Source document description
The Universal British Directory 1793-8, Hertfordshire towns
Period covered: from 1793 to 1798
World location: UK & Ireland
Country location(s): England
'Region' and/or city location(s): Hertfordshire
Town/locale: Baldock, Barnet, Berkhampstead, Bishop's Stortford, Buntingford, Hempsted, Hatfield, Hertford, Hitchin, Hoddeston, Royston, St. Albans, Watford, Ware
The Universal British Directory was published over a five year period from 1793 to 1798, listing the nobility, gentry, clergy, professionals, traders, merchants and manufacturers of the principal towns in the United Kingdom. It was published in five volumes, the first covering London, the next three volumes covering the other main towns throughout the country and finally an appendix which included omissions from the previous volumes. Published volumes were also updated and reprinted over this period so it is not possible to give a precise year for the listing of a particular town, just that it was within the five year period. Because the directory is not ordered by county but is purely alphabetical, the listings for the towns of Hertfordshire have been extracted and digitally recompliled. However the text for each town has not been altered but has been reproduced as it occurs in the original directory.
Inhabitants are listed under several categories: Gentry, Clergy, Physic (ie doctors, surgeons, apothecaries etc), Law and Traders. Under each heading names are ordered alphabetically by surname, followed (in most but not all cases) by first name and then occupation (where relevant). Street addresses are not given, but in the period covered most businesses would be in or near the town centre. No list of abbreviations is given but in Genhound's opinion names followed by "(F.)" most likely indicate that that person is a freeholder, and thus would have voting rights.
Descriptions of the surrounding countryside follow the town listing, giving the history and topography of some of the gentlemen's seats and the name of the current occupant.
The typeface used is typical of the period which means that the letter "s" is represented using a character that is easily confused with the letter "f" and is usually interpreted as an "f" by the optical character recognition software used. The text files have subsequently been checked and corrected manually, particularly on the names and occupations, however, the occasional character may have been missed so if the surname you are searching for cannot be found and it has an "s" in it, try substituting with an "f" to see if it can be located. Please report any incorrect names found to Genhound giving title and page number so it can be corrected.
Merchant: Genhound
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