Hackney Street Addresses early 1800's

[DavidTaylor]

Hello there.. I notice that family records I'm finding say pre- 1840 are stating residence as "Well Street" as opposed to 126 Well Street, 149 Well Street, etc. Did they not use  house numbers before a certain time? Any reason they wouldn't be specific?

[Roger The Hat]

http://wapedia.mobi/en/House_numbering

Started in 1765, apparently.

What I hate is when you find a specific address, tap it into streeview, and find it's now a multistorey carpark.

Oh, well. Progress, I suppose.


'Hat

[Jeuel]

The earlier records are, the less detailed they seem to be, although all the certs I have with London streets do give numbers, so maybe you're just unlucky in Hackney!

It's worse in the rural areas, it usually just states a hamlet or village or sometimes "The Street".   My paternal grandfather's address in Gloucestershire was "8 The Village" and my gt x 2 grandparents' marriage cert gives his address as "Chedworth (Upper)" and her's as "Chedworth (Lower")

I suppose in those days they didn't get as much post as we do!

[DavidTaylor]

I think you were right.. I am unlucky or they were lazy! Although it seems if I find a Taylor on Well Street they belong to me. The first time I see a address is in the mid 1800's with 118 Well St, then 126.. Before that its just "Well St"

[Valda]

Hi

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was no organised system of house numbering. There wasn't really wasn't much need (you would describe where you lived against landmarks) except if you insured your house against fire - the reason for fire plaques to distinguish quickly which house was insured and which wasn't.

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-457-1/dissemination/pdf/vol03/vol03_09/03_09_243_245.pdf
 
By the early C19th with many new streets being built in London and numbered, the first builder involved in building houses in a new street, might build for instance a few houses and say number his houses 1 to 60. As the street lengthened in the next few years the next builder involved might choose to number his set of houses 1-30.

'It does not make sense to go straight into early documents as this can be time consuming and frustrating. The best starting point is the London County Council's (LCC) Street Naming List that will tell you when any post – 1855 Street was laid out, when the street name was approved, what previous terrace names or previous road were used and when they were abolished and when the present street numbering was assigned.'


1840
Penny post introduced (massive increase in the use of mail)

in consequence because now there was a very real need which was somewhat over due

Beginning in the 1850s
Street numbering systems formalised, house numbers allocated, towns first, smaller places later


House numbering is similar to 'time' which wasn't standardised in this country until railways made it essential with railway timetables (the spelling of place names also became more standardised).

'Railway time was the name given to the standardised time arrangement first applied by the Great Western Railway in England in November 1840. This was the first recorded occasion when a number of different local times were synchronised and a single standard time applied. Railway time was progressively taken up by all of the other railway companies in Great Britain over the following two to three years. The times schedules by which trains were organised and the times train stations clocks displayed was brought in line with the local time for London or "London Time". This was also the time set at Greenwich by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich which was already widely known as Greenwich Mean Time or (GMT).'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_time


Regards

Valda