Knowledge base

Occupations and Directories

• Clergy List 1896
• Ranks of the clergy
• Dental Surgeons Directory 1925
• Public health after The Boer War
• Searching for your ancestors
• Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1901
• The Medical Register 1913
• Medical Directory for Ireland 1858
• The Poor Law
• The Great Hunger

Clergy List 1896

An increase in the regulation of many professions and bodies occurred in the 19th century and the Anglican Church was one such example. The first clerical directory to be published was The Clerical Guide for 1817 which listed incumbents but not curates and was arranged by ecclesiastical parish with a name index. The Clergy List was first published in 1842 then subsequently in 1845, 1848-50, and then annually from 1852-1917.

This contained both incumbents and curates and was arranged by both parish and name. From 1858 this publication was joined on the shelves by Crockford’s Clerical Directory which exists to this day, now also available as an online subscription listing. The Clergy List was absorbed by Crockford’s in 1917.

The List published online here provides details of each member of the Anglican clergy in England, Wales, Ireland and the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1896. The records contain dates of the appointment to their parish and allow you to search for your ancestors by name. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time was Edward White Benson and his entry looks like this:

As with most professional directories, abbreviations are heavily used for reasons of space.

Ranks of the clergy

The distinctions between the various lower ranks of Anglican professional are less clear to many a modern researcher in these more secular times. The following definitions may therefore help anyone with a clergyman in their family tree:

Incumbent:
An incumbent is normally the parish priest and is one with legal possession of the church and assets.

Rector:
A rector is a parish priest distinguished from vicars by receiving directly the monies of the church, as opposed to being paid a salary by a superior.

Parson:
A parson is an incumbent who usually lives in a rectory or parsonage owned by the church.

Curate:
A curate is literally one who has been invested with care/cure for souls but has come to mean an assistant priest or deacon.

Vicar:
Traditionally a vicar was a parish priest who received a salary and was the assistant to a rector. The term is derived from the word vicarious as a vicar was one who acted on their employer’s behalf.

Clerk in holy orders:
Clerk in holy orders is a generic description of any member of the Anglican clergy, indeed clergy is an abbreviation of the term. The term therefore can be applied to a Bishop and to a porter.

Further research

Many records pertaining to the Anglican Clergy are held at Lambeth Palace Library. A new resource for genealogists with ancestors who were clergymen can be found at http://www.theclergydatabase.org.uk/ - its aim is ‘to create a relational database documenting the careers of all Church of England clergymen between 1540 and 1835’.

Dental Surgeons Directory 1925

The beginnings of modern Dentistry

A registration system for dentists was established in 1878 with the first Dentist’s Act and subsequently a register recording the names, addresses and qualifications of those registered was published. This was an important step in the regulating of dentists – a discipline that had its roots in the Barber-Surgeons of the Middle Ages.

The Barber-Surgeons’ Company ultimately became The Royal College of Surgeons. The branching off of dentistry from other surgical subdivisions coincided with the recognition of the technicalities and demands required of its practitioners.

History

The first dedicated Dental School in England was established in 1858 in Soho Square, London. The school was sponsored by Samuel Cartwright and John Tomes, the men behind the first professional association The Odontological Society. Around the same time as the 1878 Act, The Royal College of Surgeons arranged for examinations to be put in place for the licensing of dental surgery.

Another important figure in early English Dentistry was Charles Wallis who began his career as a surgeon on RMS Garth Castle before focusing on paediatric dentistry and helping to set up ‘toothbrush clubs’ to encourage dental hygiene in children. His entry in the 1925 Directory is below:

Public health after The Boer War

‘Toothbrush Clubs’ were linked in to the wider drive following the Second Boer War to improve the health and vitality of the youth of Britain. The embarrassing events in South Africa, in which as many as 40% of recruits were unfit for service, led to a reappraisal of public health and, with regards to dental hygiene, the coining of the phrase ‘you can’t fight if you can’t bite’.

Waterloo Teeth

Oral hygiene in Britain was an important issue particularly as the use of sugar in foodstuffs grew enormously from the 18th century onwards. As late as 1940 many working class brides and grooms to be had all of their teeth pulled as a wedding gift and replaced with dentures in order to avoid the future costs of dental treatment.

False teeth themselves had something of a chequered past; until the discovery of vulcanised rubber which allowed moulds to be made of the patient’s mouth they were no more reliable than natural teeth.

Aside from the difficulties in attaching false teeth another complexity was the problem of obtaining suitable material to work with. Following the Battle of Waterloo the teeth of those who perished were so highly sought after as to become a fashion must-have, known colloquially as ‘Waterloo Teeth’. A roll call for Waterloo can be found here.

Searching for your ancestors

A full list of abbreviations used in the Directory is below

Kelly’s Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1901

The history of Kelly’s Directories and Handbooks

The roots of Kelly’s Directories and Handbooks can be found in the publication, in 1799, of the first edition of The Post Office London Directory. In 1835, Frederic Festus Kelly was appointed His Majesty’s Inspector of Inland Letter Carriers and took over the production of the London Directory, which took his name. Kelly began producing provincial Directories soon after, ultimately covering every city, town, village and parish.

The company’s name changed accordingly to Kelly & Co Ltd in 1882, later becoming Kelly’s Directories Ltd in 1897.

Kelly was also the curate of St Giles Camberwell from 1880-1915 and was the father of Rose Edith Kelly, who later married the occult writer and poet Aleister Crowley. The Kelly family can be seen living at The Vicarage in Camberwell in the 1891 and the 1901 census.

Kelly’s Handbooks

The first incarnation of Kelly’s Handbook called The Upper Ten Thousand: an alphabetical list of all members of noble families was published in 1875 and, as its name suggests, was a rather exclusive publication. From 1878 this became Kelly"s Handbook of the Upper Ten Thousand. The final name-change to Kelly"s Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes came in 1880, made even more explicitthe emphasis on the upper crust and endured until 1973.

There were rival publications such as Debrett’s Peerage (first published 1769), Burke’s Peerage (first published 1826) and Who’s Who (first published 1849). Debrett’s Peerage, like Burke’s Peerage is a genealogical guide to the aristocracy – Burke’s was an in-depth guide whilst Debrett’s included a brief history of each titled family. Debrett’s now also produce etiquette guides whilst the Burke name has been bought by investors and will continue only in an online capacity. 

Who’s Who began by listing just the names of MP’s and Bishops but soon began to include biographies, widening its reach to include lawyers, judges and eminent figures from the world of the arts. Entries in Who’s Who, unlike the other Directories, are made from questionnaires filled in by the subjects themselves. Once a person is included they remain so for life meaning something of a reluctance to include figures from popular culture for fear of their relatively short spells in the public eye. Who’s Who is now also available online. 

Unlike the Directories, the Handbooks weren’t specific to regions but covered the good and great of the entire country. The Handbooks contained biographical information for the notable people listed therein. An example from our online 1901 Handbook is the entry for Cecil John Rhodes:

The Handbook includes key events in the lives of the featured individuals, as well as basic genealogical details. The entries are arranged alphabetically by surname and then by forename, and give a fascinating snapshot of each person’s life as at 1901; notably a census year.

As you can see, for reasons of space, the entries use many abbreviations. Some (such as b for born) are self-explanatory but others are less obvious for the modern reader.

Here are the abbreviations used in the 1901 Directory, taken from the opening pages of the book:

Kelly’s Directories

The Kelly’s Directory was used much like the modern day Yellow Pages and was published annually. As such, each edition quickly became dated and was usually summarily discarded as a piece of ephemera, just like a modern telephone directory, when the new edition appeared, meaning that surviving directories are now a rarity.

As well as listing businesses, the Directory contained topographical and historical information on the villages and sometimes colour maps. Some Directories covered smaller areas and these non-county-wide versions contained excellent residential street indexes listing the heads of households.

Using Kelly’s today
The popularity of the directories declined throughout the 20th Century and Kelly’s has now moved into a different publishing medium – it now takes the form of an online business search website.

The Directories and Handbooks themselves are a thoroughly useful aid for family historians looking to trace ancestors in the nobility or titled classes or indeed those in trade and industry.

The rarity of early Directories has meant that they now fetch high prices on the rare book market. In recent years, Directories have started appearing on CD, giving genealogists access to the information without having to visit the local libraries that hold the books.

The Medical Register 1913

The Medical Act of 1858

The Medical Register was first published in 1859 as a direct result of the Medical Act of 1858. The Act sought to abolish ‘quacks’ and charlatans: unlicensed practitioners of medicine who had not gained the requisite qualifications befitting their position. The other chief purpose behind the Act was that it would end disputes that had raged between Edinburgh, London and Glasgow regarding the qualifications that should be required and recognised.

In tandem with the publishing of the register, The General Medical Council was established. The General Medical Council or GMC is the regulatory body of the medical profession and The Medical Register is its official annual list of licensed doctors. The GMC has the ability to revoke licenses at any time if it believes that one of its professionals is unfit to perform their duties, or have been doing so in an inappropriate fashion. Being struck from the Medical Register prevents a doctor from practicing.

The roots of the NHS

In 1913, the year of the Register available to search here, the medical profession was in something of a state of flux. Following the 1911 National Insurance Act set out by David Lloyd George, the beginnings of what was later to become the National Health Service were set out, albeit in a deficient state.

Until this there had been no provision made for medical care by the government, and any costs for treatment and remedies incurred had to be met by the patients, who often could not afford to do so. Before the advent of state contributions, the only way for the poorest of the population to obtain treatment for maladies was through the charity of institutions such as The Royal Free Hospital, set up by William Marsden to provide free care to the most destitute.

Following the devastations of the Second World War, the newly installed Labour government set about a policy of social reform and with The National Health Service Act of 1946 instituted free medical provisions for all.

The medical profession had a number of concerns regarding this new state intervention and many were wary of the implications of the reforms. Thomas Jeeves Horder (Lord Horder of Ashford), a physician at St Bartholomew’s and “the man who brought the laboratory to the bedside”, was opposed to the idea entirely. His entry in the 1913 Medical Register can be seen here and shows that at the time he was practicing in the renowned Harley Street.

Searching for your ancestors in the Directory

As can be seen from the entry above, the Medical Register contains the address and date of registration for each doctor, as well as a list of their qualifications. The ‘E’ in the Date and Place of Registration column stands for England. Below is an explanatory page from the Directory:

The Great War

As well as the changes to the health service, the Directory also provides a snapshot of the medical profession just before the outbreak of The Great War. A great number of the General Practitioners (GPs) listed in the Directory volunteered for the Royal Army Medical Corps at the outbreak of war and number amongst the fallen.

By 1918 close to 13,000 doctors had been enlisted into the armed forces: this represented half of all the civilian doctors in the UK at the time. One such GP was Noel Godfrey Chavasse, who is listed in the Medical Register of 1913 as practicing in Liverpool:

Chavasse is one of only three people since its inception in 1856 to receive the Victoria Cross twice (Victoria Cross with Bar) for his bravery.  He died in 1917, near Ypres in Belgium, as shown in Soldiers Died In The Great War database:

Medical Directory For Ireland 1858

The Act of Union

From The Act of Union in 1801 until 1921’s Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created the Irish Free State in the south, all Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. The formal name The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was still used until 1927, however, when it was changed by the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act.

History of medicine in Ireland

The Medical Directory for Ireland was first published in 1852, detailing the locations and publications of medical practitioners who held qualifications as either apothecaries (pharmacists) or doctors in Ireland. The Medical Act of 1858 set to regulate the medical profession and abolish unlicensed practitioners.

The 1858 Directory published online here captures the Irish medical world at the point of this movement towards stricter regulation through the General Medical Council. The first Medical Register was published in 1859, in conjunction with the Act.

Searching for your ancestors in the Directory

One eminent doctor listed in the Medical Directory is William Stokes. Of his published works, ‘The Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Chest’ was especially noteworthy, gaining him manifold plaudits. Stokes was also responsible for treating James ClarenceMangan on his death-bed (and with instructing Sir Frederic Burton to draw a sketch of Mangan’s face, immediately following his death, which is now held at the National Gallery in London).

In addition to listing practicing professionals, the Directory contains Obituaries:

The entries in the Directory were sent to the medics to whom they related, for verification purposes. A passage in the preface to the Directory indicates that many doctors didn’t return this circular to confirm their details:

It is important to note that as much as the editors of the Directory strove for completeness, there was no compulsion on the part of the doctors to be included, prior to the 1858 Medical Act. As such, it is inevitable that some practitioners will have been missed. Some are noted in the supplemental list, with fairly limited details. An example of the supplemental list is below:

The Poor Law

The 1851 Medical Charities Act was the first movement towards a state medical health service in Ireland. It provided dispensaries in each of the 160 Poor Law Unions of Ireland. The Poor Law of England and Wales was introduced to Ireland in 1838, as a way of coping with the widespread problems of poverty, highlighted in the Whatley Commission’s report in 1833.

The Commission suggested that the Poor Laws as they were in England and Wales were wholly inappropriate for Ireland, but their findings were essentially ignored. Prior to the 1851 Act, medical care for the poor had been provided by charities and free hospitals. The first charitable hospital in Ireland was The Charitable Infirmary in Jervis Street, Dublin, established in 1718.

The Poor Law, thought harsh in England, was ever harsher when applied to Ireland. This was largely due to the scarcity of workhouses available to provide indoor relief and the lack of monies available to the Unions.

The Great Hunger

The shortcomings of the Poor Law were fatally highlighted by the Famine, or Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór), of 1845-1849. The failures of the British Government to provide necessary relief to the starving population meant that during the Famine an estimated 1 million people died, whilst at least as many again emigrated to America, Australia and Britain.

The Irish population at the time of the 1841 census was recorded as 8.2 million, a number to which it has never since returned. By the 1851 census, the population was recorded as 6.5 million. A large proportion of deaths during the Great Hunger were as a result of infectious diseases such as typhoid, cholera and dysentery; many doctors were themselves infected and died in their attempts to tend to the sick.