Walford's County Families

Walford's County Families is the short title of a work, partly social register, partly "Who's Who", which was produced in Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, initially under the editorship of Edward Walford. It served as a guide or handbook to the British upper classes and landed gentry (in this case referred to in the title under the term, county families, for which see county family). The title of the annual volumes making up the series varied, and they are sometimes referred to simply as Walford or Walford's. According to the British Library catalogue, they were published from 1860 to 1920.

The work's coverage encompassed many of the most important rich, aristocratic or politically powerful of the people of the period. On the other hand, a sarcastic review in The Spectator in 1868 related that "Mr. Walford ... knows his countrymen, and has compiled a book, which, it is clear, they buy, a directory of all Englishmen distinguished for anything except knowledge, wisdom, or service to mankind." Discussing the "county family" concept, it went on to say that Walford had "included in a vast list of some twelve thousand persons every family living outside a town, and having any sort of claim ... to be considered distinguished." [1]

Editions

Date of publication Edition number Links and comments
18601Internet Archive
Internet Archive
Google Books
Media in Commons category
18642Google Books
18653Internet Archive
18684Internet Archive, part 1
Internet Archive, part 2
18695Google Books
18716Internet Archive
Hathi Trust
187313Internet Archive
187515Hathi Trust
187616Internet Archive
188626Hathi Trust
188729Internet Archive
189232Internet Archive, part 1
Internet Archive, part 2
190848Internet Archive
190949Internet Archive
1910Internet Archive
191959Internet Archive

See also

Notes

  1. The Spectator. F.C. Westley. 1868. p. 1258.
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