Kelly's Directory Of Berkshire 1931 Census Substitute

Kelly's Directory of Berkshire 1931 – The Essential 1931 Census Substitute (Digital Download or CD)

Product Description

Unlock the history of Berkshire in 1931.

Bridge the gap in your family tree research with this essential republishing of Kelly’s Directory of Berkshire 1931. As genealogists know, the 1931 Census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire in 1942, and no census was taken in 1941 due to the Second World War. This makes directories from this era invaluable as a "Census Substitute," providing a snapshot of your ancestors and neighbors between the 1921 and 1939 registers.

Whether you are researching family history, the history of your house, or the social fabric of the Royal County, this directory offers an unparalleled window into life in Berkshire just before the great upheavals of the mid-20th century.

What’s Inside the Directory?

This comprehensive volume is packed with detailed information, divided into easy-to-navigate sections:

• County Information: A detailed overview of Berkshire’s topography, geology, and administrative history. This section includes statistics on agriculture, population, and county officials, providing context for how the county was governed.
• Court Directory (Private Residents): An alphabetical list of private residents throughout the county. This is the gold mine for genealogists, helping you locate where heads of households and notable tradespeople lived.
• Commercial & Trades Directory: A classified listing of businesses and tradesmen. From blacksmiths in tiny villages to major industrialists in Reading, this section helps you understand your ancestors' livelihoods.
• Town & Village Histories: Street-by-street surveys of major towns and thorough descriptions of every village, noting local landmarks, churches, and schools.
• Advertisements: Period advertisements that offer a fascinating glimpse into the products and services available to the Berkshire resident in 1931.

Famous Residents & Local Connections

Berkshire in 1931 was a mix of rural idyll and industrial innovation. Within these pages, you may find references to notable figures and locations that defined the era:

• Highclere Castle: Home to the Carnarvon family. By 1931, the estate was held by the 6th Earl of Carnarvon (son of the famous Egyptologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb).
• The Royal Family: As the county is home to Windsor Castle, the directory is replete with local officials and tradespeople connected to the Royal household.
• Literary Connections: While J.R.R. Tolkien was living in Oxford (just over the border), the strong literary ties of the region are evident in the cultural institutions listed.

Interesting Facts About Berkshire in 1931

• Industry: Known as "Silicon Valley" today, in 1931 Reading was famous as the "Biscuit Town." It was the global headquarters for Huntley & Palmers and Suttons Seeds, two companies that shipped their goods worldwide from this Berkshire hub.
• Football: Reading Football Club (founded 1871) was playing in the Football League Third Division South during this season. The directory lists the club officials and the location of their stadium at Elm Park.
• Agriculture: Despite the growth of towns like Slough and Reading, Berkshire remained heavily agricultural, with vast watercress beds in the Lambourn Valley and extensive hop gardens.

Format & Navigation (Important Information)

Format: This product is available as a high-quality Digital Download (PDF format) or a CD-ROM.

Searchability: Please note that this directory is a scanned facsimile of the original book. The text is contained within images to preserve the authentic look and feel of the 1931 publication. Therefore, the text itself is not inherently searchable in the traditional sense.

However, navigation is straightforward because the Court and Commercial sections are arranged alphabetically by surname and trade. Furthermore, most modern PDF readers (such as Adobe Acrobat and browser-based viewers) now feature OCR on the fly, which can often recognize the text in these scanned images, allowing you to use the "Find" function (Ctrl+F) with varying degrees of success depending on the clarity of the original print.

Map Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to reproduce the original directory fully, please be aware that occasionally the original publishers omitted specific maps or they were lost from the source material. We cannot guarantee that all fold-out maps advertised in the original index are present in this digital/CD reproduction.