KEY RESOURCES

LAND TAX RECORDS

Land tax was introduced in England in 1692. The documents are vital for locating individuals between censuses, and often list both proprietors and tenants. Ancestry.co.uk holds land tax records for London and other places including Surrey.

NATURALISATION RECORDS

Before 1844, foreigners wishing to become British subjects had to obtain a private Act of Parliament. The catalogue of the House of Lords and House of Commons archives can be searched at portcullis.parliament.uk. After 1844, naturalisation was granted by the Home Office and most of these records are at The National Archives. Ancestry.co.uk has Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations from 1870 to 1916.

OBITUARIES

Newspaper archives such as british newspaper archive. co.uk

can throw up an obituary for an ancestor. As well as providing information about the deceased’s life, they can offer other clues. Judith found an obituary for John, Louisa’s halfbrother, penned by a friend of Louisa’s adoptive father Robert McConchy, therefore providing a link between the two families.

SHARE REGISTERS

Records of shares in the Sun Fire Insurance Company were held in the Guildhall Library and revealed the link between the Lochée and Colwell families. This type of record contains a variety of information – the most basic being the name and address of the shareholder. Other papers for a range of fire-insurance companies were in the collection too, including policy registers and indexes. These have now been relocated and can be consulted at the London Metropolitan Archives ( bit.ly/2Ad5wcl).