archives, William Salt Library, Staffordshire County Museum at Shugborough and Shire Hall Art Gallery, Stafford. Staffordshire Record Office Eastgate Street, Stafford ST16 2LZ 01785 278379 staffordshire.record.office@staffordshire.gov.uk www.staffordshire.gov.uk/ archives Staffordshire Record Office is situated just behind the William Salt Library in Stafford. Alongside local history collections, it has parish registers which can be accessed free via Findmypast ( currently around 3,000 parish registers with 4 million entries from between 1538 and 1900). There’s also nonconformist and Roman Catholic material ( originals and microform), plus census, GRO indexes, electoral registers and more. Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry gensec@bmsgh.orgbmsgh.org The Society Library in Birmingham houses material relating to Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. The website includes lots of useful advice and finding aids, and you can find out about the various branch meetings taking place across Staffordshire, plus the North Staffordshire branch ( www.bmsgh.org/branch1.html # NORTHSTAFFS). You can also search for publications relevant to the area via the bmsgh- shop.org. uk. One example worth a look is the £25 Staffordshire Monumental Inscriptions, which provides details of more than 144,000 names from 141 locations. Lichfield Record Office The Friary, Lichfield WS13 6QG 01543 510720 lichfield.record.office@staffordshire.gov.uk www.staffordshire.gov.uk/ archives The other main Staffordshire archive, which holds Lichfield diocesan records, including wills, inventories and probate papers proved in the Consistory Court of Lichfield. Birmingham Archdiocesan Archives birminghamarchdiocesanarchives.org.uk This is the repository for all parishes in the archdiocese, comprising Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. Some material held here has just gone live on findmypast.co.uk/catholicrecords. Birmingham Archives & Heritage birmingham.gov.uk/ archives Based at the Library of Birmingham, the Wolfson Centre for Archival Research holds Anglican and nonconformist registers, court and coroner’s records, plus wills, local newspaper records, trade directories and maps, and material relating to the city’s industrial heritage. The archive’s online catalogue can be explored at calmview.birmingham.gov .uk/calmview. Dudley Archives & Local History Service dudley.gov.uk/ archives Wolverhampton City Archives www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/ about-wolverhampton-archives Walsall Local History Centre walsall.gov.uk/localhistorycentre
Sandwell Community History & Archives Service
www.sandwell.gov.uk/ info/ 200253/ archives_ local_ and_ family_ history Black Country History blackcountryhistory.org If your research is taking you in this direction, this site is worth exploring. Potteries museums To find museums in Stoke- on-Trent go to stokemuseums.org.uk. Examples include the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Gladstone Pottery Museum and the Etruria Industrial Museum. There’s also Wedgwood Museum ( wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk), and you can find others in Staffordshire via www. staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/ museums/ Museums.aspx. Staffordshire Regiment Museum staffordshireregimentmuseum.com The museum tells the story of the Staffordshire Regiment from its formation in Lichfield in 1705.
And the various archives have worked together to establish the excellent Staffordshire Name Indexes site ( www. staffsnameindexes.org.uk), where researchers can find specialist indexes to unique resources in one place.
“These nearly always involve work done by volunteers who are either helping us specifically or just want to share with others what they have done,” Chris says. “At the moment we are concentrating on indexing our photograph collections. Not so many names, but a tremendous resource to get a sense of what life was really like back in the early and mid 20th century.”
Important collections
Chris particularly recommends Joan Curwen’s Sentinel Newspaper Great War Index, 1914-1919, which has drawn out the names from thousands of printed photographs, plus family details, and details of service and medal awards.
Another great collection for family historians is the Tenants of the Manor of Newcastle under Lyme, 1700-1832, which opens up a source that is normally very hard to use.
“Despite the name, it doesn’t cover Newcastle-under-Lyme at all, as that was excluded from the manor, but it does include large parts of the city,” explains Chris. “As a result of the peculiarities of the land law, the owner of the manor took a fine and made a record anytime people bought, sold, mortgaged or inherited land or houses. So this not only includes thousands of Stoke people’s names, it also links them to their families and recites their wills, which is perfect for genealogists.
“The originals are held in The National Archives, and for the first 33 years, they were written in Latin. We are very grateful to Peter Roden for taking on the massive task of indexing these and donating his photocopies.”
The most recent addition to the archives is an index to all Tithe Apportionments of Staffordshire – an enormous project undertaken over a nine-year period, again by volunteers. “Tithe maps, which tie in nicely with the 1841 census, have always been a frustrating source for family historians. They contain thousands of occupiers’ names, but are unhelpfully arranged under the owners’ names. This index means the tithe maps can be searched directly.”
Being part of the wider Staffordshire means that the city archives are also part of the ongoing Findmypast partnership. So alongside the parish registers for Staffordshire, you can also access wills proved in the diocese of Lichfield (15211860) and marriage bonds and allegations – records created when people sought a marriage licence – covering 1636-1893. “The parish registers include those for the city of Stokeon-Trent. The diocesan collections cover not only Staffordshire but also parts of Warwickshire, northern Shropshire and Derbyshire.”
The North Staffordshire Branch of the Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry (BMSGH) is based in Stoke-on-Trent ( north staffsfamilyhistory.co.uk). Chairman Bill Harrison reports that members have recently completed a project with Stoke archives to create a surname
index of all the municipal cemeteries within the Potteries area ( bmsgh.org/burial
search). You can make a note of the entry details then request a copy of the full burial entry from the city archives.
“The format follows a similar pattern to that of the UKBMD websites,” Bill says. “And we are indebted to the UKBMD webmaster Ian Hartas for allowing his software to be used for this project.”
Bill says the BMSGH also hosts pages of the Staffs BMD and West Midlands BMD and that members are very active in transcribing for this project ( staffordshirebmd.org.uk or westmidlandsbmd.org.uk). Many of the society’s transcribed indexes are now available to view using Findmypast.
Tithe maps, which tie in nicely with the 1841 census, have always been a frustrating source