Family History

Education and Business Records

School Records 

The records of schools can contain useful genealogical information such as the child’s parentage, date of birth and place of origin. The types of records that are especially useful are school admission registers and log books.

Charity schools were established by the 1720’s, founded initially by private bequests. The records of some parish and charity schools can be found in the Archives Centre. However, the majority of children may not have received any schooling prior to the establishment of Board Schools by the 1870 Education Act. Even then many poor parents were discouraged from sending their children to school since many schools charged. In 1891 free elementary schooling was provided for all children.

We hold school records dating from the 17th to 20th century. These schools include the United Westminster Schools, Grey Coat Hospital, St Marylebone Grammar School and the St Marylebone Charity School.The details of pupils attending Westminster School have been published from mid 16th Century-1886. 

A full list of our holdings of school records can be found in Chapter 17- Institutions in our Guide to Holdings and by undertaking a search of the archives catalogue WESTCAT. Brief Historical notes on Westminster Schools is available as a PDF file.

A number of books listing university students have been published. We hold the Alumni Oxonienses, an alphabetical register of students at Oxford University, 1500-1886, and Alumni Cantabrigienses, an alphabetical register of students at Cambridge University from the late 13th Century – 1900. Full details of the above publications and other books in our collection are available in the Westminster Libraries Catalogue. 

Business Records

The records of some businesses are held by Westminster City Archives. These collections occasionally contain wages/salaries books, list of employees, details of pensions etc. For example the records of Watney’s Brewery. Even so if personal staff information has not survived you may wish to consult the records to get a feel for your ancestor’s working and daily life. A full list of our business and company records can be found in Chapter 21 – Businesses in our Guide to Holdings and in our online archive catalogue, WESTCAT.

Petty sessions are a valuable source for locating ancestors who were licencees. Licensing registers normally show date and particulars of the licence, name and address of the public house, name of licensee, date and details of transfers of the licence, disqualification of the premises, and a record of any convictions. A full list of our holdings of Petty Sessions records, including alehouse licensing can be found in Section 13 – Courts of Law of our Guide to Holdings. Licensing records can also be found in Westminster Quarter Sessions and the Middlesex Sessions which are held by the London Metropolitan Archives

Published biographies of trades people such as Goldsmiths and Architects can be found by undertaking a search of the Westminster Libraries Catalogue.