I've been looking for Blackmore records in old books. Google Books has digital copies of many old books including directories, court records, parish records, magazines, etc.

By searching for Blackmore (and typically including other search terms) I've been able to uncover records hidden in those books. I came across a the following court proceeding and thought I'd share it here as an example.

Central Criminal Court Sessions Paper, 1862
Minutes of evidence, taken by shorthand by James Drover Barnett and Alexander Buckler.
Butterworths, 7 Fleet Street, London, 1861-1862
Page 826-827: Saturday, Nov. 1, 1862

1111. CHARLES MEADOWS (15), Stealing 10 lbs. of lard and 1 bladder, the property of William Benjamin Blackmore, his master; and ELIZA NOAKES (34), Feloniously receiving the same.
MEADOWS Pleaded Guilty. -- Strongly recommended to mercy by the Prosecutor, who also engaged to receive him back into his employment. -- Confined Four Days. Mr. Way conducted the Prosecution.
William Benjamin Blackmore. I am a cheesemonger, living at 13, Church-street, Greenwich -- on Saturday last the prisoner Meadows was in my employ as errand boy -- I have a warehouse at the back of my shop -- in consequence of some losses, I marked eleven bladders of lard, by the instructions of a policeman, but not in his presence, and put them in the warehouse last Saturday morning -- between 8 and 9 that evening the policeman came to me bringing the two prisoners and a bladder of lard, which was mine, and was one of the eleven that was marked, and safe in my warehouse in the morning -- there is a back door from my warehouse, so that any one might go out of it without passing through the shop -- I had not sold nor authorized any one to sell any lard from the warehouse -- the bladder of lard is worth 7s.
Cross-examined by Mr. Collins. Q. Have you a large establishment there? A. I have -- four people serve in the shop; sometimes five -- they are not here -- I can tell by inquiry that that bladder of lard was not sold in the regular course of business -- I have other lard in my shop -- the stock is kept in the warehouse -- it is not possible for a person to go to the warehouse for some if the lard in the shop was all sold -- the stock kept in the warehouse is more for wholesale purposes.
Court. Q. Was there some lard left in the shop at 8 o'clock last Saturday evening? A. Yes. ...

William's testimony gives several interesting details about his occupation, address, and business.

To make similar searches visit Google Books and put in the search terms "Blackmore" and something particular to your family such as a given name or city and look through the list of books that come up. When you find a book of interest I suggest searching for just the keyword "Blackmore" within that book and check each of the pages that the name came up on.

I'm not related to this William Blackmore but I've added this extract and many similar court records to my website: BLACKMORE SITE.

Ken Blackmore