Resources

In researching the careers of MPs who sat in the Commons between 1832 and 1868, and the electoral histories of the constituencies they represented, we make extensive use of online resources. On this page we have compiled a list of the some of the best websites we use that are free to access. This list is by no means exhaustive and will be frequently updated, so if you know of a resource we should feature, please leave us a comment below or contact us via our Twitter feed (@TheVictCommons).

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

History of Parliament Online http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/ The main History of Parliament site, providing access to all the material published to date, including the House of Commons, 1820-32 volumes. For access to the 1832-68 volumes (in preparation) click here.

Australian Dictionary of Biography adb.anu.edu.au/

Canadian Dictionary of Biography http://www.biographi.ca/index-e.html

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography https://www.oxforddnb.com/ [often free to access through local libraries]

New Zealand Dictionary of Biography http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies

Welsh Biography online http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/index.html

Dod’s parliamentary companion (for 1847, 1852, 1854-9) http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548527

19TH-CENTURY PRIMARY SOURCES: PARLIAMENTARY

Acts of Parliament

For an overview of available resources, see http://statutes.org.uk/site/collections/british-and-irish/
To access the full text of Acts of Parliament by year, see http://statutes.org.uk/site/collections/british-and-irish/chronological/
For chronological tables of Local Acts http://www.legislation.gov.uk/changes/chron-tables/local
For chronological tables of Private and Personal Acts http://www.legislation.gov.uk/changes/chron-tables/private

Commons Journals online For Commons Journals from 1835, see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmjournal.htm

Details of how to access Commons Journals up to 1834 can be found here: https://anterotesis.com/wordpress/historical-resources/journals-of-the-houses-of-parliament/

Hansard There are several ways to access Hansard online. For the 1832-68 period there are four volumes of Hansard which are missing from these online versions (vols. 43 (May-July 1838), 74 (Apr.-May 1844), 106 (June-July 1849) and 112 (June-July 1850).

Hansard https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/index.html (This replicates the data previously provided by the Hansard Millbank site, although not all of the search functions work as they used to)
Hansard (via parliament.uk) https://hansard.parliament.uk/ (Parliament’s website provides access to historic and current Hansard debates)
Hansard at Huddersfield https://hansard.hud.ac.uk/site/index.php (This has numerous search functions & visualisations; very useful for tracking the use of particular words and concepts in Parliament)

The Parliamentary Archives has also produced a useful guide to online resources (some free and some via subscription) on parliamentary history: https://archives.parliament.uk/online-resources/

The UK Parliamentary Papers (Proquest) are available via this subscription site: https://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers

19TH-CENTURY PRIMARY SOURCES: OTHER

19th-century British pamphlets http://www.britishpamphlets.org.uk/

Army Lists https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/88735803

British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/

Gentleman’s Magazine http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000542092

Haydn’s Book of Dignities https://archive.org/details/bookofdignitiesc00haydrich/page/n0

London Gazette http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/

Proceedings of the Old Bailey http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/

Queen Victoria’s Journals ‎http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org

The Victoria Research Web provides many useful resources for researchers on 19th century British History, including this guide to 19th century periodicals available on open access. https://www.victorianresearch.org/openaccessperiodicals.html

Welsh Newspapers Online http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/home

HISTORICAL DATABASES

Historical Directories http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4

Legacies of British Slave-Ownership http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/

Leigh Rayment’s Peerage http://www.leighrayment.com/

Church of England Clergy http://ccedb.cch.kcl.ac.uk/index.html

Sandhurst Collection http://archive.sandhurstcollection.co.uk/

Royal Navy Officers http://www.pdavis.nl/SeaOfficers.php

Cambridge University Alumni Database http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/Documents/acad/2018/search-2018.html

Oxford University Alumni (digitised version of printed volumes) http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp58284

Records of Inns of Court