British Phone Books, 1880-1984 on Ancestry

[Merry]

Can anyone get any results from this database, by any means? :mad::mad::mad:

[crawfie]

Yes, no problem, putting in just surname and England. Doesn't seem to like counties though. Can narrow it down by putting town/city in keywords, but still doesn't like counties in there.

[Merry]

I tried Smith and England (and a few others) and got no results!

[Merry]

Oh, If I untick the exact matches box for Smith England I go from No matches to 3,084,160 matches! lol

I will try that with the actual name I'm after! :rolleyes:

[Merry]

If I put any date range in I get no results even if I've just been looking at results in that date range. If I add an exchange name or put a word in the keywords field those restrictions are completely ignored (maybe because the exact matches box is unticked?) and the number of matches remains the same.

I give up - I would need to look through over 117,000 matches on the off chance of finding the person I need :eek:

[kiterunner]

I think they messed it up completely with their latest update. I just browse to find entries now. If you want to post up who you're looking for or PM it to me, I could have a go at browsing for them.

[Merry]

Thanks Kate,

I was looking for Walter Horace Porter who lived in Bournemouth from the mid-1930s until his death in 1967.

In 1939 he was at 45 Victoria Avenue

Late he lived at an unknown number in Wimborne Road, Bournemouth and for many years up until his death at an unknown number in Alma Road, Bournemouth. He outlived his wife so it's unlikely there would be any entry in her name (Daisy Winifred Porter). Of course they may not have had a phone, but he was a part time church minister, so I would have thought that might have led to the family being 'connected' by the 1950s or so.

EDIT the Alma Road address was number 90.

[kiterunner]

I've checked 1967, 1966, 1960, nothing for him in Bournemouth in those. In 1955 and 1956 there is a W H Porter at 2 Dunbar Rd, Bournemouth (Bournemouth 4640.)

[Merry]

Thanks for looking. The Dunbar Road address is very interesting as it's very close to two of the other addresses. I will ask my contact if it rings any bells.

Did you have to trawl then? I don't know how to restrict the years (or anything else!)

[kiterunner]

Yes, I browsed and selected various years. Once you have found the Porters in Bournemouth in one phone book you have a good idea of what image number you will need to get to in others around the same date, so it didn't take too long. I did look at some 40's phone books, and either side of the 1955/1956 ones, but he wasn't there.

[Merry]

Thank you Kate.

[James18]

Can anyone find Middlesboro' / Darlington in 1964-5? It's looking like there are no books uploaded for that area, but I'm wondering if they're hidden in existing ones.

[kiterunner]

Middlesbrough 1964:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1025/BT_901005_BOX142_1964_FEB_001-00001?backurl=%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fsearch %2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d1025%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing

But in 1965 Newcastle has its own book and Middlesbrough has not been uploaded.

[kiterunner]

Though in 1968 Middlesbrough is in with Newcastle again:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1025/BT_901005_BOX142_1964_FEB_001-00001?backurl=%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fsearch %2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d1025%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=BT_901083_BOX153 _1968_JUL_001-00001

Edit - figured it out - Newcastle did not have its own book in 1965 but they haven't uploaded the Middlesbrough section of that book.

[James18]

Thanks Kate. I found my uncle in '68... I think I'd already seen '64 but couldn't find anything for '65, which is a shame as it's the year my grandfather died and I wanted to see if he was in the phone book around that time. I asked my mum and she said that she seems to recall they had a phone around that time.

Maybe they will update the books later.

[kiterunner]

This database has just been updated, but sadly the search is still very broken.
Best to use the general search on ancestry's home page and then go to the Categories tab and select the British Phone Books matches from there.

[Merry]

On Monday this week I tried to use this database from the main search but couldn't get any results at all even using the name Smith. So they may have fixed it slightly!