Search for your ancestors in these electoral registers covering the Borough of Swansea from 1839 to 1925.
Search for your ancestors in these electoral registers covering the Borough of Swansea from 1839 to 1925.
This record set contains both parliamentary and local voters’ lists (electoral registers and burgess rolls) for the Borough of Swansea between 1839 and 1925.
The following information may be found in these records:
• Name of each individual entitled to vote
• Address – sometimes two different addresses are given, one being the actual place of abode of the person, and the other the property for which they are entitled to cast a vote
• Nature of qualification to vote
• Period during which they were entitled to vote
You will need to view the images to find full particulars, as the index is meant only as a basic finding aid enabling you to locate persons of interest.
Abbreviations are commonly used in the registers in respect of the different qualifications to vote, including the following:
• BP: business premises
• HO: against female voters, this indicates a woman’s qualification to vote through her husband's occupation (see below)
• NM: armed forces (naval or military) voter
• O: occupation qualification
• R: residence qualification
Note that “occupation” does not mean occupation in the usual sense of employment, trade or profession. Rather, in this context it means the occupation or occupying of a property. After the 1884 Representation of the People Act, for example, the occupation franchise included “£10 occupiers”, i.e. persons resident whether as owner or tenant of a property valued at £10 or more per annum. Qualification by occupation of property greatly extended the franchise.