| Name | Leicestershire |
| Alt names | LEI | source: Curious Fox: UK Counties and Shires [online] (2002). accessed 16 Dec 2002 | | Leic | source: Gazetteer of Great Britain (1999) xviii | | Leicester | source: Family History Library Catalog | | Leics | source: Wikipedia |
| Type | Historic county, Administrative county, Modern county |
| Coordinates | 52.667°N 1.167°W |
| Located in | England |
- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Leicestershire (pronounced "lestersher"; abbreviation "Leics.") is a landlocked county in the midlands of England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the northeast, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the southeast, Warwickshire to the southwest, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the northwest. The border with Warwickshire is the A5 road which is based on the Roman road, Watling Street.
Leicestershire takes its name from the City of Leicester which since 1974 is a unitary authority located at its centre and administered separately from the rest of the county. The ceremonial county (non-metropolitan county plus the city of Leicester) has a total population of just over 1 million (2016 estimate), more than half of which (c. 50%–65%) lives in Leicester's built-up area.
History
Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as four wapentakes. The wapentakes later became hundreds named Guthlaxton, Framland, Gartree and Goscote. The last of these was divided again into West Goscote and East Goscote. Sparkenhoe Hundred was added in the southwest corner of the county in 1346 taking its land from the former area of Guthlaxton and West Goscote.
Leicestershire's external boundaries have changed little since the Domesday Survey. The Measham-Donisthorpe exclave of Derbyshire has been exchanged for the Netherseal area, and the urban expansion of Market Harborough on the county's southern border has caused Little Bowden, previously in Northamptonshire to be annexed in 1927.
In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the county borough status of Leicester city and the county status of neighbouring Rutland, converting both to administrative districts of Leicestershire. These actions were reversed on 1 April 1997, when Rutland and the City of Leicester became unitary authorities. Rutland returned to being a distinct Ceremonial County, although it continues to be policed by Leicestershire Constabulary.
Research Tips
Leicestershire Archives and Libraries
For a list of organizations offering genealogical archives in Leicestershire, see this page in GENUKI. Mention is also made of a book or pamphlet by J Farrell, Family Forbears. A guide to tracing your family tree in the Leicestershire Record Office. published in 1987 by the Leicestershire Museums, Art Galleries and Records Service.
GENUKI
The main GENUKI page for Leicestershire lists a number of topics for research. The East Midlands Oral History Archive site has over 550 recordings. Another part of the site is An on-line guide to the history of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Leicestershire and Rutland Family History Society
Leicestershire and Rutland Family History Society Founded in Leicester, England, during 1974 by 12 enthusiastic family history historians, the society, which is run by volunteers, has grown to around 2,000 members, who live in the United Kingdom and in different countries across the world. The society has embraced the latest technology and has, within its own library, access to online family history websites such as Ancestry and Find My Past. The society also has its own Facebook page. Address: Unit 4B, Pilot House, King Street, Leicester LE1 6RN, email address and phone number on website
Online Databases
As of 20 Jan 2017 FindMyPast includes
Leicestershire Parish Records: baptism, banns, marriage & burial records covering 50 parishes back to the 16th century, over 1.8 million records;
Leicestershire Parish Records Browse: over 3,000 volumes;
Leicestershire Marriage Licences: 22,000 records between 1604 and 1891;
Leicestershire Marriage Licences Browse: over 75 volumes 1604-1891;
Leicestershire Wills and Probate Records: over 173,000 records, 1490-1941;
Leicestershire Wills and Probate Records Browse: over 971 volumes, 1490-1941;
Leicestershire Electoral Registers Browse: 3,862 volumes with thousands of names, 1836-1974;
While Ancestry offers (list checked July 2018)
UK, Midlands and Various UK Trade Directories, 1770-1941
Leicestershire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records
Leicestershire marriage licences
Calendars of wills and administrations relating to the county of Leicester, proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Leicester
Index to the wills and administrations proved and granted in the Archdeaconry Court of Leicester, 1660-1750
Leicester and Rutland History, Gazetteer, and Directory, 1863
Leicester, England History, 1876
Leicester - Glimpses of Ancient Leicester
FamilySearch also has an extensive database online. It is free, but may not always provide the original images provided by the services one pays for.
A Vision of Britain through Time
A Vision of Britain through Time describes parishes and former parishes from a gazetteer of 1871; provides an outline of the historic administration links for parishes. The OS map of 1900 and OS map of 1935 both show parish boundaries and settlements within parishes.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has pages on most places in Leicestershire from small parishes up to the large towns. Its emphasis is on the present more than the past, but most articles include morsels from history as well as geographical co-ordinates and present-day population statistics at the local level.
Victoria County History of Leicestershire
British History Online provides three volumes of the Victoria County History of Leicestershire online. This is a much smaller offering than for some other counties. Only the City of Leicester and Gartree Hundred are covered. The geographical divisions used are the old hundreds. The contents of its volumes are outlined below:
A History of the County of Leicester: Volume 4, the City of Leicester. Thematic and topographical accounts of the city of Leicester, as well as histories of parishes added to the city since 1892. Edited by R A McKinley, published 1958
A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 5, Gartree Hundred. Covers the thirty-eight parishes of Gartree hundred and also the town of Market Harborough. Edited by J M Lee and R A McKinley, published 1964
The third volume, Volume 2 in the series, is a part-volume, detailing the history of the religious houses of the county. This can be useful for parishes that were based on pre-reformation monasteries.
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