RECORD ROUND-UP
What’s available online and in the archives
Passenger lists
The Board of Trade passenger lists are copies provided by the ships’ masters to port officers of the Ministry of Transport and sent to the Board of Trade for use in compiling statistics. Passenger lists do not survive after 1960 when travel by air became popular. No air passenger lists are kept. Original records are held at The National Archives ( TNA): Passenger Lists Outwards 1890-1960 in series BT 27; Passenger Lists Inwards 1878-1888 and 1890-1960 in BT 26.
The records in BT 27 (outwards) are available to search online on ancestry.co.uk, findmy
past.co.uk and thegenealogist.co.uk (currently 1896-1909 only). Those in BT 26 (inwards) are only available on Ancestry.
Both series cover long-haul voyages only, from and to all British ( English, Welsh and Scottish) ports, and from all Irish ports before partition in 1921, and all Northern Irish ports after partition. Importantly, they only relate to destinations and departures outside Britain and Europe and beyond the Mediterranean Sea. While countries such as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and USA feature strongly, all continents are covered and you can find passengers on ships sailing to all parts of Asia, the Caribbean, South America and West Africa. However, these voyages often called ‘en route’ at additional ports, including those in Europe, and any passengers embarking and disembarking at these stops are also included. In theory, if not in practice, there are no domestic British or solely European voyages in BT 27, and no lists for Merchant or Royal Naval vessels or for troop ships.
There is not a standard form among the lists and different shipping lines had their own pre-printed forms. Some are typed, some are handwritten. Details included will vary, some recording only a minimum of detail about the passengers, whereas others could include a wealth of information down to home address and destination overseas. From the 1930s, the inward lists include a ‘ T’ if the purpose of the visit was tourism.
TNA also holds a short series relating to HM steam packets out of Falmouth carrying passengers to, from and within the Mediterranean ( Gibraltar, Cadiz, Malta, Corfu, Lisbon, etc) from 1831-1834 (ADM 30/ 35).
Possibly useful for those researching immigrants from Europe are the Hamburg Passenger Lists 1850-1918 and 1920-1934, held in the Hamburg State Archive. Most passengers travelled beyond Europe, but a significant number sailed to the UK. The records are in German and can be searched on Ancestry.
Passports
Before the First World War, it was generally not a requirement for British subjects travelling abroad to hold a passport and it was rare for someone travelling abroad to apply for one. As a consequence of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, from 1 February 1915 a one- page passport, folding into eight, with a cardboard cover came into use. As well as the photo and signature, it contained a description of the holder and was valid for two years. The familiar 32- page blue British passport came into use in 1921, but the last of these expired in 2003.
There are passport applications and a sample of about 200 passports at TNA: • Entry Books of Passports Issued 1795-1948 ( FO 610)
• Indexes to Names of Passport Holders 1851-56, 1858- 62, 1874-1916. 1851-1903 are searchable on Findmypast, and 1851-1916 are browsable images on Discovery ( discovery. nationalarchives.gov.uk) • Collection of sample passports, from the later 18th century ( FO 655), searchable by name on Discovery • Case papers, 1916-1983 ( FO 737), searchable by name on Discovery
The entries found in the passport applications registers and indexes can’t tell you where or when your ancestor travelled, if at all. However, they may confirm that a passport was issued and could then be used in conjunction with the Passenger Lists Outwards ( BT 26) or Passenger Lists Inwards ( BT 27) 1878-1960 to research missing periods in your family’s timeline.