LONDON — This morning I went to the London Metropolitan Archives to try and find a reference to Joseph Coles in St Thomas’ Hospital’s patient admission register for 1817. Unfortunately this particular item was classified as not fit for consultation due to bomb damage suffered during the Second World War, but I was able to fill in a form to request conservation. Hopefully it will be available for the next time I visit!

As my visit took all of twenty minutes I decided to head over to the nearby Westminster City Archives and see if I could locate any parish records for Joseph and Benjamin Coles—particularly their marriage records. I looked at the microfilms for the bigger parishes in Westminster at the time but found nothing. I think I’ll go back on Monday and check the smaller parishes. It would be nice to find something.

During mid-afternoon the Archives had a fire alarm drill to see if they could get us all out quickly. Everybody had to descend the five flights of stairs to safety with the loudest fire alarm I’ve had the pleasure to experience! Thankfully it wasn’t too long before we were allowed back in to continue our searching.