Records of the Professions

If you find out that your ancestor worked in one of the professions there are various places you can look for sources.

Professional people are likely to have been educated at university. Details of people who attended Oxford and Cambridge universities can be found in either the Alumni Oxonienses or Alumni Cantabrigienses. Similar publications exist for Dublin and the ancient Scottish universities. The information given is the name of the father, his rank and occupation, where the student lived, his college and some details of his later career. You will find copies at some large reference libraries and record offices.

The majority of local professional people would have had their details included in trade directories either in the list of private residents, or in the commercial section under the name of their profession, or both.

A page from the Wolverhampton Directory 1849

Clergy

If your ancestor was a Church of England clergyman he was probably educated at Oxford or Cambridge and so will appear in the Alumni. Other publications listing clergymen includes
Crockford's Clerical Directory which dates from 1848 and may be found in the reference section of large libraries or the earlier Clergy lists which are kept in diocesan record offices.

Details of Independent or Congregational clergy can be found at Dr William's Library and information on Methodist clergy is held at the John Rylands Library. Contact details for these libraries can be found on the HMC web site. You can find information about Baptist clergy since 1860 in The Baptist Handbook published by the Baptist Union.

The Catholic Directory of England and Wales has been published annually since 1838 and lists Roman Catholic clergy. Local clergy will have been frequently mentioned in newspapers and references will also be found in church histories or church records.

Medicine

Medical directories have been published since 1847 and a medical register was set up in 1849. These may be available in large reference libraries. Doctors may have been members of the Society of Apothecaries or the Barber Surgeon's Company. These records are kept at the Guildhall library.

We have administrative records for some local hospitals including the Royal Hospital, Women's Hospital, and the Wolverhampton and Midland Counties Eye Infirmary. However, there are few records relating to individuals other than the wages books for nurses at the Queen Victoria Nursing Institute in Wolverhampton between 1917 and 1944.

The Law

The Public Record Office holds Law Lists from 1799-1976 containing information about solicitors and attorneys. Barristers were members of one of the four Inns of Court who keep their own records, some of which have been published. Those lawyers who were educated at Oxford or Cambridge will also be listed in the Alumni Oxonienses or Alumni Cantabrigienses.

Teachers

Information about teachers is not recorded in any one place but may be found locally. Head teachers were generally listed in
trade directories. The Wolverhampton Red Books 1892-1961 are the most useful local source. More detailed information about teaching staff can often be found in school log books which are described in the section on education records.

Information about staff from the St Peter and Paul School logbook, 1898.