Electoral registers and poll books
- Introduction
- Key developments in voting rights
- Poll books
- Electoral registers
- Absent voters lists
- Guide to abbreviations and further reading
Guide to abbreviations and further reading
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| † | Not entitled to vote in local (later, metropolitan borough, urban district, or parish) elections |
| †† | Not entitled to vote in rural district elections |
| date given | Entitled to vote from that date |
| a |
Absent voter (serving in the armed forces) |
| BP(Bw) |
Business premises qualification (women) |
| D (Dw) | Spouse’s occupation qualification |
| E | Not entitled to vote in local or parliamentary elections |
| F | Not entitled to vote in local elections |
| G | Citizen of Europe, entitled to vote in local elections only |
| HO | Husband’s occupational qualification |
| J | Eligible for jury service |
| JS | Special juror (as defined by the Jurors’ Act 1870 i.e. esquire or above, bankers, merchants, and anyone owning property of more than a certain value) |
| K | Citizen of Europe, entitled to vote in local and European elections only |
| L | Not entitled to vote in parliamentary elections |
| M | Merchant seamen |
| N | To be included in the next register as a voter |
| NM | Naval or military voter |
| O (Ow) | Occupational qualification (women) |
| R (Rw) | Residential qualification (women) |
| S | Service (military) voter |
| U | Citizen of Europe, entitled to vote in European elections only |
| X | Not entitled to vote in Parliamentary elections |
| Y | Entitled to vote in the following year |
House successive = If a voter moved during the electoral year, their right to vote could be carried forward to the next address. Noted in the next electoral register as ‘house successive’ and previous address supplied.
Further reading
- M Herber, Ancestral Trails, includes chapter on elections (Sutton Publishing Limited in association with the Society of Genealogists, 2005), ISBN 0 7509 4198 7
- J Gibson, Electoral registers 1832-1948, and burgess rolls: a directory to holdings in Great Britain (The Family History Partnership, 2008) ISBN 978 1 906280 08 6