Business Directories were the fore-runner for the Yellow Pages of today. The Bennetts Business Directory of Cambridgeshire covers ten main towns: Cambridge, Chatteris, Ely, Littleport, March, Newmarket (Suffolk), Royston (Herts), Thorney, Whittlesea (Whittlesey) and Wisbech.
Produced as a trade directory, these books would have originally been bought by businesses and travelling salesmen, who needed to know contact information for businesses within a town or area. Bennett & Co were based at Chapel Works, Granville Street, Birmingham and produced business directories for several counties in the UK from 1888-1930.
Although trade directories, these books often also included lists of prominent local residents, potentially being the source of specific address information of ancestors between the censuses, as well as after census of 1911.
Produced as a trade directory, these books would have originally been bought by businesses and travelling salesmen, who needed to know contact information for businesses within a town or area. Bennett & Co were based at Chapel Works, Granville Street, Birmingham and produced business directories for several counties in the UK from 1888-1930.
Although trade directories, these books often also included lists of prominent local residents, potentially being the source of specific address information of ancestors between the censuses, as well as after census of 1911.
While it is possible to find and buy an original copy, this would be very expensive and unsearchable. It's therefore great that directories such as this have been scanned in and are sold as a searchable CD containing either page images, or PDF files. This also makes your entire genealogical book collection truly portable and minimalistic!
As a rule of thumb, scanned images of a book are unsearchable, you'd have to 'flick through' each page to see what's on it. As a rule of thumb, a PDF copy is most likely to be searchable. As these scans and CDs are produced by individuals/small companies then it's difficult to give a simple answer.
As a rule of thumb, scanned images of a book are unsearchable, you'd have to 'flick through' each page to see what's on it. As a rule of thumb, a PDF copy is most likely to be searchable. As these scans and CDs are produced by individuals/small companies then it's difficult to give a simple answer.
The Bennetts Business Directory of Cambridgeshire lists all the local traders for each town (e.g. bakers, dairymen, butchers, schoolteachers, tobacconists, undertakers, grocers etc)
There is also a list of all the pubs, hotels, banks and manufacturers - and display advertising for local businesses.
You can usually find a copy of this Cambridgeshire Directory for sale on ebay as a CD for under £5, as well as from online family history and genealogy shops.
Image P159852
Image P159852
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