BT Historical Subscribers Lists

This dataset provides a historical record of telephone subscribers for three cities in Great Britain, digitised from printed British telephone directories published between 1881 and 1951 at decadal intervals. It includes individual- and household-level entries capturing name, address, exchange, and number. The source directories were digitised using OCR, followed by rule-based cleaning and structuring to extract tabular data.

Content

The dataset is available in CSV format with each record corresponding to an individual subscriber and column reporting, the forename initial, the surname, address, number and the geographical coordinates of the address. Commercial subscribers are also included. Accompanying documentation explains the structure and scope of the data, offers a glossary of terms, and presents classification codes, metadata, and statistical summaries that support interpretation and reuse.

Quality, Representation and Bias

Data quality varies by year and region due to differences in printing conventions, OCR performance, and changes in publication standards over time. Early years are often sparser and more urban-focused, with rural coverage improving post-World War I. OCR errors and inconsistencies in address formatting present challenges, particularly for automated geocoding. The methodology includes procedures to minimise such errors, though residual issues may affect a small proportion of records. As with all historical sources, certain demographic groups (e.g. women, minorities, renters) may be underrepresented.

Secure

Data and Resources

This dataset is categorised as Secure and therefore access to the underlying data is only available within our Trusted Research Environment and restricted to individuals conducting research at a Higher Education or similar Institution in the UK and/or whom have an ac.uk email address. You can view metadata here to determine whether the data will be of use to you. You can apply for access to it by submitting an initial proposal form here.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Source BT, GeoDS
Author Gibin, Maurizio; Tanu, Nikki
Maintainer Maurizio Gibin
Last Updated October 7, 2025, 11:31 (UTC)
Created May 21, 2025, 12:34 (UTC)
Attribution The data for this research have been provided by the Geographic Data Service (geods.ac.uk), a Smart Data Research UK Investment: ES/Z504464/1.
Frequency 10 Years
Granularity Individual Household
Spatial Coverage London, Manchester, Glasgow
Temporal Coverage 1881 to 1951