London Lives Provides 240,000 Workhouse Records, Criminal Registers, Coroners' Reports and Court Orders Online

London Lives is a brand-new, free online archive containing 240,000 manuscripts and printed pages, published between 1690 and 1800. The new web site provides a valuable insight into the lives of millions of ordinary people during those years. The online documents include workhouse records, criminal registers, coroners' reports, court orders and papers governing the dispensation of poor relief.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and produced by the universities of Sheffield and Hertfordshire, the site allows both amateur and professional historians to search the archives for individuals.

Although anyone can search London Lives, registration is required. Registration allows you to use a personal workspace to link documents together and create biographies of eighteenth-century Londoners. It also gives you access to advanced search facilities and the project wiki (coming soon), where you can write and share biographies. Registration is free.

London Lives is available now at http://www.londonlives.org/