Libraries and leisure

Electoral registers and poll books

What will they tell me?
Electoral registers listing those who are entitled to vote have been compiled since 1832. Before 1915 the registers are arranged alphabetically by the voters’ surname and show the name, address and property owned or leased by the voter. No registers were published during 1916-1917. From 1918 onwards they are arranged alphabetically by street name in each polling district. Only the name and address of each voter is given.

The registers were always published several months after the qualifying date and some of the voters may have moved or died by the time the registers were published. Also, in the nineteenth century the qualified electorate did not have to register if they did not want to.

The most important thing to know is who was entitled to vote in any given year. Before 1832 only men over 21 with freehold land or tenements with an annual net value of 40s or more could vote. After 1832 this gradually increased to include:

• 1832 – Some new classes of tenant voters.
• 1867 – Some urban working class.
• 1884 – Rural labourers.
• 1918 – Members of the armed forces aged 19 and over.
• 1918 - Women aged 30 and over if they were a householder or married to a householder (Parliamentary elections only).
• 1918 - Some women aged 21 and over in local elections.
• 1918 - Men aged 21 and over that had lived in a constituency for over 6 months and women over 30.
• 1928 – All men and women aged 21 and over were given equal voting rights.
• 1969 – All men and women aged 18 and over (but they do not appear until the 1971 registers).

Poll books first appeared in 1696 to publicly show votes cast in parliamentary elections. They were commercially published after elections and appeared until after the 1868 General Election. The introduction of the secret ballot in 1872 put an end to poll books. The information contained in poll books varies considerably.

Only men aged 21 and over with freehold lands or tenements whose annual net value was 40s or more were eligible to vote. Until 1774 voters had to reside in the county in which the land or tenement was situated. The names of the voters and whom they voted for is always listed. Sometimes the voters’ address, occupation and freehold property qualification to vote is also included.


What records are held?

• 1832-1890 – Whole County (some gaps covered by draft electoral registers).
• 1895-1915 – Whole County except for Hertford Division 1897, 1908 & 1914
• 1900 & 1906 - St Albans Division.
• 1918-1930 – Whole County except for Hertford Division 1929-1930
• 1918-1928 - Absent Voters.
• 1924 - St Albans Division.
• 1927 - Watford Division
• 1931 - Letchworth only.
• 1932 – Whole county except for Hertford Division.
• 1935 - Hemel Hempstead Division.
• 1936 - Hemel Hempstead Division.
• 1937 - Watford Division (jury lists).
• 1933-1950 – Miscellaneous parishes. No complete parliamentary divisions except for Watford 1939.
• 1951-1972 – Whole County.
• 1973 - Part of County.
• 1974-to date – Whole County.
• Archives & Local Studies also holds some separate electoral registers for the Borough of Hertford between 1832-1973 and the Borough of St Albans for 1934.
• Numerous manuscript and published poll books exist for both County and Borough elections held between 1697-1868. Please contact Archives & Local Studies for further information.

Since 2002 two versions of an electoral register have been compiled by the local electoral registration authorities (District Councils): a full register and an edited register. Members of the public can choose not to have their name entered on the edited register.

Archives & Local Studies continues to hold a set of full registers covering the whole county which can only be consulted by members of the public under supervision in the archive reading room. No photocopying from these registers is allowed unless the registers are over ten years old.