Source Information West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Electoral Rolls. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, England.

About West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962

This database contains yearly registers of names and residences of people in West Yorkshire who were eligible to vote in elections. These year-by-year registers can help place your ancestors in a particular place and may also reveal a bit about property they owned.

Historical Background Electoral registers are lists of individuals who are eligible to vote during the time a register is in force (usually one year). Registration for voters in England has been required since 1832, and registers were typically published annually. Restrictive property requirements denied the vote to much of the population for years, though these were eased somewhat in 1867 and 1884 through the Second and Third Reform Acts. There were also requirements when it came to local elections that varied from borough to borough (e.g., residency), and voters had to petition to be added to the electoral registers.

Property restrictions were finally removed for men in 1918, when most males age 21 and older were allowed to vote. The franchise was extended to some women over the age of 30 in 1918, but it was not until 1928 that the voting age was made 21 for both men and women. Thus, the number of names listed in the registers increases with the expansion of suffrage in England.

Searching the Registers Electoral registers typically provide a name and place of abode, and older registers may include a description of property and qualifications to vote. Registers were compiled at a local level, with names appearing alphabetically within wards/districts. Many of the registers in this database have been indexed electronically, which allows you to search them by name, but if you’re searching for a somewhat common name it will be helpful to know the area where your ancestor lived to narrow your results. The street address can be searched in the Location field.

Note: This index was created using text recognition software. Records were not transcribed.