School admission registers

Admission registers record the arrival of new pupils at a school (or inmates at a hospital or other institution), and are usually arranged by date of admission. They are sometimes indexed.

Most school admission registers usually include pupils’ names, parents’ or guardians’ names, addresses, pupils’ dates of birth, entry and leaving. Many different formats are found, and sometimes columns are included for pupils’ signatures on admission (a useful indicator of literacy).

Further annotations may also include details of examination results, previous places of education, change of address on leaving the school, jobs, university careers and even marriages. Such information makes them an invaluable source for family and local historians, though they have not survived for all schools.