Library & Reading room
Browse our collection of over 6,500 books and manuscripts.
Reading Room
Over 6,500 books and manuscripts
The Reading Room houses our collection of over 6,500 books and manuscripts that focus on ships, shipbuilding, naval architecture and history.
We also have an extensive photographic collection of over 10,000 photographs and images, ranging from mid-19th century until closure in 1984, showing dockyard workers, trades, shipbuilding and repair and the wider dockyard site. We hold maps of the Historic Dockyard site and drawings of the buildings, along with a number of plans of ships built at Chatham.
We hold limited records of those who worked in the Dockyard or served in the Chatham Division of the Royal Navy. If you are looking for information on family members who are connected with the Dockyard, the National Archives at Kew may be able to help you.
Accessing the Reading Room
Our Reading Room is open each day from 11am – 2.30pm but please note it is staffed by Volunteers and we may need to close the Reading Room at short notice if Volunteers aren’t available.
Access is facilitated by a Reading Room Steward who will be happy to assist you with your enquiry.
Archival material must be booked in advance so that it can be retrieved – we require a minimum of two weeks’ notice for this process.
Please contact collections@chdt.org.uk to discuss your research enquiry before booking an appointment.
The Reading Room is a reference only collection and not a lending library. This means you cannot borrow items from our collection. All materials are to be consulted in our Reading Room.
The Reading Room is located at the rear of the Steam, Steel and Submarines Gallery, in the Fitted Rigging House. Our Visitor Experience Assistants in the gallery can accompany you to the Reading Room desk where you can use the telephone to dial through to the Reading Room steward, who will sign you into the room. Access to the Reading Room will be with a Reading Room steward only.
Readers must agree to abide by the Reading Room rules. The minimum age to use the Reading Room unaccompanied is 14 years. Children aged 8–14 can use the facility but must be accompanied by an adult (one adult per child).
Reading Room Rules
- There will be no food or drinks to be taken into the main Reading Room, water may be consumed in the journal area.
- You must not eat, drink, smoke, chew gum or use mobile phones to make or take calls in the Reading Room.
- The following items may be taken into the Reading Room in clear plastic bags (supplied): pencils, rubbers, note paper, plastic rulers.
- Sound settings of laptops and cameras should either be turned off or reduced to a level that does not disturb other users.
- You may not mark, write, lean on, fold or in any other way damage the material they are consulting. If you observe an existing defect in, or damage to an item, you are requested to bring it to the attention of the Reading Room steward.
- You must abide by the handling guidelines provided. Reading Room stewards will indicate the fire exits, evacuation routes and state where the facilities can be located.
Navy Lists
We hold an extensive collection of Navy Lists spanning the 19th-21st centuries.
They are valuable resources for anyone undertaking naval-related family history research but, please note, they contain the names of commissioned Royal Navy officers and the ships they served on.
Information we hold includes:
THE “POLITICAL” ORGANISATION
The “political” organisation of the Royal Navy, covering such things as the Navy Board etc, and the then current holders of the various offices.
STRUCTURE OF THE ROYAL NAVY
An outline of the structure of the Royal Navy, including its then current senior officers, as well as the position of HM and other Royals, as well as other, including foreign, honorary appointments.
SHIPS AND SHORE ESTABLISHMENTS
A list of ships and shore establishments, with their commanding officer’s details.
SERVING COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
An alphabetical list of serving commissioned officers, with their specialism, rank, seniority date and current appointment.
COMMISSIONED RESERVE OFFICERS
Lists of commissioned reserve officers (including SCC and CCF), with their ranks and seniority dates.
REGULAR AND RESERVE ROYAL MARINE OFFICERS
Equivalent lists for regular and reserve Royal Marine Officers and the Queen Alexandra Royal Navy Nursing Service.
ROYAL FLEET AUXILIARY
Details of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and officers.
The History of Chatham Dockyard by James D. Crawshaw
These two volumes provide a detailed history of the working Dockyard, including Sheerness Dockyard, other nearby Admiralty establishments and the Navy itself. It covers early history, administration, finance, apprentices, trades, clerical staff, medical officers, Dockyard security and spiritual welfare. They also contain information on Chatham’s defences, ordnance supply and prison hulks on the River Medway.
Crawshaw taught at the Dockyard School from 1936 until his retirement as a Head of Department in 1970.
This publication is hosted courtesy of the copyright holder Mrs Isabel Garford. The Trust would like to acknowledge the following people for making this possible: Mrs Isabel Garford, Andy Boorman, Len Boorman, the late Richard Boorman and Chatham Dockyard Historical Society.
Download
Section 1 (Chapter 1-8)
Download
Section 3 (Chapters 8 TO 18)
Download
Section 3 (Chapters 19 to 24)
Notes
While the hard copy book was published in two volumes, for ease of reading it is split into three Sections. Readers will find Volume 1 Contents List on page 3 of 502 and Volume 2 Contents List on Page 427 of 502 in download Section 1. Indices for the whole book commence at Page 114 of 208 in download Section 3. This is the original published version and has not been updated.
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Research & Collections Enquiries
We are committed to helping the public who have enquiries about our collections. These may be answered face-to-face in the case of the Reading Room collections or by telephone, letter or email for our archive and object holdings. We receive enquiries from all over the world covering a wide range of different subjects.
Due to the volume of the enquiries we receive, our team can only undertake a maximum of 30 minutes research per enquiry and we are therefore unable to answer enquiries to any great depth. If your enquiry requires more extensive research, you will receive a referral email/letter and our research volunteers will work with you to facilitate the enquiry.
We aim to respond to initial written enquiries within 5 -10 working days. In the case of in-depth research, the timescale will vary depending on the nature of the research.
To enquire about access to our collections, please complete the form below or email: collections@chdt.org.uk