British Phone Books 1880-1984 [database on-line].
Original data: British phone books 1880-1984 from the collection held by BT Archives.
http://www.bt-archives.co.uk/
About British Phone Books 1880-1984 Release 1
This collection contains British phone books published between 1880, the year after the
public telephone service was introduced to the UK, and 1984, from the historic phone book
collection held by BT Archives. Currently the database contains 430 phone books.
This collection contains British phone books published between 1880, the year after the
public telephone service was introduced to the UK, and 1984, from the historic phone book
collection held by BT Archives. Currently the database contains 430 phone books covering
London and large parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, and Surrey.
This collection does not currently contain full county coverage. After 1954 the format of the
phone book was substantially changed and separate phone books were produced for those
regions outside of the London postal area. Additional years and counties will be added to
this collection over the course of future releases.
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About Phone Books:
The largest section of the phone book, and generally the most significant for family
historians, is the alphabetical listings or directory. The alphabetical listings typically contains
the following details:
* Surname of person (usually the head of household) or name of business
* Address
* Exchange (up to 1968)
* Telephone Number
Phone books also contain an introduction of useful local and operational information.
Located at the front of the book these pages may contain lists of abbreviations used,
contact information for important government agencies, instructions on how to make long
distance calls, explanations of the exchanges and their coverage, or other necessary
information in order to use the phone book and telephone equipment. The introduction is
not searchable and can only be seen by using the browse function.
Advertisements for local businesses occasionally appear at the tops and bottoms of the
alphabetical listings pages, as well as on full separate pages designated as such.
Advertisements cannot be searched independently but can be seen by selecting the image
of the phone book following searching for a name in close alphabetical proximity or by using
the browse function.
Why use Phone Books?
Phone books are very useful for pinpointing individuals in a particular place and time. While
censuses were only conducted once every ten years, phone books were published around
every one to two years, creating in essence, an almost year by year record of individuals'
geographic locations and movements. This makes it possible to locate many individuals in
between census years and especially to find family members during years in which
censuses are not currently available to the public. For reference, the latest viewable UK
census is 1901; and is currently Free to search through Ancestry.co.uk
Phone books are also very telling of an individual's economic and social status since
telephone ownership is a prerequisite to an individual's inclusion within this collection. Early
subscribers to the telephone service were typically large businesses or the well-to-do.
Telephone ownership gradually increased, reflected by a corresponding growth in the size
and number of phone books, and from the second quarter of the twentieth century became
more commonly adopted by domestic subscribers.
While the alphabetical listings in the phone book will likely be of most interest to
researchers, if your ancestor owned a business the advertisement section might also be of
interest. There you may learn the location of and type of goods and services sold or offered
by the business. This may lead you to additional research in occupational records.
Select Period
1880 -1899
1900 -1919
1920 -1939
1940 -1959
1960 -1984