Reading 19th Century Handwriting

19th Century Text & Difficult to Read Sheets

Reading nineteenth century handwriting can be challenging, particularly when the writer was rushed, or on a moving vessel! If you are not used to reading cursive script, it can take time to get used to- making use of some of the lists and commonly-used terms we have provided in the Field Guide will help you to decipher some of the trickier words. You can find some tips on how to decipher 19th century documents on the National Archives website here. You will also find lots of videos on YouTube that are of use by searching “reading 19th century handwriting”.

Some of the officers creating the muster entries were more careful than others in making sure their writing was clear, and that they included details in every field. Where you encounter a word in the sheets you are having difficulty deciphering, it can help to know some of the most common types of entries the officers were making. For example they frequently made use of abbreviations. It can help when trying to decipher these to know what the abbreviation is likely to stand for. You may find it useful to refer to the “Common Terms & Abbreviations” section of the Field Guide to help you.

You may encounter occasional sheets where the ink or pencil used is particularly faint, making transcription challenging at the uploaded resolution. If you encounter a sheet you cannot decipher, you can raise it directly with us by submitting the image to Talk.