Kelly's Directory Of Ealing Acton Hanwell Brentford Gunnersbury & Chiswick 1889-1890

Kelly's Directory of Ealing, Acton, Hanwell, Brentford, Gunnersbury & Chiswick 1889-1890 (Digital Download or CD-ROM)

Product Description:

Step back into the late Victorian era with this high-quality digital reproduction of Kelly's Directory of Ealing, Acton, Hanwell, Brentford, Gunnersbury & Chiswick for 1889-1890. Covering a fascinating period of West London’s history, this directory is an absolutely essential resource for local historians, genealogists, and anyone researching the twilight years of the 19th century.

Bridging the 1881-1891 Census Gap One of the most valuable aspects of this 1889-1890 directory is its timing. With the 1881 Census a distant memory and the 1891 Census still a year away, family historians often hit a "census gap." This directory serves as the perfect bridge, allowing you to pinpoint exactly where your ancestors were living, what trade they practiced, and their social standing right in the middle of that missing decade.

What’s Inside: A Breakdown of the Sections This comprehensive volume is packed with meticulously detailed sections:

• Street Directory: An alphabetical listing of the streets in each parish, detailing the head of each household and their occupation.
• Commercial Directory: A complete alphabetical list of tradesmen, merchants, and professionals, from anchor smiths to zinc workers—perfect for finding out how your ancestors earned a living.
• Private Residents: An alphabetical register of the gentry, aristocracy, and middle-class residents who did not rely on a trade for their income.
• Official & Municipal Information: Details of local councils, magistrates, clergy, doctors, and officials. It also includes vital information on local institutions, including the dauntingly large Middlesex County Asylum at Hanwell (St. Bernard's).

A Snapshot of West London Life: Famous Faces & Fascinating Facts The areas covered in this directory were undergoing massive transformations in 1889, shifting from leafy villages and market towns to bustling London suburbs:

• Brentford’s Brewing & Brand New Football: 1889 was a monumental year for Brentford—it was the year Brentford Football Club was founded! While the club is just getting its boots on in this directory, you will find the sprawling breweries that dominated the town, most notably the famous Fuller, Smith & Turner brewery.
• Acton, the "Soapy" Suburb: By 1889, Acton had earned its nickname as the "Laundry Centre of London." The directory is filled with laundresses, dye works, and soap manufacturers catering to the wealthy households of nearby London.
• Gunnersbury’s Rothschild Influence: The Gunnersbury section reveals a highly affluent area dominated by the estates of the Rothschild banking family, who had heavily developed the park and surrounding areas in the mid-19th century.
• Chiswick’s Artistic Heritage: While scanning the private residents of Chiswick, you are walking in the footsteps of greatness. The area was historically the home of the legendary painter William Hogarth (whose house still stands today) and the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
• Hanwell’s Historic Connections: Aside from the famous asylum, Hanwell was the boyhood home of a young Charlie Chaplin, who spent time in the Hanwell Schools for Orphans and Destitute Children just a few years after this directory was published.

Format & Usability: Navigating Scanned Images Please note that this product consists of high-resolution scanned images of the original book. It is not a text-searchable database. However, do not let that deter you! Because the Victorians were meticulous record-keepers, the Street, Commercial, and Private Resident sections are arranged strictly alphabetically. Finding your ancestor is as easy as scrolling to the correct letter, much like reading a phone book.

Pro-Tip: If you are using a modern PDF reader (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Edge), many of these programs now feature "OCR on the fly." This means you can often use the standard search bar (Ctrl+F / Cmd+F) to search for a surname, and the software will read the text directly from the scanned images for you!

Map Disclaimer & Bonus Please Note: During the original binding and subsequent life of these antique directories, fold-out maps were frequently removed, lost, or damaged. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the presence of the original map in this specific scan. However, if the map is present in this copy, consider it a fantastic bonus!

Available as an instant Digital Download or shipped to you on a CD-ROM—choose the format that best suits your research needs!