Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in Britain that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses of local

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

, landowners, charities, and other facilities. In effect, it was a Victorian version of today's

Yellow Pages The yellow pages are Telephone directory, telephone directories of business, businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, ...

. Many reference libraries still keep their copies of these directories, which are now an important source for historical research.

Origins

The eponymous originator of the directory was Frederic Festus Kelly. In 1835 or 1836 he became chief inspector of letter-carriers for the inland or general post office, and took over publication of the Post Office London Directory, whose copyright was in private hands despite its semi-official association with the post office, and which Kelly had to purchase from the widow of his predecessor. He founded Kelly & Co. and he and various family members gradually expanded the company over the next several decades, producing directories for an increasing number of UK

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and buying out, or putting out of business, various competing publishers of directories. Other publications followed, including the ''Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes'' (1875) and ''Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers'' (1877). In 1897, Kelly & Co Ltd became Kelly’s Directories Ltd. This name stuck for another 106 years before being renamed Kellysearch in 2003 to reflect its focus away from hard copy directories and towards an Internet-based product search engine. The front cover of a Kelly's Directory sometimes stated "Kelly's Directories Ltd., established 1799", however this was based on the date of issue of the first Post Office London Directory by an earlier inspector of letter carriers several decades before Kelly's involvement with that publication. Kelly & Co Printers purchased the Middle Mill site on Kingston's Hogsmill River in 1879, becoming a major employer in the town. They closed production there in 1932 and moved to Andover.

Kellysearch

For a short time, Kelly's existed online a
Kellysearch (broken link)
a directory similar to the online

. Kellysearch.com was established in Boston in 2004. It was in many different languages and introduced a fully searchable online-catalogue library and product

press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

section.

Research

The old editions of the Kelly’s Directories are seen as highly collectable and have also become a useful reference tool for people tracing the history of local areas. The contents are available to buy on CD-ROM from many entrepreneurial sources for this purpose. An extensive but incomplete collection of Kelly's Directories is held in the

Guildhall Library The Guildhall Library is a public reference library in London, England, specialising in subjects relevant to London and its history. It is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical ...

in London. The

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

has an on-line collection of Historical Directories of England & Wales available for free.

References

Bibliography

* (original edition: ) * * *

External links

Historical Directories
has extensive online versions of old editions for England and Wales
Forebears
has transcriptions of one edition for each county * * {{Reed Elsevier Directories Waltham, Massachusetts