British Guiana Directories (& Almanack) and Diaries
Thanks to Tim Smellie who found some rare old British Guiana Directories in his Aunt's possession has shared them with us. Transcription
of these 6 directories was completed on September 2008. Transcription was done by Sharon Anderson and V. Davies.
Most recently, Bernard Abraham was researching in Holland and scanned many more directories and shared them with us - 13 in all.
Many thanks to Bernard, we have a few earlier years to peruse.
The British Guiana Almanacks were books printed annually by the printers in Georgetown; alternating from Robert Short at the
Argosy Newspaper Office and the Chronicle's office. The books contain a brief history of the country, an almanack, overview of
laws, charts of crop production, and the more recent ones had directories of persons living in the colony. They were meant to be used
for merchants and for businessmen outside the colony for contact information.
What can you expect to find in these directories? The directories are similar to "phone book" entries,
however, the directories usually indicate the person's occupation and employer. These listings will confirm that an
ancestor did indeed live in the colony in the preceding year or year of the directory; where they lived (in some cases)and their occupation
and employer. This is indeed minimal data but many of us are grateful for even this since we are without access to any official records.
The lists did not include residents of Essequibo and, for the most part, Berbice, as well as those living along the upper river banks and none on the native peoples.
The newly acquired (October 2017) directories require transcription as breaking up the digital scans into smaller files and posting them did not work as the files were still too large.
NOTE: (May 5, 2015) Research Consultant, Joanne Collins-Gonsalves, Ph.D., reports that the Guyana National Library holds
the following yearly directories:
1825,1861,1862,1866,1875-1883, 1888-1892,1893, 1896, 1898, 1902, 1909 and 1922. She reports also that some of the directories are quite
fragile. Of their holdings, this site has transcriptions of three-1888, 1889 and 1898.
1860 - An "Assembled" Directory:
| To search, Click on the letter or group to open the corresponding 1860 PDF file | |||||||||||
1865 - British Guiana Directory and Diary - this edition has no directories nor data of interest
1866 - British Guiana Directory and Diary - this edition has no directory but does have a list of Sugar Estates
1867 - British Guiana Directory and Diary - no directory but has "List of Jurors" :
Demerara List of Jurors - Surnames A to JEF
Surnames JEF to Y
Essequebo List of Jurors - Esseqiuebo Juror List
Berbice List of Jurors - Berbice Juror List
The book provides no explaination of the meaning of this List of Jurors. Because for each name, a name of a church
parish is given, it is no doubt church related. The list does provide residents and their occupations however, so could be useful to many. NOTE: This list was found in only "semi
alphabetical" order and has been corrected.
1872 - British Guiana Directory and Diary - has not directory but does contain a Trade Directory (merchants and employees)
1873 - Britisih Guiana Directory and Diary - no directory but does have a Trade Directory (merchants and employees)
1874 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack (note Title change) - no directory but has a Trade Directory (merchants & employees)
1875 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack - Directory needs transcription
1877 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack - Directory needs transcription
1878 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack - Directory needs transcription
1880 British Guiana Directory: Transcription Completed 20 February 2008
| To search, Click on the first letter of the surname to open the corresponding 1880 Transcription PDF file. | |||||||||
| G | H | K - L | |||||||
| S | T | U - V | W - Z | ||||||
1882 British Guiana Directory & Almanack - Transcription Complete (Sept 1 2008)
A B C D E F G H I - K L M N -to O P- Q R S T U-V W-Z
1889 British Guiana Directory & Almanack - Transcription Complete 7/21/08
| To Search, click on the letter which represents the first letter of the desired surname sought; All files are PDF | |||||||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I-J | K | L | M |
| N and O | P and Q | R | S | T | U and V | W | Y and Z | ||||
1890 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack - Directory needs transcription
1892 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack - Directory needs transcription
1894 - British Guiana Directory with Almanack - Directory needs transcription
1898 Search the Directory: Transcription COMPLETED 15 Jan 2008 !!
| To search, Click on the first letter of the surname to open the corresponding 1898 Transcription PDF file. . | |||||||||||
| G | H | K | |||||||||
| R | S | T | UV | W | XYZ | ||||||
1904 British Guiana Directory
| To search, Click on the first letter of the surname to open the corresponding 1904 Transcription PDF file | |||||||||||
| H | J | K | |||||||||
| T | W | XYZ | |||||||||
