Bagshaw's 1846 Trade Directory of Derbyshire

REPTON & GRESLEY HUNDRED (Full Transcript) "This hundred forms the south extremity of the county, and is bounded on the north and west by the river Trent, on the south and east by Leicestershire, having at the south-east extremity a considerable portion detached and completely surrounded by Leicestershire, where No Man’s Heath, in the chapelry of Chilcote, connects the four counties of Leicester, Derby, Stafford and Warwick. It contains 55,750 statute acres, generally a rich red loamy soil, considered the finest agricultural district in the county. In 1831 the population was 18,544. In 1841 it contained 4,180 inhabited houses, 159 uninhabited houses, and 7 houses building ; with a population of 20,574 souls, of whom 10,114 were males, and 10,432 females."

The following links will take you to transcripts for individual parishes within the Repton & Gresley Hundred:
Appleby Boundary Bretby Burton-upon-Trent Calke Caldwell Castle Gresley Catton Chellaston Chilcote Church Gresley Coton-in-the-Elms Croxall Daniel Hay Derby Hills Donisthorpe Drakelow Edingale Foremark Hartshorn Ingleby King's Newton Linton Lullington Measham Melbourne Midway Milton Newhall Newton Solney Normanton Oakley Oakthorpe Osmaston Packington Ravenstone Repton Rosliston Skadows Smisby Southwood Stanton Stanton-by-Bridge Stapenhill Stretton-en-le-Field Swadlincote Swarkeston Ticknall Walton-upon-Trent Willesley Winshill Wooden Box

If you wish to search the entire Hundred, try the surname index first:
Surname Index A-B C-E F-H I-M N-R S T-Z

If you find an entry of a member of your family in the Repton & Gresley transcript, please let me know. I will be very happy to provide a link within the on-line version of Bagshaw's to your web site or Email address. If you would like to provide some background or other information about an individual you have found in the data base, whether he is a relation of yours or not, this would be most gratefully received.
Email: Brett Payne

Introduction to this Transription

Bagshaw's Trade Directory of Derbyshire, published in 1846, was arguably the first comprehensive directory of the county. The content in its historical sections drew heavily from Glover's History & Gazetteer of Derbyshire, published in 1833, which in turn had used material from earlier authors. Previous directories such as Pigot's 1835 covered only the larger parishes and villages, and did not include much historical or descriptive information. It is even more valuable due to the fact that the only the first part of Glover's History, covering places from "A" to "Derby" was ever published. Although the documents amassed by Glover in preparation for the writing of the final volume have survived - they are in the collection of the County Records Office at Matlock - Bagshaw's contains much of the data in an easily accessible format. Nor did Glover's include any trade directories, which are probably the most valuable part of Bagshaw's.

Please note that it was largely Gentry, Clergy, Tradespeople and Farmers who were included in Nineteenth Century Trade Directories. It was only in the early twentieth century, with the advent of telephones, that the general population were included in directories. It is important therefore that Trade Directories not be regarded as alternatives to census returns. Do not be disappointed if your particular ancestor was not included - the vast majority of the population wasn't!

My family has a rather dilapidated copy of Bagshaw's which was passed down from my gg-grandfather, Henry Payne (1842-1907). This directory is not one which has been reproduced on microfiche by the Derbyshire Family History Society, or, as far as I am aware, in facsimile form by anyone else, as has Pigot's 1835. Due to the response I have received offering look-ups from it on the Derbyshire Mailing List, it appears not to be widely available, and I decided that it was a suitable candidate for transcription and indexing.

I have transcribed all of the directory entries from the section of Bagshaw's dealing with the Repton & Gresley Hundred i.e. roughly the area to the south of the River Trent, in South Derbyshire, and those from Derby Borough. The entries have then been indexed alphabetically by surname. There may well be mistakes, although I have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible. If you do spot an obvious transcription error, please let me know, and I'll rectify it as soon as possible.

"The Project"

The idea of providing this data base of names, occupations and locations arose as a result of the interest shown in my offers to do look-ups on the Derbyshire Mailing List, and was originally just that, a means for anyone with internet access to look for their family members. However, rather than have merely a list of people, occupations and places, I thought it might be a good idea to indicate which of the people included on the list were members of my extended family in South Derbyshire.

Since my interest stretches much further, including the detailed history of the lives these ancestors and distant cousins, as well the local history of the area, I hope to provide links to pages containing details of other research that I have done. Many other individuals, although not yet directly related to me, play parts in the stories which I have unravelled around my relatives lives, and where I can, I have tried to follow up any leads in the story.

It is hoped that others who find relations in this data base will also some provide feed back. I would be happy to include further information about individuals if it is provided. I can also provide a link from an entry in the data base to either your Email address or your web site.

Links in the next few pages, therefore, will eventually lead to a variety of contacts and web-based data, both on this and, in the future, I hope, other web-sites.