Find your ancestors in National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914

Discover your ancestors who went to school in England and Wales between 1870 and 1914. Explore their school records to find their birth date, admission year and the school they attended. You may also be able to discover their parents’ names, father’s occupation, exam results and any illnesses that led to absence from school.

The National School Admission Registers & Log-books records are the result of a landmark project between schools, record offices and archives in England and Wales. Never before have so many organisations come together to create a digital version of their records. This is an ongoing project to scan and transcribe school admission registers and log-books from around the country. Findmypast would like to acknowledge the significant role played by The National Archives and the Archives and Records Association in conceiving and coordinating this landmark project.

Log-books and admission registers

The difference between log-books and admission registers is that log books don’t contain any information on the student’s birth or admission year; log-books note events or incidents that occurred during the school year. The ‘Remarks/Reasons for Leaving’ field in the admission registers can reveal details of a student’s health problems, as well as other reasons for leaving, which include going to an industrial home or a workhouse, reaching the age limit, dying, moving away, exclusion due to infectious disease or going to a convalescent home. Several have left school to be moved to scattered homes, also known as isolated homes, which placed small groups of orphaned, poor or abandoned children in ordinary houses, in order to save them from workhouses. Schools were clearly less sentimental about their pupils in the 19th century: in one admission register, the stated reason for a pupil leaving is simply “Dead”.

Log-books make for fascinating reading, with a wide variety of details relating to the running of a school. They can contain lesson plans, details of government examinations, results of examinations with comments, staff lists and detailed results of school inspections of teachers. There are also attendance records and information about school closure due to widespread illness. There are occasionally notes about the academic achievements of individual pupils or entire classes, details of students who entered and left the school, and events such as visits from the rector, half-days or church attendance.