Passenger lists

There are very few records relating to passengers entering the United Kingdom before 1878 at The National Archives.

What remains is held under the following references:

• FO 83/21-22: lists of foreign nationals arriving at British ports between August 1810 and May 1811.
• HO 5/25-32: index to foreign national Certificates of Arrival 1826 to 1849 (original certificates pre-1836 have been destroyed).
• HO 2: original certificates of arrival for individual foreign nationals arranged under port of arrival 1836 to 1852.
• An alphabetical index of foreign national certificates of some German, Polish and Prussian persons, 1847 to 1852, compiled by the Anglo-German Family History Society is available in the research enquiries room

Most of the records of passengers leaving the United Kingdom are distributed among a variety of references at The National Archives. The majority of emigration passenger lists from 1776 to 1889 have not survived. The following are references for the records that are available:

• E 157: Exchequer: King’s Remembrancer: Registers of Licences to pass beyond the seas. This contains several registers of passengers travelling from UK ports to New England, Barbados and other colonies for 1634-9 and one for 1677.
• CO 1: Privy Council and related bodies: America and West Indies, Colonial Papers (General Series).
• T 47/9-12: Treasury register kept y port customs officials showing emigrants going from England, Wales and Scotland to the New World between 1773 to 1776. A card index exists for the information from England and Wales and is available from the General Enquiries Room. The series also gives names of passengers to Europe.
• CO 208: New Zealand Company Original Correspondence, 1839 to 1858: registers of cabin passengers emigrating between 1839 and 1850 (CO 208/269-272); applications for free passage, 1839 to 1850 (CO 208/273- 274, index CO 208/275).

These relate mainly to arrivals in and departures from UK seaports and were deposited by various passenger ships lines. Knowledge of the year, month and port of departure or arrival is essential to search some of these records. However, information on BT27 Outward Passenger Lists for longdistance voyages leaving the British Isles from 1960 to 1890 can now be searched online.

The database has been created by Findmypast.com, in association with The National Archives and it can be searched here.

The BT passenger lists are arranged in two series: 

• BT 26: arrivals 1878 to 1960.
• BT 27: departures, 1890 to 1960.
• BT 32: Register of Passenger Lists, 1906 to 1951: contain names of ships for which passenger lists are available in BT 26 and BT 27. They are not complete.

In general, passenger lists do not exist for the following:

• Ships travelling between ports in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England
• Ferries including those on the English Channel, North Sea and Irish Sea
• Feeder ships carrying passengers across the North Sea for onward passage by transatlantic steamers
• Ships sailing between Britain and all European ports, or those which lie on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, including all islands in the Mediterranean such as Malta unless the sip’s voyage started or ended outside that area
• Cruise ships
• Troop ships – although there are some 20th century records for civilian passengers on troop transports
• Ships bound for Britain but which sank before they reached their port. (This means there is no arrival list for the Lusitania’s last voyage, not for any other ships which did not reach its british destination for whatever reason).1

Researchers should check availability, accessibility and opening times with the repositories listed before making a personal visit. 

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