This section examines the main types of directory that you are likely to come across as well as the different formats.

Content & formats

Content

Directories come in lots of different shapes and sizes. This reflects innovations in design and the variety of purposes for which they were produced.

Here are the main types of directory you are likely to come across, either on this web site or in a traditional library.

• Commercial directories – These are alphabetical listings of merchants and tradesmen produced primarily for the use of the trading community. Many of the earliest directories take this form. On this web site see, for example, The Leicester Directory Describing the Bankers, Manufacturers and Principal Tradesmen, 1794.
• Professional directories – Evolving out of commercial directories in the eighteenth century, these tend to list only the ‘principal inhabitants’ of a town such as the gentry, wealthy tradesmen and professionals. They often include names and addresses, but not the occupations. As such they cater for a social elite rather than mercantile interests. Most directories on this web site do actually include commercial information
• General trade directories – The most common type of directory during the nineteenth century, containing both a list of private residents arranged alphabetically and a classified trades section, where individuals and firms are recorded under occupational headings. You can find many examples of such directories on this web site. For example, most of James Pigot’s national and provincial directories follow such a format. Go to our Find by keywords page and select Pigot from the key name menu.
• Specialist directories – This category includes a variety of directories covering particular interest groups or sectors of the economy. Some of the most successful were those associated with specific industries. Specialist directories rose to prominence in the second half of the nineteenth century, peaking in the early 1900s. There are limited examples of such directories on this site. See, for example, Jones’s Mercantile Directory of the Iron District, 1865.
• Town directories – All directories covering a single town and its hinterland fall into this category. They were particularly common in the early years of directory publication, but of continuing importance throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many town directories were published by resident entrepreneurs such as John Gore, whose series of Liverpool Directories began in 1766. Go to our Find by keywords page and select Gore from the key name menu.
• National and provincial directories – Unlike town directories these provide either a national or regional survey. Early examples simply contained listings for selected towns, but later series such as those produced by James Pigot and Frederick Kelly moved towards more comprehensive coverage of a particular county or region, including all settlements lying within it. There are numerous publications by Pigot and Kelly on this web site.

Format chronology

As well as the different types of directory, it is also possible to identify significant variations in format. Over time all the major categories of directory changed their general layout and the level of information provided.

Here, the major changes are outlined chronologically:

1720–1750

• Names arranged alphabetically with addresses and occupations. (Most provincial directories continue with this format until the early nineteenth century)

1750–1800

• Alphabetical list of names, addresses and occupations, together with an alphabetical street section with residents' names

1800–1820

• Alphabetical list of people and their occupations, together with both a street and classified trade section. In each section residents and their occupations are noted

1820–1950

• Listings of names and addresses, streets and trades are supplemented by maps, advertisements and sections on transport, local history, and corporate affairs.

This chronology is, of course, only a general guide. In reality publishers adopted changes at different times, and used a wide range of formats. Generally, innovations came first to London, spreading next to the larger industrial centres such as Liverpool and Manchester, and then to the rest of the country.

National and provincial directories helped introduce more sophisticated formats into the provinces from the 1820s, leading to a dramatic increase in the size and content of publications. James Pigot pioneered these developments, producing the first national directory on a classified trade basis in 1814. By the 1830s this was the standard layout for other large-scale surveys.

Kelly and Post Office formats

Kelly’s became the largest and most successful publishing firm for directories in the late nineteenth century. Many publications by Kelly are on this web site and they often follow similar formats.

• It is worth remembering that Frederick Kelly began compiling directories with the aid of the Post Office. The business later became an independent entity, Kelly’s Directories Ltd.
• On the Find by keywords page, you can select Post Office or Kelly from the key name menu.

London directories

Kelly's London directories in the late nineteenth century tend to comprise the following sections:

1. Official directory: "Alphabetical list of persons holding situations under the crown in the Bank of England, the various Law, City, and all other public offices"
2. Street directory. Principal streets and heads of household arranged alphabetically
3. Commercial directory. Alphabetical list of traders
4. Trades directory. Classified list of trades and professions
5. Law directory. Lists of judges, counsels etc
6. Court directory. Lists of householders not in commercial section
7. Parliamentary directory. Lists of U.K. peers and MP’s
8. Postal directory. Information about postal rates and services
9. City & Clerical directory. Lists of mayors, councillors, ministers etc
10. Conveyance directory. Lists of wharves, railway carriers etc
11. Banking directory. List of London and foreign banks and country bankers
12. Advertisements. Coverage of London and often other major towns in England.

The above example is taken from Kelly’s London Post Office Directory, 1899. Many of the London publications are huge. We’ve split them into more manageable sections on our web site.

Provincial directories

The Kelly's format for the provinces differed from that of London, as the example below demonstrates. This particular layout comes from Kelly’s Directory of Cumberland, 1910.

1. General introduction to the area, comprising topographical and geological details as well as information about parliamentary representation, law and order and local institutions.
2. Alphabetical list of settlements
3. Alphabetical lists of inhabitants within each settlement
4. Separate section listing all Private Residents alphabetically (common in larger directories only)
5. Section providing listing all Trades and names associated with Trades alphabetically (common in larger directories only)
6. Advertisements

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