Trade directories listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city, town or village, as well as providing a general directory of postal addresses of local gentry, landowners, charities, and other facilities. In effect, it was a Victorian version of the Yellow Pages. However beyond that they also contain a short description of the place and give details of major changes such as when the school opened and the days the carriers ran to Melton and Grantham

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Leicester University has asembled a collection of digitised trades directories (for example White’s, Kelly’s, Post Office) covering England and Wales from the 1760s to the 1910s. The early versions tend to focus on more urban areas only.

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The relevant pages for Eaton have been collated and span the period 1861 to 1921