The difference between London Lives and other digitisation projects lies not so much in the choice of sources but in the research focus. Some 240,000 manuscript and printed pages from eight London archives have been digitised and these pages are all produced by institutions: the records of the Old Bailey, of charity associations and guilds and of London parish workhouses are all there, as expected. But the London Lives project makes it possible for historians to switch the research focus to individuals.
How to Search for 18th-century Londoners
In monosyllabic utterances or more detailed descriptions records tell stories or lead to other stories. Elizabeth Thickbroome was only 12 when she was admitted to St Martin’s Workhouse in November 1791. Reason of entry was unknown. She was discharged one month later “upon likeing to Mrs Spencer”. Martha Burges was maid and servant to the steward of Bridewell Royal Hospital when she was struck with a pail at the side of her head by John Broom, hospital apprentice. The court ordered the hospital to pay the expense of her treatment. George Skarrett was brought to the courthouse accused of stealing a silver pint mug. He was sentenced to transportation.
Anyone can use the London Lives search facilities without registration but registration allows for more comprehensive searches. “Research Users” have more advanced functions available to them. To create biographies of 18th-century Londoners, first choose the name you are interested in and type it in the “Person Name Search”. “Roles” can be assigned to the name to make the search more specific. For example, when searching for an individual in parish workhouse records assign the “role” pauper – or the “role” defendant when searching in courthouse proceedings – or a specific profession.
The results of the search can be saved in a “Workspace” and “Sets” can be created containing groups of name instances. To explore relationships and connections between individuals with different “roles” (for example “paupers” with “defendants”) the researcher can use Automated Matching. This function can be used to compare tagged names from a specific archive to tagged names from a different archive within a certain time period. Automated Matching is available by application to advanced researchers only.
Connected Histories
London Lives is part of the Connected Histories search engine which aims at bringing together a wide range of digitised historical resources pertaining to early modern and 19th-century Britain. Connected Histories was launched to great acclaim on April 5, 2011. It “provides the next stage in meeting historians’ needs by addressing the requirement to access historical resources in a single, consistent way; and in a manner that moves beyond simple keyword searching to a forensic and semantically-driven approach" (Institute of Historical Research Digital). London Lives is a new digitised historical resource with exciting possibilities for the researcher of British history.
Lito Apostolakou - Lito is a historian with an interest in digital archives and online historical resources. She is the author of blog Palimpsest.
