Kelly's Post Office Directory of London 1937: The Essential Census Substitute

Format Available: High-Quality Digital Download (PDF) or CD-ROM

Unlock the doors to your late-1930s London ancestry with this complete republication of Kelly's Post Office Directory of London 1937.

With the tragic destruction of the 1931 England and Wales census in a fire, and the 1941 census cancelled due to the Second World War, family historians are left with a massive "census gap." This 1937 directory serves as an absolutely vital census substitute, placing your ancestors exactly where they lived and worked on the eve of the Second World War.

About This Edition: Format & Usability

Please note that this directory is comprised of high-resolution scanned images of the original book and is not a text-searchable database. However, do not let that deter you! Because Kelly's directories are meticulously arranged alphabetically, navigating to your ancestor's entry is incredibly fast and intuitive.

Furthermore, if you are using a modern PDF reader (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Foxit), the software features "OCR on the fly". This means you can simply press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on a Mac), type in a surname or street name, and your PDF reader will automatically read the text on the scanned page and highlight the results for you!

What's Inside: Directory Sections

This comprehensive volume is divided into highly useful sections for the genealogist:

• The Commercial Section: An alphabetical list of London's tradesmen and professionals. Perfect for finding shopkeepers, factory owners, and specialized craftsmen.
• The Street Section: Streets listed alphabetically, showing the head of the household at each specific address. A lifesaver if you only know an address from a birth or marriage certificate but don't know the occupant's name.
• The Private Residents Section: An A-Z of private citizens, their occupations, and their full addresses. This is the core section for family tree building.
• The Official & Institutional Section: Detailed listings for London boroughs, municipal officials, hospitals, churches, schools, and societies.

London in 1937: A Snapshot in Time

The year 1937 was a momentous one for London. It was the year of the coronation of King George VI, an event that brought a brief, glittering reprieve to a city that was already feeling the rumblings of impending global conflict.

When you browse these pages, you are looking at the London of the late 1930s—a city defined by its booming industries, iconic sports teams, and vibrant cultural scene:

• Industry & Commerce: London was the powerhouse of the British Empire. The docks of the East End were still bustling, while industries like printing, engineering, motor vehicle manufacturing, and garment making employed hundreds of thousands of Londoners whose names appear in these very pages.
• Sport: 1937 saw legendary footballers like Arsenal's Alex James and Chelsea's Hughie Gallacher still gracing the pitches of Stamford Bridge and Highbury. Lord’s and The Oval were hosting legendary test matches, and the names of club secretaries and groundsmen can be found in the institutional sections.
• Music & Entertainment: The "Swing Era" was taking hold. London's West End theaters and dance halls were packed. Legendary figures born or residing in London at the time include Noel Coward (the ultimate 1930s Londoner), Alfred Hitchcock (born in Leytonstone, directing British films before moving to Hollywood in 1939), and Virginia Woolf (residing in Bloomsbury).

Important Disclaimer Regarding Maps

Please Note: Original copies of Kelly's directories were often issued with pull-out maps of London that were easily detached and lost over the last 80+ years. This reproduction may be missing the original fold-out map. However, we have left this disclaimer so you are not disappointed—but if the original map is present and intact in the source copy we scanned, consider it a fantastic, rare bonus!

Why You Need This Directory

Whether you are trying to track down a great-grandfather who was a tailor in Bethnal Green, a clerk in the City of London, or a dock worker in Poplar, this directory gives you the exact location and occupation to bridge the 1931–1951 census gap.

Choose your preferred format below and step back into the streets of 1930s London!