Private Bill Witness Index from 1835, 5,400 Volumes of Parliamentary Evidence

5,400 volumes of evidence on private bills for public works like roads and railways, dating from 1835 onwards. The National Archives created this index of witness names and occupations, extracted from archival volumes over a 10-15 year period in the 1980s-90s. It serves as a resource for family and local historians, though the data may contain inaccuracies.

Use Cases

• Trace family history based on witness names and occupations mentioned in the description.
• Study the social and occupational profiles of individuals involved in private bill proceedings.
• Research the history of specific UK infrastructure projects like canals or railways through associated witness records.
• Analyze trends in parliamentary evidence and private legislation over time from 1835.

Strengths

• Indexes evidence from 5,400 archival volumes, indicating substantial historical coverage.
• Covers a long time range starting from 1835, providing longitudinal data.
• Includes witness names and occupations, offering key biographical details.

Limitations

• The description notes there may be inaccuracies and inconsistencies within the data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

The National Archives

Collection Method

Information was extracted from parliamentary archive volumes over a 10-15 year period in the 1980s-90s.

Time Range

1835 onwards

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-16 15:59:55.651852; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom (implied by source and subject)