Research value of street directories

Family history research

Street directories are of obvious value for family history research, containing thousands of names.  However, it must be remembered that they do not include small tenant farmers, labourers or servants and will only include a very small number of people who lived in provincial towns.  Until all of the 1901 and 1911 census returns become available on-line ( visit www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ ), street directories are one means of identifying where many families lived in Belfast.  Currently, if you are to have any success in locating a family in the 1901 and 1911 census returns you need to identify the street where the family lived.  The search facility on this database will enhance access for the family historian, providing a means to search for a surname wherever it occurs in a specific directory or in all the directories.

Local history

Street directories are an invaluable source of information for the local historian.  Both the introductions (with the lists of institutions and officers) and the lists of inhabitants, traders, merchants etc. provide an insight into the history and development of Belfast and the provincial towns.  This includes their industrial and commercial growth or decline and the social fabric of the different localities.  This information can be used to add detail to original archive material.  For example, using the information in the street directories along with valuation book details and the large scale valuation maps, researchers can build up a detailed picture of life in a country town over a period of time.  The occupations listed in the street directories provide clues to the type of industry and commercial activities that were operating in Belfast and the provincial towns and to the growing industrialisation of the country.