In a message dated 13/11/2009 16:06:20 GMT Standard Time, heatherachere@yahoo.co.uk writes: And on the Internet Archive site there is the book "Register of Voters for the Northern Division of the County of Durham 1868-1869" under Blaydon is Michael Hawdon and for William George under Willington and William George jun under Winlation. There is also a Joseph Yellowley Hawdon at Blaydon _http://www.archive.org/details/registerofvoters00durh_ (http://www.archive.org/details/registerofvoters00durh) The name where is slightly misleading. The book concerned is the Poll Book of the 1868 election and not the Register of Voters as such, even though it is indeed headed with those words. A Register of Voters is a list of all those who are eligible to vote, should an election be called, and they go back to 1832. A Poll Book is a list of al those who did actually exercise their vote, together with a note of for whom they voted. They go back to the 18th century, if not earlier. The importance of the 1868 Poll Book is that it was the last one - after that the secret ballot came into force. I should also mention that what you have called "Willington" and "Winlation" are both more correctly the village of Winlaton, on the hill above Blaydon. Geoff Nicholson