UK City and County Directories

[Jesstheoctopi]

This is just a quick question really but was there a certain age that someone would have to pass before being included on the UK City and County Directories or would young children also be put on?

[Maiden Stone]

As far as I am aware, judging by those I've used, people in them were adults. I've only looked at 19th century ones, Many people listed in them were carrying on a business or profession. Shopkeepers, innkeepers, postmaster/mistress, farmers, tradesmen,  doctor, solicitor etc. Notable people in a district were included, e.g. landowners, gentlemen.

[stanmapstone]

Information Contained in Directories:

The original purpose of directories was to provide information about towns and localities for travellers and other visitors. A directory would include a general description of the town or area and then include details on local transportation, churches, schools, government offices, shops, and businesses, etc. Sometimes information on specific people, such as businessmen, traders, and shopkeepers, was included as well.

Later directories began to include sections on private residents. At first this mainly consisted of the wealthier and more prominent individuals. Eventually the directories became more comprehensive and more residents, especially householders, were included regardless of social status.
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=3145

Stan

[Jesstheoctopi]

Thank you Stan and Maiden!

[Guy Etchells]

There are two books very useful available giving information about Directories.
The first “The London Directories 1677-1855”, by Mr. C. W. F. Goss, published in 1932.
The second “Guide to the National and Provincial Directories of England and Wales, excluding London, published before 1856”, by Jane E. Norton, published in 1950.

I do not know if anyone has published anything on the very interesting Scottish or Irish directories.

Directories, as Jane Norton explains were “a means of communication, essential to extensive trade relations and a wide market and they were compiled to meet the commercial need of easy and rapid intercourse between buyer and seller.”
In other words they were equivalent to the Yellow Pages or a commercial Google allowing the commercial travellers to find and call in on potential clients.
Having said that directories evolved from the registers nuns kept in the middle ages to help country girls looking for places as domestic servants. The nuns registers also evolved into Registry Offices which were what we might call employment exchanges or agencies.

The early directories were complied from a basic list of businesses supplemented by paid entries and advertisements to cover the production costs. They later expanded into including street listings which named the resident of the individual property.

Directories are useful to the family historian, however they must be used with care as all directories are not equal. Some directories such as those produced by William White were used by other directory compilers as a source of names, i.e. they were plagiarised.
The resulting directories were often inaccurate or out of date including people who had moved or even died.

Cheers
Guy