 Merchant Seamen
(1835-1844)
At this period, the foreign trade of ships plying to and from the British isles involved about 150,000 men on 15,000 ships; and the coasting trade about a quarter as many more. A large proportion of the seamen on these ships were British subjects, and so liable to be pressed for service in the Royal Navy; but there was no general register by which to identify them, so in 1835 parliament passed a Merchant Seamen's Registration Bill. Under this act a large register of British seamen was compiled, based on ships' crew lists gathered in British and Irish ports, and passed up to the registry in London. A parliamentary committee decided that the system devised did not answer the original problem, and the original register was abandoned after less than two years: the system was then restarted in this form, with a systematic attempt to attribute the seamen's (ticket) numbers, and to record successive voyages. The register records the number assigned to each man; his name; age; birthplace; quality (S = seaman, &c.); and the name and official number of his ship, with the date of the crew list (usually at the end of a voyage). Most of the men recorded were born in the British Isles, but not all. The system was still very cumbersome, because the names were amassed merely under the first two letters of surname; an attempt was made to separate out namesakes by giving the first instance of a name (a), the second (b), and so on. In this volume the register is restarted from 1840 onwards, with the mariner's previous number (if any) being entered in the column after his birthplace. In the event of it becoming known that a man had died during the course of a voyage, that information is written across the remaining empty columns. This volume (BT 112/10) covers mariners whose surnames start with Bu and By (and McBu and McBy).BUIK. Cost: £8.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
The Edinburgh Gazette
(1846)
The Edinburgh Gazette is the official publication in which various Scottish legal notices are issued, as well as promotions and casualty lists for the British army as a whole, and brief lists of English bankrupts. The key source for tracing details of Scottish bankruptcies, insolvencies, and dissolutions of business partnerships.BUIK. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Owners of Ships Registered at Dundee (1847)
This list of the 329 ships registered at Dundee gives each vessel's name; rig (bg=brigantine; br=barque; sc=schooner; sh=ship; sl=sloop; sm=smack; st sh=steamship; st tug=steam tug); surname of the master; year built; tonnage; and the name of the owner or agent.
BUIK. Cost: £8.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Registered Electors of Arbirlot, Forfarshire (1847)
This alphabetical list gives full names and addresses.
BUIK. Cost: £8.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Traders and professionals in London
(1856)
The Post Office London Directory for 1856 includes this 'Commercial and Professional Directory', recording over 100,000 individuals. BUIK. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Masters of Merchantmen with Pilotage Certificates
(1857)
The Mercantile Navy List and Annual Appendage to the Commercial Code of Signals for All Nations, edited by J. H. Brown, was published By Authority in 1857. It includes this list of Pilotage Certificates of Service. It gives masters of passenger-carrying vessels licensed by the Board of Trade to act as pilots themselves in certain stretches of water. The table gives the full name of the master; draft of water of the vessel; owner; and the limits to which his pilotage certificate extends. The sample scan is from the main list of masters and pilots.BUIK. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Scottish Bankrupts
(1857)
Scotch Sequestrations: bankruptcy often caused people to restart their lives elsewhere, so these are an important source for lost links
BUIK. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Scottish Partnerships Dissolved and Bankruptcy Proceedings
(1857)
Dissolutions of business partnerships, and proceedings in bankruptcy in ScotlandBUIK. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Trustees and solicitors in England and Wales
(1858)
Perry's Bankrupt and Insolvent Gazette, issued monthly, included lists of assignments of bankrupts' estates. Each entry gives the name of the bankrupt (surname first, in capitals), the date (in brackets), address and trade; followed by the names and addresses of the trustees to whom the estate was delivered, and the name and address of the solicitor. This is the index to the names of the trustees and solicitors, from the issues from January to December 1858.BUIK. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Scottish Debtors, Insolvents and Bankrupts
(1887)
Protests on Bills of Exchange, Sequestrations and Cessio Bonorums in Scotland, April to June 1887BUIK. Cost: £6.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
|
Research your ancestry, family history, genealogy and one-name study by direct access to original records and archives indexed by surname.
