Genealogy Chat

Hi all, is there anywhere I would be able to look up who lived in a certain house in around 1900-1940.
Would it be parish records?
Thanks in anticipation.
Ann

Your best bet would be the Electoral Rolls. They are probably held at the nearest main library or Archive.

ER can only be searched by address, and will show the names of adults over 21 entitled to vote.

There wasn't an ER taken during WW2 , but there might be one for early 1939.Some areas produced a Commercial Directory which can be used as an alternative.

If you can't get there in person, the Librarian/Archivist would look them up for you, but will probably make a charge.

Street directories are another source.

Thelma, Thank you, where would I find the street directories please.
Detective, Thank you, I have looked at the electrol rolls but what I really want is to know is who owned a house or who lived there from around 1900, long shot I know.

Libraries and/or Archives would hold the Street Directories.

The 1911 census can be searched by address on Findmypast - if you wanted to give details, someone could look for you.

Its rather surprising that you didn't get even an adult male's name on the historical ER at some point before 1920ish - all adult males gained the vote in 1918 + women over 30 who fulfilled property qualifications. By 1927, all women over 21 could vote. We are talking about England here!

Not sure how to find the owner, although there is probably a way. If no one on here suggests one, you could ask a local Archivist for advice. It might involve asking the Council?

So which is it,

Are you looking for who lived in a house?
If you have looked at the Electoral Rolls and it was not their then was the house built at that time? as Det said after 1918 their should be someone listed, The 1911 census will give you the names

or

Are you looking for who owned a house?

That would be very difficult if not impossible to be 100% sure without access to the deeds to the house in question

Roy

+++DetEcTive+++ many thanks
The reason I didnt get an adults male name is because it was a house my nan lived in and my grandad was away in the army and did not live there.(He never did) I want to find out when she came to live there and who perhaps lived there before her. the address was
"Boschetto" (I think that is the right spelling)
Northlands park drive,
Pitsea,
Essex,
England
I know it was a very old bungalow and is not there now as the area has been redeveloped.

Many thanks to anyone who can help. :-)

You will find the name of the owner of the property in the Rates books if they still exist for the area. Your local library should be able to tell you where you can find them.

Rate Books don't always list property owners but they are worth pursuing

Lists of owners (or) householders can be found
in parish rate books compiled for the purposes
of a poor rate, a church rate or a highway rate
and these sometimes survive among parish
records. For the later nineteenth and twentieth
centuries they will be found among the records
of the appropriate local authority.

From http://www.essex.gov.uk/Libraries-Archives/Record-Office/Documents/2_Family_history_in_essex.pdf



Roy

I can only speak for the rates books I have looked at in Birmingham, but generally speaking, they name the owner of the property who is legally responsible for the payment of the rates, the name of the tenant or householder, the amount of the rate & the proportion payable.
They are a very much overlooked source of information.

Kelly's directory for 1902 says the population of Pitsea is 357, and lists only commercial, not private residents. Nobody listed lives in the address you have given.

By 1914 the population has grown to 721, and both commercial and private residents are listed, but again, nobody at an address in Northlands Park Drive.

To look for yourself, go to http://www.historicaldirectories.org

Start with a year which you are absolutley sure of - perhaps it is on a certificate, or you were about X years old when you visited.

Look it up on the various ER or directories available and work backwards in time.
Large libraries with local studies section will often have copies of old maps. By looking at one which names Northlands Park Drive, you could compare it with earlier ones and estimate when it was built.

You might find that the Drive had previously been know by another name.

If you google www.francisfrith.com/pitsea there is an account by someone who was born in <northlands Park Drive in 1938.
Possibly you could contact them.

Big ,Big thanks to all of you who have replied to my quest. I think I will have a busy day tomorrow, ironing will have to wait.lol.
wisechild, just had a quick peep at that website and it looks great. Thanks again.
Ann :-D :-D :-D

PorkiePie,
Thank you for the essex archives listing. I have been in touch with them but they do not hold any rates books for that time. but thanks anyway. :-(