Admin. Changes to William Street, Derry/Londonderry

Administrative Changes to William Street, Derry/Londonderry.

When looking at the sources for William Street you should be aware of the changes that took place in Administrative Divisions within the city after 1898 and the fact that, around the same time, the street was renumbered.

The Wards before and after 1898

After the introduction of Poor Law Unions and Electoral Divisions the City of Londonderry was further subdivided into three wards - North Ward, East Ward and South Ward. Up until 1898 all of William Street was in the North Ward of the city [divided between William Street [within] and William street [without]. The [within] part of the street lay within the city boundary which was marked by Mary Blue's burn which you will see, clearly marked, on both the 1834and 1859 maps.

The County Council Act of 1898 divided the street between two new wards. The right-hand side of the street [from the corner of Waterloo Place to the corner of Francis Street] and the part of the left-hand side of the street [from the corner of Waterloo Street to the lower corner of Chamberlain Street] lay within the new North Ward. The remainder of the left-hand side of the street [from the upper corner of Chamberlain Street to the corner of Francis Street, where the swimming pool is today, lay within a new West Ward.

Note that there had never been a West Ward before. In fact there were now five wards in the city - North, East, South and West on the the west bank of the Foyle and Waterside Urban on the east bank reflecting the growth that had taken place in the city since the 1850s.

Until 1898 the list of properties and names in both the Griffith's [Tenement] Valuation and its revisions was arranged by William Street [within] and William Street [without] - both within the old North Ward. After 1898 the Revision Books for William Street were divided between the new North and West Wards. For a short time after 1898 the valuers continued to use the [within] and [without] divisions which makes it difficult, at times, to find names in this new set of books. However, the [within] and the [without] division was dropped by the early 1900s.

The Census Enumerators' Returns of 1901 listed families and houses within the new 1898 North and West Wards.

The enumerators numbered houses within each separate ward from 1 to x. and to complicate matters further, the houses in the West Ward [on the left-hand side of the street] were enumerated in two separate blocks - one block ran from Chamberlain Street to Rossville Street and one from Rossville Street to Abbey Street.

This produced three number ones etc., in the Census Returns for the street. To avoid confusion in the databases, I have identified the houses in the Chamberlain St./Rossville St. block as West Ward 1 and the Rossville St./Abbey St. block as West Ward 2 .

Within the census returns the houses in the North Ward are numbered from 1 to 71, those in West Ward 1 from 1 to 12 and those in West Ward 2 from 1 to 24.

A further complication that you should be aware of is the fact that the original numbering on the 1859 valuation map changed as new properties were added to the street after that date.

By circa 1890 the valuers began to use the local, odd and even street numbers on the valuation maps. The left-hand side had even numbers beginning with 2 at the Waterloo Street end of William Street and the right-hand side had odd numbers beginning with 1 at the Waterloo Place end of William Street.

The numbering was changed again, circa 1907. This can cause considerable confusion. For example we know from parish and civil records that Manesses Doherty lived in number 111 William Street in 1883, a fact confirmed by the Griffith's Revisions. This house had been numbered 30 on the 1859 valuation map. By c.1890 it was renumbered 111 [which also the local street number] on the revised valuation map and by c.1907 it had been renumbered to 99 on the valuation map.

In order to overcome this problem I have, where possible, in the Griffith's Revisions database included all three numbers. This should make it easier to track a name or a property back to the 1859 map.

I have also included columns in the Griffith's Revisions database and the 1901 Census Returns database which indicate which side of the street a property is located and its order from the Waterloo Street/Place end of the street.

Conclusion

All of the above shows how, at times, finding a person or a property in the valuation or census records can be problematic. In cases where parts of streets are enumerated or valued in separate sections within census enumerators' returns or valuation books you must ensure that you have looked at every separate section. In my experience it is possible to miss a section. Originally when working with records relating to William Street I did not know what I know now and I often missed parts of the street. Only when I began to realise the number of properties that should be listed at various times did I realise that I had to look for another part of the street in the records I was searching. This, combined with the renumbering problem, simply piled on the agony!