The Militia Ballot lists contains the names of men aged between 18 and 45 who were eligible for service in the militia forces. There is a very significant survival of these lists in Hertfordshire for the years 1759 to 1786 and in some cases to 1801. While they do not include everyone (or even all the men) they are a very useful guide to who was living at the village at the time.

Over the years the Hertfordshire Family History Society has indexed these lists, in published them in booklet form, parish by parish. All have now been indexed and this CD contains all the booklets in a fully searchable form, together with useful background information and lists for the Militia Establishment for 1759, 1761-2 (partial) and 1765 (Dacorum). A valuable extra is a map, for each parish based on Dury & Andrew's survey of 1766 while the map showing the location of all the ancient parishes, and the hundreds, is the clearest I have seen. The "miscellaneous additional information" records the movements of the Hertfordshire militia - and information on out-of-county militia marriages.

Example 1: Flamstead Booklet - Burchmore Entries

Covering the years:

1758? (undated but inferred), 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762F (February), 1763, 1764, 1765, 1768, 1769, 1775, 1778A (April), 1778D (December), 1781, 1782, 1784, 1785, 1786

Example 2: Search for Occupation - Brickmaker

A text search for "Brickmaker" showed that there were 39 documents (parishes) with 276 entries. The parishes were Aldenham, Baldock, Barkway, Chipping Barnet, Broxbourne, Bishops Stortford, Bushey, Cheshunt, Essendon, Great Gaddesden, Harpenden, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Hitchin, Hoddesdon, Kings Walden, Layton, Little Amwell, Little Hadham, North Mymms, Northaw, Offley, Rickmansworth, Ridge, St Albans (Fishpool Ward & St Peter's Ward), Shenley, St Paul's Walden, Stanstead Abbots, Standon, Stevenage, Tring, Walkern, Watford, Welwyn, Weston, Wheathampstead, Wigginton. For each parish it is possible to look at the relevant entry.

It is important to look for variants - for instance a search for "Brick Maker" fins additional entries for Ware (surnames Hitch, Hobbs, Osborn, Smith & Want) and Pirton.

Example 3: Surname Variations

There is a very useful index of surname variations. Following up cross-references the variations listed for BURCHMORE are Birchmoor, Birchmore, Bortchmore, Burchmer, Burchmoar, Burchmore, Burchmors, Burtchmore, Byrchmore. A locations list shows entries entered under Burchmore for Abbots Langley, Flamstead, Harpenden, Kensworth, Offley, St Albans (Fishpool), St Peters (Sleap & Smallford).

Example 4: Parish Maps

There are excellent maps of each parish, based on Dury and Andrew's map of 1766, with a key of the main locations. The example here shows Redbourn, which shows the main farms and hamlets.

Other Examples

Paper Makers of Hemel Hempstead

NASH (Blacksmiths), West Hertfordshire, from 1750

See Also Militia Lists

Page created February 2009