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Accessing sensitive information

Hull City Archives

Hull City Archives at the Hull History Centre holds a number of collections which contain personal sensitive information relating to individuals. Many of these collections are closed to general public access under Data Protection legislation for up to 100 years. However, requests may be granted to access these records under certain circumstances.

Records relating to yourself

If you are requesting information about yourself, for instance, details relating to your stay in a Hull hospital, including De La Pole, the Port of Hull Society’s Sailors’ Orphan Homes, or the Hull Seamen’s and General Orphanage, please complete the Hull Culture and Leisure Subject Access Request Form (PDF).

There will be no charge if you are requesting information relating to yourself from records closed to the public under Data Protection legislation.

Records of family members proven to be deceased

Many of our collections are held on deposit from external sources and as such the decision as to what information is released to researchers will be made by them as the owners of the records. If you are requesting information about a deceased family member’s stay in the Port of Hull Society’s Sailors’ Orphan Homes, also known as Newland Homes, please complete the Sailors' Children's Society access form (PDF, 0.2MB). Your completed application form and all relevant documents will then be forwarded to the Sailors' Children's Society for consideration.

If you are requesting information about a deceased family member’s stay in the Hull Seamen’s and General Orphanage, also known as Hesslewood Homes, please complete the Hesslewood Homes access form (PDF, 0.5MB). Your completed application form and all relevant documents will then be forwarded to the secretary of the Hesslewood Children’s Trust for consideration.

If you are requesting information about a deceased family member’s stay in a Hull hospital including the De La Pole Hospital, please complete the hospitals access form (PDF, 0.4MB). Your completed application form and all relevant documents will then be forwarded to the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust for consideration.

For requests for information about a deceased family member from any other records (schools or courts, for instance), please complete the general access form (PDF, 0.4MB).

Please note that requests to access records containing sensitive personal information for individuals proven to be deceased will incur our standard research charge. This will include 1 hour's research and up to 4 sheets of A4 copies. If copying exceeds 4 sheets additional charges equivalent to normal photocopying costs will be made. Please see our List of fees for details of our charges.

Please also note that we retain the right not to provide copies if we believe the data protection rights of individuals mentioned in documents could be compromised.

Hull University Archives

Records relating to yourself

If you have an enquiry relating to Data Subject Access from amongst the deposited archives held by the University, please contact the University Archives team.

If you have an enquiry relating to Data Subject Access and you are a current or former student or staff member of the University of Hull, please see the University's data protection information page.

Records relating to deceased persons

If you have an enquiry about accessing data relating to a person proven to be deceased, please contact the University Archives team.

Academic or Press researchers claiming access under exemptions in GDPR

Exemptions from GDPR allow further processing of data, in the form of research, to be undertaken for historical and statistical purposes or where public interest can be proved.

Requests to gain access to personal data in archives will need to be checked against the exemptions listed in the GDPR and the guidelines and advice available. This research must observe the "relevant conditions":

  • that the data is not processed to support measures or decisions with respect to particular individuals
  • that the data is not processed in such a way that substantial damage or substantial distress is, or is likely to be, caused to any data subject.

What about Freedom of Information?

The Freedom of Information Act, 2000 (FOIA) came fully into force in January 2005. The FOIA gives people a right of access to information held by public bodies. However the rights of access are overridden by certain exemptions (section 40 of FOIA), one of them being the rights of data subjects under GDPR.