Kelly's Directory Of Buckinghamshire 1924

Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire 1924 - Digital Download or CD-ROM

Product Description:

Step back into the Roaring Twenties and uncover the history of your ancestors and the county of Buckinghamshire with this exact digital replica of the 1924 Kelly’s Directory. An essential resource for genealogists, local historians, and house researchers, this directory offers a fascinating snapshot of life in Bucks between the World Wars.

Why this Directory is Essential: With the 1931 Census lost to fire and the 1921 Census only recently becoming a standard reference point, the 1924 Directory fills a crucial three-year gap in family history research. It allows you to pinpoint exactly where your family was living, who their neighbors were, and their trade or profession during a period of great social change in Britain.

About the Format & Searchability: This product is available as an instant digital download or on a convenient CD-ROM. Please note that the directory consists of high-quality scanned images of the original pages. While the text is not embedded (making it not "searchable" in the traditional database sense), the directory is compiled alphabetically by town and trade, making navigation surprisingly intuitive and easy.

Furthermore, if you are using a modern PDF reader (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or browser-based viewers), many of these programs now perform OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on the fly. This means that by using the "Find" function (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F), you can often search for surnames or street names directly within the viewer, allowing for quick research despite the scan-only format.

What’s Inside: This comprehensive volume is packed with detailed information, including:

• Court Directory: A list of private residents and the gentry, a goldmine for tracing family movements and social standing.
• Street Directory: Detailed listings of the heads of households for major streets in larger towns (perfect for tracing the history of a specific house).
• Trades Directory: An alphabetical classified list of professions and businesses. Find out if your great-grandfather was a baker in Aylesbury or a lacemaker in Olney.
• Official Information: Names and addresses of local officials, magistrates, and clergy.
• Topographical Information: Detailed descriptions of every town, village, and hamlet in the county, including local history, landmarks, and facilities (schools, churches, and transport links).

Buckinghamshire in 1924: Context & Features The year 1924 saw Buckinghamshire transitioning from a rural heartland to a county embracing modern industry. This directory captures that unique atmosphere.

• Famous Residents & Historical Figures: Buckinghamshire has long been the home of the elite. In 1924, the county was still very much under the influence of the Rothschild family, whose vast estates (such as Mentmore and Waddesdon) dominated the landscape. You can also find references to the legacy of Benjamin Disraeli, who lived at Hughenden Manor near High Wycombe. Additionally, the home of the poet John Milton at Chalfont St Giles remains a point of pride in the local descriptions.
• Industry & Commerce:
  • The Furniture Trade: High Wycombe was renowned as the furniture capital of England. The directory is filled with chair manufacturers, wood turners, and polishers, earning the town its famous nickname "Wycombe—Windsor Chair Town."
  • Paper Making: The River Chess and Colne valleys supported a historic paper-making industry, with several mills still operational in 1924 supplying paper to the empire.
  • New Industries: The Slough Trading Estate (founded in 1920) was just beginning to boom, attracting new engineering and light engineering businesses to the south of the county.
• Sport: The directory lists local cricket clubs and football teams. Wycombe Wanderers, founded in 1887, were active during this period, and the directory lists the grounds and officials associated with the local sporting scene.

Important Disclaimer: Please be aware that, as with many archived directories of this age, the original map pages that were bound into the book were often loose and frequently removed by previous owners. Consequently, copies of this directory may be missing the original fold-out county or town maps. The text content, however, remains complete and fully intact.