Wright's Directory Of Nottingham & Suburbs 1915-1916

Wright's Directory of Nottingham & Suburbs 1915-1916 - Digital Download or CD

Product Description:

Unlock the history of your ancestors and the streets of Nottingham with this high-quality reproduction of Wright's Directory of Nottingham & Suburbs 1915-1916.

This essential genealogical resource captures life in Nottingham during the First World War, a critical period sandwiched between the 1911 and 1921 censuses. If you have hit a brick hole in your family tree due to the ten-year gap between census returns, this directory is the perfect substitute to locate where your family lived and what they did for a living.

Format & Accessibility This directory is available as a Digital Download or on a CD.

• Scanned Images: The directory consists of high-resolution scans of the original pages, preserving the authentic look and feel of the early 20th-century text.
• Navigability: While this is a scanned book and not text-searchable in the traditional sense, Wright's Directories are famously alphabetical. You can easily navigate to the specific section you need—whether it is a street, a surname, or a trade—and scroll directly to the entry.
• OCR Compatibility: Most modern PDF readers (such as Adobe Acrobat or browser-based viewers) now perform OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on the fly. This allows you to use the "Find" function (Ctrl+F or Command+F) to search for surnames and keywords directly within the viewer.

What's Inside the Directory? This comprehensive volume is divided into clear sections to aid your research:

1. Street Directory: A full listing of streets within Nottingham and its suburbs, showing house numbers and the head of household or business occupying each property. Perfect for tracking house histories.
2. Commercial/Trades Directory: An alphabetical classified list of businesses and tradesmen. Find out if your great-grandfather was a lace maker, a boot closer, or a coal merchant.
3. Private Residents Directory: An alphabetical list of private householders, their addresses, and often their occupations. This is the gold standard for tracing middle-class families and prominent citizens.
4. Court & Lane Directory: Specifics for the smaller, more densely populated working-class housing courts and alleyways often missed by other records.
5. Official & Information Section: Details of local government officials, council members, public institutions, hospitals, churches, and transport timetables (trams and trains).

Bridging the Census Gap (1911–1921) With the 1921 Census only recently released and the 1931 Census lost to fire, directories like this are vital for tracking movement during the WWI era. Discover if family members moved closer to munitions factories (like the Royal Ordnance Factory) or if young men had left for the front lines, altering the household composition recorded here.

Nottingham Life in 1915-1916: Context & Curiosities

• The City of Industry: In 1915, Nottingham was the heart of the lace industry, but the war had shifted focus. The directory reflects a city in transition, with many businesses pivoting to support the war effort. You will find listings for the massive Boots Pure Drug Company (founded by Jesse Boot) and the headquarters of Players (John Player & Sons), which was heavily involved in wartime production.
• Sporting Legends: Look out for listings related to Trent Bridge, home to Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, and the homes of players from Notts County (the oldest professional football league club) and Nottingham Forest.
• Famous Residents & Births:
  • Albert Ball: One of WWI's greatest fighter aces, Albert Ball was a Nottinghamshire lad. In 1915, he was learning to fly; his family may be listed at their home on the Lenton Abbey estate or the Standard Motor Company he co-ran.
  • Jesse Boot: The philanthropist and chemist was transforming the city, and his business footprint is heavily detailed in the commercial section.
  • D.H. Lawrence: While he was moving away by 1915 (with The Rainbow published that year), his family roots in the mining suburbs of Eastwood and Bestwood may still be traceable in the residents' section.
• Music & Culture: The era of music halls was in full swing. The directory lists various theatres and agents, offering a glimpse into the entertainment available to Nottinghamians during the war years.

Map Disclaimer Please note: Original directories from this period sometimes had maps removed by previous owners or damaged over the last century. We have scanned the book exactly as it was acquired. If the original street map is present in this edition, it is included as a fantastic bonus to help you visualize the neighborhood; however, we cannot guarantee its presence as it varies by copy.