Genealogy in London

Else Churchill from the Society of Genealogists has prepared a summary of a 20 April meeting of invited representatives of the London area genealogy community to update the family history community on issues affecting the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), Here are highlights.

CUTS


LMA will close on Fridays and will be open only one Saturday a month. This will take place from November. Longer opening hours on Wednesdays, meaning late night opening to 7.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, are being added. 

DIGITISATION

Many C of E parish registers, Board of Guardian Records, School and Nonconformist registers from the LMA collection are now online through the partnership with Ancestry.co.uk. The Guildhall Library and LMA Collections of Poll Books and the Overseas Returns are in progress. London wills, numbering near 400,000, are coming. Parish confirmations, Middlesex transported convict records, Surrey Marriage Bonds and Allegations, London Land Tax and London Poll books will be included. 


City livery company records deposited the Guildhall Library are being negotiated. 


2012 will see the inclusion of the City and Tower Hamlets Cemetery records and some Session Records.

PUBLIC ROOMS

A service lift at LAN is to be refurbished between November and December which will affect the production
of records. Avoid making a visit in this period and give lots of notice using the advanced ordering facility on the online catalogue if you do plan a visit.