Teachers' Registration Council Registers 1914-1948

The amount of information listed varies, but Teachers' Registration Council Registers usually include the following information about your ancestor:

• Teacher's name (and for married women teachers often their maiden name as well)
• Date of registration
• Register number
• (Professional) address
• Attainments
• Training in teaching
• Experience

When registration started, many people, of course, had been teaching for some time. So the date of registration, particularly for teachers who registered in the early years (i.e., from 1914) was often much later than the date when they started teaching. The records include teachers who had begun their careers from the 1870s onwards.

Address

This is generally that of the latest institution where the person was teaching, but quite often is the home address, when the word 'professional' will be deleted. In the latter case it is likely that the teacher was retired, and this is usually confirmed from the experience section, where the last position shown will have a termination date, as here: '1899–1932'.

Attainments

This section may contain information on certificates, degrees, etc, which need not be directly related to teaching.

Training in teaching

This section will identify the institution where the person received formal teacher training.

Experience

This section is particularly valuable because it includes the establishments and places where they taught. Some teachers taught all over the country, and you can trace their movements over long periods. Though most registrants were from England and Wales, there were many from Scotland, India and elsewhere.

The original records Registration only started in 1914; however, since people who were already teaching registered, the records cover teachers who started their careers from the 1870s on. The original registration records are loose sheets, one per teacher, held as two alphabetic series in loose-leaf binders. The first series of 149 volumes covers teachers who were still registered in 1947, while the second series, of 11 volumes, contains the records of teachers who were deceased.

Missing records Unfortunately the first volume of each series has been lost or destroyed, so that about 1.5% of the total number of records is missing. The first extant volume of the first series starts with the surname Alefounder, and the volume covering names Aaron to Aleflower is missing. The first extant volume of the 'deceased' series contains surnames from Boait, so we can assume that in this series all the records for surnames preceding this one alphabetically are missing. In total, essentially all names starting A... to ALD... will be missing plus about 7% of names starting with ALE... to BL... The digitised images do not distinguish between the two series, though you can identify records from the 'deceased' series for they will contain a note that the person has died.

'Died' notes on the records The records for deceased teachers normally contain a small handwritten box saying 'DIED', with in most cases some further information. Including, for example, 'Vide returned voting card' (i.e., relating to the Teachers Registration Council), 'Press cutting', 'Vide letter from H.M.'. Sometimes a date might be given, e.g., 'Sept 1919'. Often there is no information other than that the person has died, however, and it can be impossible to get a fix on when the death occurred.