Wales Directories: Difference between revisions

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 *Norton, Jane E. ''Guide to the National and Provincial Directories of England and Wales, excluding London, Published before 1856''. London, England: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1950. (Family History Library British&nbsp; {{FHL|214838|title-id|disp=942 C4rg no. 5.)}}
 *Shaw, Gareth and Allison Tipper. ''British Directories and Guide to Directories Published in England and Wales (1850–1950) and Scotland (1773–1950).'' Leicester, England: Leicester University Press, 1989. (Family History Library {{FHL|942 E43s|disp=book 942 E43s.)}}
+=== How Directories were Compiled  ===
+The names in many early directories were obtained by personal visits or through local agents paid for the task. Those involved were often local printers and booksellers, registry office keepers, tax and post office officials, policemen, or accountants and agents for insurance companies. Land and house agents and auctioneers would be aware of local changes of address and business.
+The use of circulars and advertisements was found ineffective and although rate books might appear to be a good source they omit permanent lodgers and those who do not pay the poor rate. Fees for insertion, other than for advertisements, seem rarely to have been charged.
+Many people moved at the quarter-days in June and December and, as there was a delay of two or three months between the collection of names and the publication of a directory, most were planned to come out in March or September. Accordingly Bailey made his surveys after Christmas. The 1795 directory of Newcastle-upon-Tyne took only two months to prepare and the names for Kelly's 1840 London directory were collected in September for printing in late November. Longer delays, however, could occur.
+Severe weather conditions, as at Huddersfield in 1867, might adversely affect the collection of names and there would always be those who avoided a listing, fearful that names were being taken for the militia, or simply because they wanted to be ex-directory. There would be problems too, of course, with local pronunciations when names were given by servants and with defining those with multiple occupations.
+Many early directory compilers were dishonest, and there are disconcerting differences between any two directories for the same place and date. Shameless copying was always a problem. As late as 1863 Casey's ''Directory of Hertfordshire'' was copied wholesale from Kelly's 1862 directory of that county. A directory that is regularly printed in its own locality is likely to be more reliable than any other.
+The proportion of households that appear in directories has attracted adverse comment. Gareth Shaw compared directories with the census and found that 98 per cent of the households in the main streets of Exeter appear in the 1871 directory of Exeter, and 75 per cent of those in the smaller streets. White's directory of Exeter in 1890 includes some 65 per cent of the households. Even Baines's 1823 Lancashire directory has 70 per cent of the households in very large towns, but only six per cent of those in small villages.
+The number of surviving directories for many places is surprising and as many as possible should be sought out in local and national libraries. The town of Dudley, perhaps the most unhealthy place in the country, with one mile of drains to 36 miles of streets, has 38 directories between 1770 and 1852, an average of one every three years.
 ==== Online Access ====