Deeds and directories

If you own your house or flat, start by looking at your title deeds. If you are extremely lucky, these records will stretch back to the original buyer, providing you not only with a wonderful piece of history, but also a vital source of information relating to the ownership of your home. However, changes in the law mean these historic documents are not necessarily passed from one owner to the next and, while some old deeds have been deposited at County Record Offices, others will be in private hands or may simply have been destroyed.

The good news is that there are many other records that can be used to identify previous occupants of your home. Street directories for Brighton (and Hove), which can be consulted for the years 1799 to 1974, are a good starting point. These list the householder, though not necessarily the owner, of each property in a given street, along with a wealth of local information and advertising that vividly captures the spirit of the time. The 1900 edition of Towners Brighton Directory, for example, includes adverts for the Bedford Hotel, with its ‘commodious passenger lift’ and ‘electric light in all rooms’, and the New Ship Livery Stables, which offered care for ‘saddle horses, hunters and chargers’ right in the centre of town.