England Electoral Registers 1832-1965.

Just now I looked up my Great Grandfather and found him on the Register for 1891 in the Marylebone area.
I know from the 1891 Census he was living with his wife, but she doesn't appear on the Register.
Was it usual for only the 'head of the house' to show on the Register ?
When did the Register start to show all members living at a given address ?

Your help and advice would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
Stephen

 

There is a helpful guide at the British Library site and Family Search and Electoral Registers has some information as well. In very general terms men over 21 years old were listed but I believe women don't appear on UK registers until between 1918 -1928, when of course they began to be eligible to vote.

 

Many thanks for your help. The sites you recommended give a lot of useful information.

 

Thank you for your message. I meant The Electoral Register, unfortunately sometimes what I'm thinking and what I'm typing don't always tally-up. I'll try and be more careful. The article you sent me was very informative and has been a great help. I should have known women didn't have the vote at that time, which can be a nuisance for people nowadays researching that period.

 

Happy New Year and many thanks for your advice. The three sites you suggested have been very helpful. All the best for 2014.

 

Peter, sorry for my late answer, but many thanks for your help and information. That part of my research will be easier to understand.

 

It's such a pity that the electoral registers have not even been uniformly preserved let alone digitised and I am fortunate enough ( for this purpose) to have a number of London relatives who can be found in the digitised collection at Ancestry. I am having such a good time digging up all kinds of odds and ends......

1. Now I can trace the history of a silver cigarette box I inherited from my paternal grandmother about 50 years ago. She was given it by a neighbour whose name I had forgotten until I found her living just up the street about 1921. It was a presentation gift to this lady's husband, on his retirement I believe.
2. Living in the same house as my grandmother in 1921 are a couple with her maiden name who are not on my family tree.The man's first name is very familiar to me from my very early childhood and having two names might be helpful in untangling the puzzle of who he was.
3. I've filled in a gap in the history of where my mother lived shortly before she married in 1940.
4. I've put a name to the couple my maternal grandmother lived with in the late 1940's to early 1950's. I've mentioned them in passing when I posted a comment about comic books in one of the "growing up threads."

This is the stuff that fleshes out census info, family fables and childhood recollections and incidentally is helpful with spelling variations. I encourage anyone with London roots, or branches to check out the registers.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. The Electoral Registers at Ancestry have been a boon and a blessing. Yet at the same time the Electoral Registers at FindMyPast have also been valuable to a certain degree, what with people and families moving about far more from the latter half of the Twentieth Century to last year. Finding them without the Electoral Registers could have been a nightmare.
Many thanks for your input.