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Does anyone know when the electoral roll was introduced and whether they are any help with recent family history searches?

General info/background

http://www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives/media/pdf/l/3/Electoral_registers.pdf

Or

From the British Library - which hold a very comprehensive collection:

Electoral registration was introduced in 1832 and registers have been issued for each parliamentary constituency every year since then, with certain exceptions.

Registration was suspended in both World Wars and there are no registers for 1916 and 1917 (1915-17 in Scotland) and from 1940 to 1944 inclusive.

From 1919 to 1926 inclusive there were two registers a year called the ‘Spring’ and ‘Autumn’ registers. There were also two registers in 1945 and 1946; in addition to the regular registers in October, there was a special register in May 1945 for the general election and a supplementary register of service voters in March 1946.

http://www.bl.uk/collections/social/spis_er.html

The local reference Library or Local Studies library nearest to the area concerned is always the best place to start - give them a call - I've always found most of them very helpful.

Thank you Patricia that's really helpful
regards
Debs