Hi folks, A couple of days ago I replied (I thought to the list) on the subject as above, and have just discovered it went instead to a lister, off list. So here it is for the list... It was in response to the information given by [email protected], a few days ago, in reference to the Incoming UK Ships Passenger lists and the info on http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/ >> I was most interested to explore this possibility, because I am >> trying to trace the return to England from Japan a man named James >> SPEED in about 1885, or somewhere between 1883 up to possibly >> about 1887. I have no idea of the name of the ship or its port of >> destination, I only know his name and age and the certain fact of >> his return. >> >> After finding 'him' on a free search, I upgraded my subscription >> to Ancestry, only to find it wasn't him. I don't mind the expense >> of my upgrade actually, because it will mean I can look for >> various 'global' events now. But I have a question please. >> >> Do these lists include all passengers who came into the UK during >> the period 1878-1960? I know that James Speed definitely came >> back into the UK some time after 1883, but he may have been on a >> cargo ship. I know that many passengers travelled from UK to the >> Far East in cargo ships in Victorian times, when they would number >> a dozen or less. In fact that was possibly normal for some >> decades? Are the lists now available as "UK incoming ships >> passenger lists, 1878-1960" limited to passenger ships? > > For the record, since trying to post this I have found out that Ancestry do say that the earlier records are a bit thin on the ground.... > >> The passenger lists date from 1878 to 1888 and 1890 to 1960. >> However, many of the pre-1890 lists were irregularly destroyed by >> the Board of Trade in 1900. Therefore, there are not many lists >> included in this database that date from these earlier years. >> Should I therefore give up? I think it is likely that SPEED was one of a handful of passengers on a cargo ship, and is most unlikely to have been crew because he was a glassworks manager working for the Japanese government. Pete on this list has suggested he may have changed ships somewhere, which would account for his not showing up as coming from Japan, but as I recall my search, there were no other SPEED who were possible. Many thanks for any thoughts. Sally in Yorkshire, UK