Did you have to pay to be in the directory?

[melba_schmelba]

Having compared London Post Office Street Directories with maps of the period, I have realised many addresses are not listed in the directories. Was this because you had to pay, or simply the directory maker only listed people who had a business, or people of a certain 'better' class?

[stanmapstone]

Not everyone was listed in Directories. The ways in which publishers collected data varied considerably. Some obtained information by personal canvassing and combined the results with existing listings. Other publishers simply asked people to send in their names together with a small payment if they wanted to be included in the directory.
See https://web.archive.org/web/20130218175444/http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/ud/usingdir1.asp

Post Office Directories were different
The Post Office
By the early nineteenth century methods of compilation had become more organised. In part, this reflected the growing links between directories and the Post Office. Many postal officials, such as Frederick Kelly, turned their hand to directory publishing as a means of both aiding their work and making some extra money. Information was collected by letter carriers, who circulated forms during their postal rounds, and also delivered the finished directory on commission.

Stan

[melba_schmelba]

Thanks Stan. So would one conclude that if a row of houses was not included in a street directory, the people were so poor they hardly ever received letters?

[stanmapstone]

In the 19th century the  poorest people would not be interested in directories, those mainly interested were professionals, tradesmen and the better off, until the later ones which included more ordinary people.

Stan

[barryd]

In the 21st century the  poorest people (including me) would not be interested in directories as all they do is generate Junk Mail.

[melba_schmelba]

In the 19th century the  poorest people would not be interested in directories, those mainly interested were professionals, tradesmen and the better off, until the later ones which included more ordinary people.

Stan

Thanks Stan, this was the early 1920s I am talking about and still a lot of stretches of houses, especially of terraces don't seem to be in the street directories. I suppose when phone directories came in, these sort of superseded the old directories, and were not really discriminating vis a vis status or occupation.

In the 21st century the  poorest people (including me) would not be interested in directories as all they do is generate Junk Mail.

Indeed .

[Jed59]

I always used to get a smile from the listing of people by Gentry, Clergy and tradesmen ie Small business owners...Of the  folk who did the actual work,  not a whisper. From this I was able to see that my 3x gt grandad had some quite posh neighbours.. one was an “Honourable..”.