Discover how to research the history of your house, from who lived in it to when it was built.
How to Find Out Who Lived in My House?
Use our guide to help you discover who has lived in or owned your home before you using many helpful resources.
On this page is a list of resources and how to use them to help you trace previous occupants of your house.
Electoral Registers
The Electoral Register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections and were compiled annually from 1832. Searching these can help you find the names of people who lived at your address previously.
Women don't appear on the register until 1918, and the voting age wasn't lowered to 18 until 1969, so the earlier registers may only be of limited use.
Copies of electoral registers can usually be found at local record offices or local studies libraries.
The National Archives have collected a list of historical versions of the electoral register that you can search online.
Title Deeds
The title deeds to your home should include:
- Names of vendors and sellers
- A description of the property
- Amounts of money used in the transfer of ownership
Title deeds can help tracer the owners of the house, and the land on which the house was built.
These deeds may be held by the solicitor, bank, or building society involved in buying and selling your house. The Land Registry provides further information for many properties for a fee.
Census Records
The census has been conducted every 10 years across the country since 1801, although the first 3 returns recorded only numbers of people rather than individual names.
Census returns can give a wealth of information on the occupants of a house at a particular time, including names, ages, sex, marital status, birth locations, relationship to the head of the household, and occupation.
Census returns for the years 1841 to 1921 can be found online through the National Archives. Copies are generally available on microfilm or microfiche at local record offices.
Trade Directories
Trade directories can provide detailed information about the development of streets and businesses within your area. They can also help trace individuals and businesses to a certain property.
Local record offices and public libraries generally hold copies of trade directories published from the late 18th century.
Share your discoveries
Are you researching the history of a listed building?
Every snapshot and story you discover is an important piece of the picture. The more pieces of the picture we have, the better we can protect what makes these places special.
Research Your Home's History
-
How to Find Out About Your Home's History
This page will help know what steps to take when researching the history of your home.
-
Trace Your Home's Architectural History
You can trace the architectural history of your house through old maps, photographs and written records.
-
Further Resources
You will find a list of useful websites and online information to help you in your research, along with some suggestions of further reading.
