Post Office and Kelly's Directories

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Kellys Directory

Trade directories first appeared in the 17th century. In the early 1800s, one of the most famous was the Post Office London Directory. In the 1830s, Frederick Festus Kelly, the  Government Inspector-General of letter-carriers at the time, purchased the Post Office Directory and by the 1840s started publishing county directories. By the 1950s when a telephone at home became a more common feature, trade directories were gradually superseded by the Telephone Directory.

The original county trade directories were listed alphabetically by parish. A topographic statement for each parish included in which ‘Hundred’¹ or District it was situated along with which Diocese it belonged. The parish clerk was named (from 1895) and information relating to the Post Office, School and Railway included. Finally this was followed by a list of the Clergymen, Landed Gentry and Traders, namely shop keepers, publicans and tradesmen such as blacksmith, shoe maker etc.

Information was collected by the letter carriers (Postmen) and checked by local Clergymen and other Gentlemen of the parish, corrected to agree with their local knowledge.

The 1869 PO Directory was sold to subscribers for 25s (£1.25)and to non-subscribers for  30s (£1.50).

An extract from the 1847 P O Directory reads:

HELPSTON, a parish in the Liberty of Peterborough 7 miles north-west of Peterborough and 4 miles south-south-west of Market Deeping. The living is a stipendiary vicarage, of the value of £99 in the gift of Earl Fitzwilliam: the present incumbent is the Rev. Charles Mossop, M.A. The church, which is dedicated to St Botolph is a very ancient stone building, with small spire and octagonal tower;·it has been recently repaired, and new roofed and pewed. In the centre of the village is a neat but ancient·stone cross,
but when or for what purpose erected is not known. Here is a small chapel for Dissenters and a Sunday school, principally supported by Earl Fitzwilliam and the vicar. The land is arable, and the extent about 1,700 acres The Marquis of Exeter and Sir John Trollope, Baronet, claim to be lords of the manor. The charities should amount to about £40 annually, but at present they are much encumbered.

Various directories for Northamptonshire are available, some original copies held by individuals and establishments and Helpston Local History Group have transcribed the list below.

1847 P O Directory
1854 P O Directory
1869 P O Directory
1877 P O Directory

1890 Kelly’s
1906 Kelly’s
1910 Kelly’s
1914 Kelly’s

1. 1. A Hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region . Helpston was part of the Nassaburgh Hundred.
   Directories transcribed from copies held by Leicester University. https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/