LONDON-L Archives

Archiver > LONDON > 1999-09 > 0936831231


From: Eve McLaughlin <>
Subject: Re: Rate Books
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 23:53:51 +0100



>However this particular book makes several references to "rate books"
>which apparently include details of the people living at givben addresses.
>I have not seen any reference to the availabiliuty of these in the past.
>
>Are they available for a number of areas ? Are they housed at the LMA or
>scattered around various archives ?
In London they tend to be at the Borough archives - they will confirm
the existence of a stable householder at an address for X years, but
they are not a lot of help for lodgers or transient tenants, which very
many of the population were. Sometimes landlords consistently paid the
rates (and charged this as part of the rent) though they never lived in
the house.
So, a useful source for a few lower middle or middle-middle class folk,
shopkeepers etc, not so helpful for the vast majority. And complex to
search from a distance.

--
Eve McLaughlin

Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians
Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society

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