Victorian "White Pages"??

Head down to...

Genres Historical and look at the sticky called Resources by Era. You will find a Victorian section full of resources which will answer your question.

There were various directories, classified business directories, street lists, alphabetical lists, etc. Such lists were the origins of telephone directories and only disappeared in the 1990's in the U.S.A. I don't kow the names of the particular directories, but you probably can find that in a search, and there might be examples in you local library.

Kelly's Post Office Directory - lists streets and residents.

Other places they might look is the local post office or church records.

Kelly's would certainly be the first source, but it didn't list everyone - at this time it was mainly limited to gentry and tradespeople. For working people Stijn is right and parish records would be the best place to start.

For marriage records, the first port of call would have been Somerset House in London, where the Registrar of Births,Marriages, and Deaths had been established since the 1830s. A birth entry would also be the first step in finding someone who's not in Kelly's - it would give you the parish of birth which is where you'd start looking. The population was much less mobile back then, and there might still be family in the area or people who remembered them.

Louise