LONDON ONLINE
Almost everyone with English ancestors has someone in their tree who spent time in the capital. The city represents a particular challenge to researchers because of the sheer number of people moving within a patchwork of suburbs, parishes, boroughs, parliamentary divisions and postal districts, which themselves have come and gone. Alongside these overlapping and changing jurisdictions, there’s the huge number of identical and similar street names. What’s more, many streets have changed their name, while others have disappeared beneath new developments.
Even when you know exactly where a relation lived, relevant material may reside at The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) in Islington, the numerous borough archives, or within county collections in the likes of Kent or Essex, whose parishes now form part of Greater London. For example, LMA holds most of Hackney’s school records and workhouse material. However, Hackney Archives has all sorts of records from local businesses.
On the plus side no UK city has as many records digitised as
