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 and Data Protection. 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.
The electoral registers can be consulted under supervision in the Social Sciences Reading room only. For help with ordering please consult our guide:
