Historic Passenger Lists of Ships Go Online

For those looking for their ancestors who might have emigrated
from British ports, the search ends here. One may be able to search online
passenger lists of the ships that carried them to new lands, a Reuters report
stated. Released by Britain's National Archives, the online passenger list
provides information and insight into all long-distance trips made by 30 mn
travelers from the country's ports between 1890 and 1960, including that of
the Titanic which sank in 1912.

The records, which are available via commercial website www.findmypast.com
has been licensed by The National Archives of the UK, also show the passages of
trans-European migrants.

During this period, thousands of Britons were propelled by
economic reasons to seek new beginnings in foreign land. Between 1890 and 1914
an estimated 125,000 Britons immigrated every year to the United States, with
50,000 going to Canada and 25,000 to Australia. Initially, only the period from
1890-1900 will be made available online but subsequent decades will be put
online over the next few months.

The lists provide an intriguing glimpse of individual voyages.
What, for example, did 40-year-old Glaswegian spinster dairy maid Elizabeth Barr
make of New Zealand when she arrived in 1923 on the steamship Remuera? Did she
perhaps strike up an onboard friendship with John Woodrow, 21, a rabbit-catcher
from Warwickshire or maybe she built a new life with another fellow passenger,
33-year-old London fireman Rufus Workman?

Even though the passenger lists have been available at the
archives' offices in Kew, southwest London for some time now, they are indexed
by port of departure only and not name, making it difficult to find a particular
individual. The passenger lists, which are available online, in their original
form vary. Some are typed, others are handwritten.