MAIN TABLE
Subject ID
This is the unique identifying number for each individual in the database.
It should be used in any queries to the editor.
Surname/given names
Where different names are used in different official documents, these are
shown in brackets. Round brackets are used for different spellings or
renditions of essentially the same name, for example Mark (Mordecai)
Jacob (Jacobs). Square brackets are used for a complete name change,
for example Julia Moses [Beddington].
Women using a married surname in 1851 are
listed by that surname, not their maiden surname. Wherever available the
maiden surname can be deduced from the father’s surname (shown further
down in the table).
Composite Sephardi names (like Gomes Da
Costa or Nunes Martines) have been standardised in line with
the most common renditions in 19th century censuses etc. For example
Gomes da Costa, will be listed by surname as Da Costa (with
the Gomes element tacked on at the end of the given name) and
Nunes Martines as surname Martin - or Martin (Martines)
- with the Nunes element tacked on the end of the given name. An
exhaustive listing of how different names are treated cannot be offered
here: if searching by one name (for example Silva) does not
produce a result, try adding another element of the name (for example
Mendes Da Silva).
Year of birth
comes wherever possible from birth registration documents, but very often
the best available source is censuses. In these cases, it represents a best
judgment on the available data. When drawn from censuses, the year of birth
is simply the census date minus the listed age – so someone listed as age 7
in 1851 will be shown with the birth year 1844.
Place of birth normally comes from censuses, naturalization papers
&c. Where there are conflicting accounts (e.g. one source says Amsterdam and
another London), it shows the contributor’s best judgment on the available
data
Many place-names have changed. Where this
applies, the database gives both the expression normally used today and
then, in square brackets after it, the expression as it appears in the
source document. Examples are ‘Poznan, Poland [Posen, Prussia]’ or
‘Middlesex Street [Petticoat Lane]’.
Sources
Commonly used abbreviations include ‘GB BC’/‘GB DC’ for a birth/death
certificate from the relevant country in Great Britain; ‘GRO index’ for the
Government’s bound volumes of birth/death indexes; and
FreeBMD for the
digital transcript of those indexes. See Published Sources for the
main other sources quoted.
Father
The father is normally listed by his names as used in the 1851 census.
(Exceptions are made where a different name is used consistently in most
other sources.) Where different names are used in different official
documents, these are shown in brackets. Round brackets are used for
different spellings or renditions of essentially the same name, for example
Mark (Mordecai) Jacob (Jacobs). Square brackets are used for a
complete name change, for example Edward Moses [Beddington].
Mother The mother’s given names are normally as used in the 1851
census. (Exceptions are made where a different name is used consistently in
most other sources.) The surname shown here is always the maiden surname.
Where different names are used in different official documents, these are
shown in brackets. Round brackets are used for different spellings or
renditions of essentially the same name, for example Mary Ann (Miriam)
Jacob (Jacobs). Square brackets are used for a complete name change, for
example Adeline (Adelina) Moses [Merton].
Faith affiliations This is intended to give some idea of the person’s
faith (if any) across his or her lifetime. It shows, wherever known, the
particular synagogue or other establishment at which they worshipped. Where
that is not known, but the establishment where their birth, marriage or
death was registered can be named, this is shown instead.
In cases where people, though not
congregants of the Great Synagogue, were married under the Great
Synagogue’s authorisation, the form ‘Jewish rites’ is used. Similarly,
the form ‘Jewish rites’ is used for later-life affiliation where no
specific synagogue can be named but burial was in a Jewish cemetery.
SPOUSE INFORMATION
Details are listed by date-order of marriage (where there was more than
one).
Husbands are normally listed by their names as used in the 1851
census. (Exceptions are made where a different name is used consistently in
most other sources.) Where different names are used in different official
documents, these are shown in brackets. Round brackets are used for
different spellings or renditions of essentially the same name, for example
Mark (Mordecai) Jacob (Jacobs). Square brackets are used for a
complete name change, for example Edward Moses [Beddington].
Wife Given names are normally as used in the 1851 census. (Exceptions
are made where a different name is used consistently in most other sources.)
Where different names are used in different official documents, these are
shown in brackets. Round brackets are used for different spellings or
renditions of essentially the same name, for example Mary Ann (Miriam)
Jacob (Jacobs). Square brackets are used for a complete name change, for
example Adeline (Adelina) Moses [Merton]. The surname shown here is
always the maiden name.
Where the person concerned is known to
have had children outside marriage, the partner concerned (where known)
is listed as a spouse, and a reference made in the Notes.
Sources
Commonly used abbreviations include ‘GB MC’ for a marriage certificate from
the relevant country in Great Britain; ‘GRO index’ for the Government’s
bound volumes of birth/death indexes; and
FreeBMD for the
digital transcript of those indexes. See Published Sources for the
main other sources quoted.
CHILDREN TABLE
Children are, as far as possible, listed in
birth order. They include:
• stillbirths and infant deaths
• children born after 1851 as well as those born before
• children born abroad as well as those born in Britain
• non-Jewish children of someone who married out as well as Jewish
children
Any child born into a Jewish household and
known to have been living in Great Britain in 1851 should have a
separate entry in the database in their own right.
Name
Children are listed by given names only. Where applicable, the entry will
normally start with the names or names as used in the 1851 census.
(Exceptions are made where a different name is used consistently in most
other sources.) Where different names are used in different official
documents, these are shown in brackets. Round brackets are used for
different spellings or renditions of essentially the same name, for example,
Mark (Mordecai). Square brackets are used for a complete name change,
for example Moses [Richard].
Year of birth comes wherever possible from birth registration
documents, but very often the best available source is censuses. In these
cases, it represents a best judgment on the available data. When drawn from
censuses, the year of birth is simply the census date minus the listed age –
so someone listed as age 7 in 1851 will be shown with the birth year 1844.
In this table only the year of birth, not
the full date, is listed. Any child who has a separate listing in the
database will have their full date of birth, if known, listed there.
ADDRESSES AND OCCUPATIONS TABLE
Address/City For decades in the 18th century, only cities are listed,
not full addresses, but in the few cases where a street address is known,
reference is made to it in the Notes on the Main Table.
Just one address is shown for any given decade, and wherever possible it is
the place where the person was living at the time of the relevant census. If
they were away from home on census night (eg travelling on business, or at
boarding school), wherever possible the address shown is their settled home
address; the Notes in the Main Table should include their temporary address
in the census.
Where place names have changed over time, the database gives both the
expression normally used today and then, in square brackets after it, the
expression as it appears in the source document. Examples are ‘Poznan,
Poland [Posen, Prussia]’ or ‘Middlesex Street [Petticoat Lane]’. (An
exception arises where no street address is known, but a parish has been
listed in the source document. The parish name will be listed as it stands,
with no attempt to track changes in parish names or boundaries.)
In the interests of comparability, the Editor has developed a standardised
gazetteer of London districts and the streets within them where Jews were
living. Even though a source document might list a given street as being in,
say, ‘Whitechapel’, if the database gazetteer attributes that street to
‘Spitalfields’ it will be so listed throughout the database.
Source Wherever possible, this shows full census references.
Failing that, where possible the address is taken from another official
document, like a birth certificate, using the standard abbreviations used
elsewhere in the database, e.g. ‘GB BC’/‘GB MC’/‘GB DC’ for a
birth/marriage/death certificate from the relevant country in Great Britain;
‘GRO index’ for the Government’s bound volumes of birth/death indexes; and
‘FreeBMD’ for the digital transcript of those indexes on
FreeBMD.
See Published Sources for the main other sources quoted.
In other cases still, the address has only been inferred. Sometimes it is
inferred from the birthplace of a child, or of a brother or sister
reasonably close in age to the person in question. In such cases the
formulation ‘child’s birthplace’ or ‘sib’s birthplace’ is used. In other
cases, the address for one decade has been inferred from the fact that it is
the same in the two surrounding decades, and the source line will indicate
this.
Occupations This follows the same conventions as addresses: it gives
the occupation(s) at one point in the decade only, preferably at the time of
the census, and otherwise at the date closest to the census. The actual
census formulation will have been preferred unless another source (e.g. a
trade directory) is more informative.
This
database was registered with the Genealogy Quality Code.
This means
that its editor places considerations of quality above quantity and
commercial or other agendas.
