The Westminster Historical Database (WHD)

The hustings outside St Paul's Covent Garden at an election, from The Microcosm of London Thomas Rowlandson, The hustings outside St Paul's Covent Garden at an election, from The Microcosm of London (1808). © London Lives.

Introduction

This database includes abstracted details of the contents of both Poll Books and Rate Books for Westminster, for the period between 1749 and 1820. It comprises 143,840 records, reflecting either the voting behaviour or taxation listings for individual householders in each of twelve years, and incorporates information about the occupation and address of each individual. The database was created by Edmund Green, Charles Harvey and Penelope Corfield as part of a larger project to understand the evolution of political behaviour in Radical Westminster, and was completed in 1998. Copyright in this material remains with the original investigators. It is reproduced here by license, for non-commercial use only. For a comprehensive overview of the project, and a stand-alone version of the database that allows statistical manipulation and interrogation see:

Harvey, Charles; Green, Edmund and Corfield, Penelope. The Westminster Historical Database: Voters, Social Stucutre and Electroal Behaviour Bristol Academic Press, 1998. ISNB 0 9513762 5 x (book); 0 9513762 6 8 (CD-Rom).

Alternatively, the full dataset and documentation are available from the UK Data Archive.

Poll Books

Prior to the introduction of the secret ballot in 1872, Parliamentary elections (and many other elections) generated lists of voters with a record of the votes cast. In Westminster the franchise was in effect limited to men who paid rates in support of the poor. Voter's names and the details of who they cast their votes for were recorded. Because Westminster returned two MPs, every voter cast two votes, allowing each voter to split their support between candidates or to cast one vote for a single candidate (this was called 'plumping'). Beyond this Poll Books could contain information about the address and occupation of the voter, his religious status and the basis for his qualification to vote. Normally kept at the public hustings, the Poll Book was cross-checked against the relevant Rate Book to confirm the status of each individual voter.

Elections

The Parliamentary elections for which the poll data are included in this database are:

  • May 1749 - By-Election – Granville Leveson Gower; George Vandeput.
  • October 1774 – General Election - Hugh Percy; Thomas Pelham Clinton; Hervey Redmond Mountmorres; Charles Stanhope Mahon; Humphrey Cotes.
  • October 1780 - General Election - George Brydges Rodney; Charles James Fox; Thomas Pelham Clinton.
  • May 1784 – General Election – Samuel Hood; Charles James Fox; Cecil Wray.
  • August 1788 – By-Election – John Townshend; Samuel Hood.
  • July 1790 – General Election – Charles James Fox; Samuel Hood; John Horne Tooke.
  • June 1796 – General Election – Charles James Fox; Alan Gardner; John Horne Tooke.
  • July 1802 – General Election – Charles James Fox; Alan Gardner; John Graham.
  • November 1806 – General Election – Samuel Hood; Richard Brinsley Sheridan; James Paull.
  • May 1807 – General Election – Francis Burdett; Thomas Cochrane; Richard Brinsley Sheridan; John Elliott; James Paull.
  • July 1818 – General Election – Samuel Romilly; Francis Burdett; Murray Maxwell; Henry Hunt; Douglas James William Kinnaird; John Cartwright.
  • March 1819 – By-Election – George Lamb; John Cam Hobhouse; John Cartwright.
  • July 1820 – General Election – Francis Burdett; John Cam Hobhouse; George Lamb.

Names given in bold are of the successful candidates.

Occupations

The occupations recorded in the Poll Books have been standardised to 1,612 separate named occupations. The large number of very precise occupations recorded reflects both the economic complexity of Westminster in the eighteenth century and the variety of naming conventions available. In the original database these occupations were coded to reflect a modified Booth-Armstrong schema to facilitate analysis on the basis of social class and economic sectors. The relevant occupation names have been expanded to a standardised form for display on this website. Users interested in analysing this occupational data in aggregate should refer to the published database.

Rate Books

A blind beggar, Sir Cecil Wray, being led by his dog. This satire is a reference to Wray's lack of success in contesting the Westminster constituency at the 1784 general election. Thomas Rowlandson, The Westminster Mendicant, 1784. ©Tim Hitchcock.

The Rate Books included in this series were selected to correspond with the surviving Poll Books. As a result they have only been transcribed for years in which an election was also held, and the transcriptions have eliminated references to both corporate bodies and households headed by a woman, on the grounds that this information did not relate to a recorded vote as neither corporations nor women had the franchise. For a description of how rates were calculated and collected see the Rates. Included in this data series are 56,430 names of individual male ratepayers, including their street of residence and the name of their parish. A rateable value – the notional annual rental value of the house – is also given to the nearest pound.

Rate book data included in this series reflects that collected in the following years:

1749, 1774, 1780, 1784, 1789, 1796, 1802, 1806 and 1818.

The Database

The Database of Poll Books is organised into six fields, with further information about the date of the relevant election in the results header. Fields which are blank in the original have been suppressed in the version displayed here. Where information is available for each possible field the record will include:

  • Forename
  • Surname
  • Occupation: A standardised occupational label.
  • Street Address: Normally a street name only.
  • Parish: Full parish name.
  • Vote: Normally one or two candidate's surnames only.

A typical entry looks like:

  • Forename: JOHN
  • Surname: LOMAS
  • Occupation: GENT
  • Street Address: BERWICK STREET
  • Parish: St James, Piccadilly
  • Vote: Mountmorre and Mahon

The Database of Rate Books is very similar, but is divided into five fields. Again, details of the date associated with a particular record can be found in the header. Fields which are blank in the original have been suppressed in the version displayed here. Where information is available for each possible field the record will include:

  • Forename
  • Surname
  • Street Address: Normally a street name only.
  • Parish: Full parish name.
  • Rateable Value in £s: A notional value reflecting the amount you could charge to rent a property for a year.

A typical entry looks like:

  • Forename: RICHARD
  • Surname: GEHOT
  • Street Address: SHERRARD ST
  • Parish: St James, Piccadilly
  • Rateable Value in £s: 22

Back to Top Introductory Reading

Using this Dataset in London Lives

Because the franchise was restricted to male householders, the data available through this particular collection is unlikely to overlap significantly with the names of either recipients of poor relief or the perpetrators of crime. The names of these voters, will, however, appear in large numbers amongst the parish records of St Clement Danes, generally as parish officers and rate payers. There will also be a substantial overlap with the jurymen who are listed in Westminster Coroners' Inquests (IC); and with names associated with the administrative records of Westminster and included in the relevant Sessions Papers (PS). Because residents of Westminster did not normally sit on the jury at the Old Bailey, there is little overlap with these jury lists, but as Westminster was in the jurisdiction of the Old Bailey, names from the Rate Books and Poll Books will appear frequently among the victims of crime and as witnesses in the Old Bailey Proceedings (OBP). Some residents of Westminster may have served as governors of St Thomas's Hospital; if they attended the meetings they will be listed in the Minutes of the Court of Governors (MG).

The names of Westminster voters and rate payers will also appear in several other additional datasets included in London Lives. In particular, they are likely to appear in the abstracts of Wills Proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC); the Fire Insurance Policy Registers, 1777-1786 (FIR); Income Tax Payments, 1799-1803 (ITP); and the salary records of 'Clerks' of the East India Company, 1760-1820 (EIC). There is also likely to be a significant overlap with the householders listed in the London and Westminster Directory, 1774 (DIR).

Original Sources

The manuscripts upon which this dataset is based are held at either Westminster Archives Centre (all rating material); or else the London Metropolitan Archives.

Poll book data sources:

Anon., A copy of the poll for a citizen for the City and Liberty of Westminster (1749).

Anon., A correct copy of the poll, for electing two representatives in parliament, for the City and Liberty of Westminster (1774).

Westminster poll books (1780), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John WR/PP/1780/1-3; St Anne WR/PP/1780/4-5; Anon., Copy of the poll for the election of two citizens to serve in the present parliament for the City and Liberty of Westminster (1780).

Westminster poll books (1784), London Metropolitan Archives: St Anne, WR/PP/1784/1-2; St Clement and St Mary, WR/PP/1784/3-5; St George, WR/PP/1784/6-10; St James, WR/PP/1784/11, 13-15; St Margaret and St John, WR/PP/1784/16-20; St Martin, WR/PP/1784/21-25; St Paul and St Martin-le-Grand, WR/PP/1784/26-27.

Westminster poll books (1788), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John WR/PP/1788/1-3; St Paul and St Martin-le-Grand WR/PP/1788/4; St Anne WR/PP/1788/5; St James WR/PP/1788/8; St Martin WR/PP/1788/15-18; St Clement and St Mary WR/PP/1788/20-21; St George WR/PP/1788/23.

Westminster poll books (1790), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John WR/PP/1790/1; St Anne WR/PP/1790/4; St James WR/PP/1790/5, 7; St George WR/PP/1790/8-9; St Martin WR/PP/1790/10-11; St Clement and St Mary WR/PP/1790/12-13.

Westminster poll books (1796), London Metropolitan Archives: St James WR/PP/1796/3. MS poll for Westminster (1796), Guildhall Library, London: St Anne, St Martin, St Paul and St Martin-le-Grand; Westminster poll books (1796), City of Westminster Archives Centre: St Margaret and St John, E/3081A.

Westminster poll books (1802), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John, WR/PP/1802/1-2; St Paul and St Martin-le-Grand, WR/PP/1802/3; St Anne, WR/PP/1802/4; St James, WR/PP/1802/5-6; St George, WR/PP/1802/7-8; St Martin, WR/PP/1802/9-10; St Clement and St Mary, WR/PP/1802/11.

Westminster poll books (1806), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John WR/PP/1806/1, 3-5; St Anne, WR/PP/1806/9-10; St James WR/PP/1806/11-13, 15; St George WR/PP/1806/21; St Martin WR/PP/1806/22; St Clement and St Mary WR/PP/1806/27-29.

Anon., The poll book, for electing two representatives in parliament for the City and Liberty of Westminster (1818).

Westminster poll books (1819), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John WR/PP/1819/1-8; St Anne, St Paul and St Martin-le-Grand WR/PP/1819/11-15; St James WR/PP/1819/16-19; St George WR/PP/1819/25-32; St Martin WR/PP/1819/33-42; St Clement and St Mary WR/PP/1819/43-48.

Westminster poll books (1820), London Metropolitan Archives: St Margaret and St John WR/PP/1820/1-8; St Anne, St Paul and St Martin-le-Grand WR/PP/1820/9-14; St James WR/PP/1820/15-21; St George WR/PP/1820/22-23, 26-29; St Martin WR/PP/1820/31-33; St Clement and St Mary WR/PP/1820/35-41.

The poll book data represent a complete transcription of extant Westminster Poll Books for the years between 1749 and 1820, omitting date of polling and swearing of oaths, indications 'senior' and 'junior', and house numbers.

Rate book data sources:

Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward (1749), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/189; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward (1749), A/190.

Watch rate, St Anne King Square ward (1774), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/1526; Watch rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward (1774), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/1527; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1774), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/471; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1774), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/472; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1774), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/473.

Watch rate, St Anne King Square ward (1780), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/1549; Watch rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward (1780), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/1550; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1780), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/492; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1780), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/493; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1780), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/494.

Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward east (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/326; Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward west (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/327; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward east (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/328; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward west (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/329.

Poor rate, St Clement (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, B/203; Poor and highway rate, St George Conduit Street, Dover Street and Out wards (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/361; Poor and highway rate, St George Grosvenor Street and Brook Street wards (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/380; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/504; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/505; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/506; Poor rate, St James (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, D/105; Poor rate, St Martin (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, F/584; Poor rate, St Mary (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, G/190; Poor rate, St Paul (1784), City of Westminster Archives Centre, H/112.

Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward east (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/394; Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward west (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/395; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward east (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/396; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward west (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/397; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/527; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/328; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/329.

Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1796), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/548; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1796), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/549; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1796), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/550.

Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward west (1802), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/522; Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward east (1802), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/523; Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward west (1802-3), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/525; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward east (1802-3), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/526; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1802), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/566; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1802), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/567; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1802), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/568.

Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward east (1804), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/550; Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward west (1804), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/551; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward east (1804), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/552; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward west (1804), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/553; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1806), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/578; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1806), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/579; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1806), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/580.

Watch rate, St Anne King Square ward (1818), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/1696; Watch rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward (1818), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/1697; Poor rate, St Clement (1818), City of Westminster Archives Centre, B/241; Poor, watch and paving rate, St George Conduit Street ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/420; Poor, watch and paving rate, St George Out ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/469; Poor, watch and paving rate, St George Grosvenor Street ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/519; Poor, watch and paving rate, St George Dover Street ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/566; Poor, watch and paving rate, St George Brook Street ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/614; Poor, watch and paving rate, St George Curzon Street ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, C/636; Poor rate, St James (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, D/139; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/623; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/624; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/625; Poor rate, St Martin (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, F/652; Poor rate, St Mary (1819), City of Westminster Archives Centre, G/304; Poor rate, St Paul (1818), City of Westminster Archives Centre, H/168.

The rate book data represent a complete transcription of selected Westminster Rate Books for the years between 1749 and 1820, omitting records relating to corporations and identifiable women.

Introductory Reading

  • Brewer, John. Party Ideology and Popular Politics at the Accession of George III. Cambridge, 1976.
  • Corfield, P. J., Harvey, C. and Green, E. M. Westminster Man: Charles James Fox and his Electorate, 1780-1806. Parliamentary History, 20 (2001), pp. 157-85.
  • Harvey, Charles, Green, Edmund and Corfield, Penelope. The Westminster Historical Database: Voters, Social Structure and Electoral Behaviour. Bristol, 1998.
  • Harvey, Charles, Green, Edmund and Corfield, Penelope. Continuity, Change, and Specialization within Metropolitan London: The Economy of Westminster, 1750-1820. The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Aug., 1999), pp. 469-493.
  • O’Gorman, Frank. Voters, Patrons and Parties: the Unreformed Electoral System of Hanoverian England, 1734-1832. Oxford, 1989.
  • Rogers, Nicholas. Whigs and Cities: Popular Politics in the Age of Walpole and Pitt. Oxford, 1989.

Online Resources

For further reading on this subject see the London Lives Bibliography.