A number of commercial directories exist for Lincolnshire for the 1700's and 1800's. While valuable, they have limitations. They are Trade Directories, normally organized by the major cities and market towns, and include only the name of the head of household. People "subscribed" to be included in these, so the landed gentry, clergy, shop owner and tradesman are likely listed, but not ag. labs, shepherds, grocers or employees. The most commonly known directories are White's, Pigot's, Kelly's and the Post Office Directory. The early directories also tend to group smaller villages together with the nearest main town/village. Each town's entry will normally include:
- A town history, location and current status & facilities, postal services, coaches, trains, schools, churches, etc.
- The dates of annual fairs and the day of the week for "market day".
- A list of principal Trades, and within each classification, the tradesmen.
Whites's and Pigot's directories can be found for the early 1800's. Kelly's Directories begin in the latter part of the 1800's.
- Rod Neep has reproductions of some Directories on CD, available for purchase at his Archived CD Books site. For example:
- 0090 - Lincolnshire 1835 Pigot's Directory
- 0011 - Lincolnshire 1841 Pigot's Directory
- 0091 - Lincolnshire 1876 Kelly's Directory (2 CD set)
- 0120 - Lincolnshire 1913 Kelly's Directory (2 CD set)
- 0033 - Nottinghamshire 1869 Morris & Co. Directory with Grantham, Chesterfield and Gainsborough.
Another excellent source is the Lincolnshire Library's list of Directories.
For a searchable online Directory, try Historical Directories.
Also, for specific locations, try Dead Family Directories.
