Miscellaneous records

As well as the more usual records, Ancestry holds some unique datasets in which to find your London ancestors

Ancestry.co.uk holds millions of fascinating records from all over the world that will allow you to uncover your family history from the comfort of your own home.

As well as the more common records, there are some unusual datasets held by the London Metropolitan Archives ( LMA) and now part of Ancestry’s London Collection that can reveal some interesting information about an ancestor based in the capital.

These include Stock Exchange Membership Applications, Gamekeepers’ Licences, Freedom of the City Admission Papers and Convict Records. Ancestry is always adding smaller datasets to its holdings, so it’s worth having a look regularly to see what’s new.

STOCK EXCHANGE MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS

The London Stock Exchange now looks after trillions of pounds’ worth of investment, but its origins in the 17th century were a lot more humble, originally set up to deal in the stocks of the British Empire’s prospering companies.

These records start from 1802, just after the Stock Exchange’s formal establishment and when membership was vital to be allowed to trade there. When the Exchange was regulated in 1801 non-members had to be forcibly removed from the new premises.

The records in this collection are rather intriguing, showing applications and re-applications

for membership of the Exchange, the details recorded go a lot further than basic name, age and marital status. They can tell you about a person’s career, with information potentially including the person who recommended them for membership, the names of their bankers, the person or company they were working in partnership with, where their office was located, their own clerk and who they had worked for previously as a clerk. On later forms you can also find details of their war service.

Understandably for such a wealthy institution, the forms are neatly presented and display a signed declaration that helped regulate the brokers against fraud, which was rife in the Stock Exchange in the 18th century. Amongst the notable members is Edward Reynolds Pease, a socialist and co-founder of the Fabian Society. The record (see right, bit.ly/edrpease) shows he joined the London Stock Exchange in 1881.

GAMEKEEPERS’ LICENCES

Landowners took great pride in their land and enjoyed the fruits of it, particularly the profitable woodland and delicious fish, birds and animals that were either brought to them or that they hunted themselves for sport. As they couldn’t look after all this on their own, they appointed gamekeepers to tend their lands and make sure there were enough healthy game birds, deer and other animals through breeding and rearing.

These gamekeepers had to have a licence from 1710, to ensure they were the only person besides the landowner and his guests to hunt on his land, and also to make sure they didn’t hunt outside the manor’s boundaries. The licence also allowed gamekeepers to hunt out of season and apprehend poachers, who could be transported to the colonies if caught. These records from the London Metropolitan Archives cover gamekeepers in Middlesex and the City of Westminster over a 100-year period. The information is written across the page on large ledgers, which show the

manor, the lord and lady, the gamekeeper, his address and the date of appointment.

You can follow the careers of gamekeepers through the records, seeing what became of them and whether they moved on to different manors. One example is of the Reverend James Edward Cooper of Old Ford, who applied for a licence for a James Accusons on 16 August 1830, only to apply for a new one for a James Bates six months later on 9 February 1831 (see above, bit.ly/

londongamekeeper). Had the other James moved on, died, or been caught getting up to some of the tricks that gamekeepers were sometimes accused of?

FREEDOM OF THE CITY

There were few bigger achievements for skilled tradesmen than receiving freeman status – especially in one of the biggest cities in the world, London.

The first recorded freeman of London was in 1237, with inductees of the city’s 110 livery companies being granted freedom to conduct their business in the city as it signified a mark of quality. They were also exempt from paying tolls and charges in the city, had preferential treatment for their children to attend the City of London’s Freemen’s School and even had the right to be drunk and disorderly. They could attain this status either by completing an apprenticeship, paying a fee or if their father was a member. The traditional role changed in the 1830s, but with the continuation of London’s guilds and worshipful companies, the ceremonial prestige of having freedom of the city still exists.

The LMA’s collection on London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 16811930 – details nearly 250 years of those who were granted freedom of the city status, and includes everything from apprenticeship records to applications to become a freeman or free sister. The applications are particularly useful, showing the applicant, address, family, place of birth and more, as you can see right from the form signed by author Rudyard Kipling ( bit.ly/ freedomjrk).

CONVICT RECORDS

With the list of crimes punishable by death escalating during the 17th century, those who committed a crime were spared the gallows by having their sentences changed, instead, to a prison term in one of Britain’s new colonies – first America and the Caribbean, and later Australia.

Ancestry has a huge collection of records containing information about convicts who were transported to the colonies as punishment for a range of crimes, from murder to simply stealing bread. These include a group in the LMA collection that’s taken from the Middlesex Quarter Sessions Court.

The records date back to 1682 and primarily cover those who were sent to America before the War of Independence (1775-1783). You can find details of the convict, the ship’s name and destination and even the captain’s name – and use your findings to search the range of court records on Ancestry to find the one that relates to your ancestor’s sentence.

The transportation contracts are written out in full script, but using the search features on Ancestry you can find the page that relates to your forebear and read about their crimes, the length of punishment they were sentenced to and the other convicts they were transported alongside.

Read about your ancestors’ crime and length of sentence