Genealogy Chat

I am looking at some electoral rolls online and I have found the person I was looking for in the Birmingham 1955 register, however she is listed as 'Y—Hill, Sylvia'. Could anyone help me out as to the meaning of the Y- before her name, as it must mean something, there are a few others with this before their name.

I haven't got a clue but I know a man who probably has.

Give John Yates a ring on 0121 675 2909. He is the resident genealogist at the Birmingham Register office. A smashing chap who is always willing to help if he can.

Good luck

I've spoken to him before, when querying something about a birth certificate I was ordering. Seemed a nice fellow then. Will do!

Thanks for the suggestion

Rhys

Do you know how old she was? My guess is that it stands for "Youth". The forms for electoral registers are issued in October, and the roll becomes valid in February and lasts for twelve months. Therefore people who were only 19 or 20 (16 or 17 now) would be included as they would reach 21 before the next register was published.

I am interested in the fact that you were able to access this information online. I wonder if any other councils have their electoral rolls online??

I would be interested to hear the reply to Andysmum as well. Do the online rolls have a similar time restriction put on them as the census returns do? If not, it would in theory be possible to find out anyone's address - or can you already do this through the electoral registers held, say in libraries? Haven't used this research method yet but would be interested in online research as it's not always possible to trek round the country to view them.

Pamela, the answer to your question is Yes, but as they are in street order it could take a very long time!!! However, after about 2004-ish people now have the option not to be included on the register that is available to all in libraries etc. The full roll is only available to certain groups of people, such as the Police.

I am more interested in the older ones with my ancestors on.

Y voters are people who weren't of voting age (at that time 21) when the register was issued but would become so during the year.
As said already, current electoral rolls in libraries don't have everyone on, but are still interesting. They are in street order within a polling district, so if you have an idea of the area of a town in which they lived that would cut down the number of pages you have to go through!
Maureen

I spoke to John and he suggested the very same thing as Maureen, though he was hazarding a guess.

By the way for those who are researching Birmingham and the Midlands, I was looking on this site.

http://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/

You do have to pay to view the actual documents but its free to search and you could probably get the information without the documents, but still the documents cost pence to view.

Rhys

I posted this website information on Records Office Board on 6th February....it might help somebody.

Useful website:

www.midlandshistoricaldata.org


Contains some Birmingham Electoral Rolls which are searchable by name, address or both.

EDIT: This site features information from the old counties of
Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire (including Birmingham) and Worcestershire.

Also has some Regimental Histories