Electoral registers are lists of names of people entitled to vote, arranged by address. Our guide explains what information you can expect to find, how you can use the registers, and gives an overview of the Library's collections.
News: The pre-1984 registers are available again for ordering to the Social Sciences Reading Room on a pilot basis. Please ask at the reference enquiry desk for more information.
The British Library has the national collection of electoral registers from 1832 to the present day. The collection is complete from 1947 onwards, but patchy before World War 2.
Access to electoral registers is subject to restriction for 10 years after publication, to comply with legislation on Representation of the People, Data Protection and Human Rights. The registers are arranged by polling district within constituency. There is no alphabetical list of voters. The collection is therefore primarily used for historical and genealogical research, rather than for tracing living people.
- Guide to electoral registers in the British Library (PDF format, 92KB)
The above guide to electoral registers provides detailed information about electoral registers and how you can use them. It explains their content and arrangement, how to identify the registers you need, how to find the British Library’s copies, and where else to try if the British Library does not have what you need.
