Someone posted a request for information on passenger lists of people leaving and entering the U.K. There are two sets of such lists at the National Archives in Kew.
1. Passenger lists of people departing the U.K (includes a note on their digitization)
The National Archives has contracted with 1837online.com to digitize the entire Board of Trade series of outward passenger lists (BT 27), running from1890 to 1960. The lists should begin appearing online from autumn 2006, with the entire series online by late 2007.
The lists “contain the names of the persons leaving the United Kingdom from ports within England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland for final destinations outside of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Some vessels dropped off and picked up passengers in European or Mediterranean ports en route.
“The lists are copies furnished by ships' masters, as required by law, to port officers of the Ministry of Transport and sent to the Board of Trade for use in compiling statistics. The information given in the lists usually includes age, occupation, sometimes the address of each passenger, and date of his/her leaving the country: but there is no indication as to how long he/she intended to stay abroad. The lists are arranged under the names of the ports of departure.”
To see and bookmark the catalogue entry of outward passenger lists (BT 27), go here:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=1498&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=True2. Inward passenger lists, 1878-1960
“Passenger lists of people arriving in the United Kingdom by sea kept by the Board of Trade's Commercial and Statistical Department and its successors.
“The information given in these lists includes the age, occupation, address in the United Kingdom and the date of entering the country of passengers entering the United Kingdom by sea from ports outside Europe and the Mediterranean”
The quotes above are from the catalogue entry of the inward passenger lists (BT 26). To read it all and bookmark, go here:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=1497&CATLN=3&Highlight=&FullDetails=False