Parish Registers

Church of England (Anglican) parish registers from 1539 to the 20th Century are available for the old City of Westminster. In addition copies of most of the registers for St Marylebone and Paddington are also available - London Metropolitan Archives holds the originals.

Our Information Sheet 1: Anglican Registers is a complete list of our holdings of parish records. Chapter 15 - Ecclesiastical in our Guide to Holdings also lists details of our collection, and includes information on our holdings of vestry minutes etc.

Information Sheet 4: Registers not held at Westminster City Archives provides a list of Anglican registers that are not held by the Archives Centre, or where they are held, with a short section of Orthodox and Jewish records. This list is not exhaustive - there may be other registers that we do not yet know of. For a list Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist registers not held here, see Information Sheets 2 and 3 respectively.

Baptism Registers

Baptism Registers usually give the parents' names and sometimes the child's date of birth. From 1813 onwards they give the child's name, parents' names, address, father's occupation, officiating minister and sometimes the date of birth of the child. Baptism registers do not give the mother's maiden name, unless the child was illegitimate.

Marriage Registers

Marriage Registers give the names of the couple and their parish of residence. The father's name is given if the bride or groom is underage. From 1754 onwards they give names, parish, marital condition, whether married by licence or banns, name of officiating minister, signatures and witnesses. From 1837 onwards they give names, ages (often just "full age" which means 21 or over), marital condition, occupation, address, fathers' names and occupations, names of officiating minister, signatures and witnesses.

Banns Registers

Banns Registers have no additional information to marriage registers. They do not state addresses, or parents' names, but merely record the parishes of the couple and the date of the calling of the banns. They are however, of use in tracing a marriage, which might have taken place in another parish.

Marriage Licences

If a couple wished to marry without banns being called, they could obtain a marriage licence. To obtain a marriage licence from either the Bishop of London or the Archbishop of Canterbury's Faculty Office or Vicar General, the couple, or more usually the bridegroom, had to swear that there was no just cause or impediment why they should not marry. This was the marriage allegation. The bond was for a sum of money to be paid if it turned out that the marriage was contrary to Canon Law. The bishop kept the allegation and bond and issued the licence to the groom, who then gave it to the vicar of the church where they were to get married. There was no obligation for the vicar to keep the licence, and many were simply destroyed.

A description of our holdings and location of London marriage allegations can be in found in Information Sheet 6: Marriage Licences (see below to download) . The marriage allegations of the Vicar-General 1694-1850, and Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1701-1850 are available for a fee on London Origins.

Fleet Marriages

Before Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1754, marriages did not legally have to take place in church. In the late 17th century about a half of all marriages in London were clandestine marriages with no questions asked, with no banns or licences. One of the most well known centre for clandestine marriages was the Fleet Prison. Fleet marriages took place in the area just around the Fleet prison by clergymen debtors, and all types of people were married here.

A Friend of Westminster Archives has compiled an index of Fleet marriages mentioned within the St Martin-in-the-Fields settlement examinations for 1709-1712. The index is available for consultation in Westminster Archives Centre. The surviving Fleet registers are held at the National Archives.

Burial registers

Burial Registers give the name and usually whether the person was a man, woman or child (M, W or C). They sometimes give the age, occupation, address or next of kin. From 1813 onwards they give the name, address, date of burial, age and officiating minister. It is also sensible to check whether any burial fee books have survived which can provide further information on your ancestor, such as the cause of death. After 1853 burials were not carried out in central London but in cemeteries in the Suburbs.

International Genealogical Index

The marriage and baptism registers of some churches have been indexed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the International Genealogical Index (IGI). This is a name index to baptisms and marriages from 1538 to circa 1885. It is important to remember that burials are not indexed and that it is not a comprehensive index. For example, five of the main Westminster parish churches have incomplete coverage. These are St George, Hanover Square; St Margaret, Westminster; St James, Piccadilly, St John the Evangelist, Smith Square and St Mary-le-Strand. Having said that it is a very good place to start searching.

The 1988 and 1992 editions of the IGI for London and Middlesex are available on microfiche at the Archives Centre. The index is also available on the internet via FamilySearch.

Pallots Marriage Index

Pallot's Index to Marriages is available free of charge on CD-ROM in the searchroom. The index covers more than 1.5 million marriage registrations, mainly from London and Middlesex, from 1780-1837. It also includes entries from 2,500 parishes in 38 counties outside of London, many not available in other sources. The original paper slips of the Pallot's Index are owned and held at the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies. Pallots Marriage Index is also available for a fee on Ancestry.  Ancestry is available for free in the search room at the Archives Centre, and at all the Westminster libraries.

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