Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The aim of the project was to improve access to local and trade directories for the period 1750-1919 by making a substantial collection of English and Welsh directories available online as a Digital Library of Historical Directories. This digital resource comprises in total some 600 directories, covering every English county together with Wales, and ranging widely over the period 1750-1919 (the latter cut-off point chosen for copyright reasons). There is a particular focus on the 1850s, 1890s and 1910s, with at least one directory provided for each county in each of these decades. The digitisation of the volumes involved a two-stage process, in which (1) the hard-copy source was scanned to produce a graphic image of each page, and then (2) those images were processed using OCR software to generate a machine-readable text file.An online version of this resource can be found on the Website of the University of Leicester.

This data collection includes the following directories:- The  Hampshire  Directory  ...  to  which  is  added,  abstracts of the Acts of Parliament lately passed (1784)- Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce & Manufacture, 1792-98. Hampshire extracts (1792-98)- Pigot's Directory of Wiltshire (1822)- Pigot's  Directory  of  Hampshire (1828)- Gilmours'  Winchester  Almanac  and  Post-Office  Directory for  1854:  containing  a  chronological  account  of  the  city  ...  council  meetings, list of fairs, carriers, &c; with useful information relating to the city (1854)- Post Office Directory of Dorsetshire (1855)- Post Office Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire (1855)- Post Office Directory of Wiltshire (1855)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register,  and  Family  Almanack  for  the  Year  of  our  Lord  1858.  Containing  information  respecting the various public institutions, societies, offices, &c. of the borough, with a guide to the local trade, in the shape of business advertisements (1858)- History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, comprising general historical surveys of the county &  island,  and  of  the  diocese  of  Winchester;  and  separate  historical,  statistical,  and  topographical  descriptions  of  ...  all  the  towns,  boroughs, ports (1859)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register,  and  Family  Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1859 (1859)- Post Office Directory of Dorsetshire (1859)- Post Office Directory of Wiltshire (1859)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register,  Business  Directory and Family Almanack, for 1861 (1861)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register,  Business  Directory and Family Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1862 (1862)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register,  Business  Directory and Family Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1863 (1863)- J.  G.  Harrod  &  Co.'s  Postal  and  Commercial  Directory  of  Hampshire  with  the  Isle  of  Wight,  containing  a  brief  descriptive account of the towns, parishes, and villages, followed by a directory (1865)- Kelly's  Directory  of  Wiltshire (1867)- Post Office Directory of Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight, Wiltshire & Dorsetshire (1875)- The  City  of  Winchester  Directory  and  Illustrated  Almanac for 1877 (1877)- Masters's Winchester Directory 1881, containing an alphabetical  street  list,  a  trade  list,  inhabitants  of  the  principal  streets, post office information, carriers, etc. (1881)- Kelly's Directory of Dorsetshire (1889)- Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire (1889)- Kelly's Directory of Dorsetshire (1995)- Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire (1895)- Warren's Winchester & District Directory. 150 neighbouring   places   (corrected   yearly).   ...   Complete   list   of   magistrates for the county, county aldermen and councillors (1895)- Lucy's  Local  Guide,  Marlborough  &  District  Directory, Almanack & Diary, for 1897 (1897)- Gillman's Devizes Public Register and Business Directory, for the Year of our Lord 1898 (1898)- Kelly's  Directory  of  Hampshire  and  the  Isle  of  Wight (1898)- Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire (1898)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register  and  Business  Directory, for the Year of Our Lord 1899 (1899)- Gillman's  Devizes  Public  Register  and  Business  Directory, for the Year of our Lord 1900 (1900)- Warren's  Winchester  &  District  Directory.  150  neighbouring places (corrected yearly) ... Complete list of magistrates for the county, county aldermen and councillors (1900)

Main Topics:The directories included are of many different kinds, commonly embracing trade, commercial, and private resident directories, together with gazetteers, almanacs, official information, etc. For the purposes of deposit in the UK Data Archive, the collection has been divided into 35 studies on a regional and temporal basis.

No sampling (total universe)

Compilation or synthesis of existing material