Forum Topic

Dates of residence

When I was a child my family lived at a particular address for a few years but I can’t remember the exact dates we moved in and out of this home.  Presumably there are records of this somewhere.  Does anyone know how I could go about accessing such records?

Alastair Banton ● 2388d11 Comments

If your family owned it, Land Registry ?

Steven Trembath ● 2388d

There used to be an annual (I think) publication called 'Kelly's Directory' which listed all of the addresses and their occupants in a particular neighbourhood.  I am not certain of the extent of the area each covered but if you know the address and some idea of timescale. It may be worth looking on the Internet or through the local library online archives, to see if it was available in Chiswick.  I suspect each directory covered a borough so there may have been one specifically for Chiswick.

J. F. Bingham ● 2388d

Thanks Steven and JF.  I’ll look into those resources.  But it wasn’t anywhere near Chiswick, unfortunately.

Alastair Banton ● 2388d

Greater London would be easy.  Otherwise there are various registers including Kelly's.  Tell which town or city then those who do this sort of ancestry stuff can think....

Stuart Kerr ● 2388d

It was Yeovil, Somerset.

Alastair Banton ● 2388d

Mr. Banton, Kelly's was pretty much nationwide so the local archives section of the then local authority where you lived, may have access to copies or perhaps on line at the national archives in Kew.  Good luck.

J. F. Bingham ● 2388d

You may have already done this.  But I just googled the Yeovil Electoral Register (which your dad must have been on) and found several possibilities...  Good luck..

Stuart Kerr ● 2388d

Assuming there is one, Yeovil Reference Library (which is probably closed at the moment) might have back copies of the phone books for the area. That (and the electoral register) won't give you the precise dates you lived there but should give you the relevant years. If you owned the house then presumably you would have used a local firm of solicitors for the purchase and sale - might be worth trying to see if they still exist and have any archived records.

Richard Greenhough ● 2388d

Thanks again, all.  After much googling it seems that the information would be readily available from the Land Registry and possibly elsewhere at a price, just as when one plans to buy a new property.  It’s not desperate, so I’m probably not going to pay.  I also left a message with full details to the Kew National Archives, so we’ll see if they can come up with something.

Alastair Banton ● 2387d

Yeovil!  One thinks of helicopters and Michael Hessaltine(Sp?)and the football club being giantkillers.Sometimes local Schools keep historical records of new entrants each September with addresses etc...and even a School photo.At Strand on the Green School they certainly have an old register of us 45ers

Jim Lawes ● 2386d

Westland helicopters was the most exciting thing about living in Yeovil.  My brother and I were lucky enough to get taken on a helicopter trip in the fifties.  I remember seeing buildings below looking like toy town.As for Heseltine, he was a great politician and is now a depressing reminder of just how far a once principled Tory party has declined.

Alastair Banton ● 2386d