Cheshire Electoral Registers

Each record contains both an image and a transcript of the original electoral register. The amount of information varies but the registers can generally tell you the following about your ancestor:

• Name or Title

• Address where registered

• Nature of their qualification to vote

• Previous registered address

Electoral registers were introduced in the Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act). Previously eligibility to vote had been recorded in the land tax returns. The Act also allowed more people to vote but still stopped far short of universal suffrage.

Voting was open to men over the age of 21 who owned or leased a minimum amount of land. In a country constituency like Cheshire this meant 40-shilling freeholders, owners of land in copyhold worth £10, holders of long term leases (more than 60 years) on land worth £10 or medium term leases (20 to 60 years) on land worth £50.

The Cheshire Electoral Registers hold the details of 3,784,694 voters.

Cheshire is situated in the North West of England. On the west it borders Flintshire and Wrexham in Wales with Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east and Shropshire and Staffordshire to the south.

Copyright images reproduced by courtesy of the Cheshire Archives and Local Studies Service, Chester, England.

The Cheshire Archives and Local Studies Service gives no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.

Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to Cheshire Archives and Local Studies Service, Cheshire Record Office, Duke Street, Chester CH1 1RL. Infringement of the above condition may result in legal action.