England Nonconformist Records - International Institute

Other Nonconformist Records

There is far more interesting family history material in Nonconformist records than in Anglican ones. Records other than registers seem to have survived better from Quakers and Huguenots, but there are some from Baptist, Congregational and Presbyterian congregations as well as the smaller denominations also. Researchers should become familiar with the huge resources on Baptists, Bible Christians, Christian (Plymouth) Brethren, Congregationalists, Methodists, Moravians and Unitarians at the John Rylands Library which has a wonderful website. Wood has a good general article about Nonconformists.

Nonconformist Membership Records

Many denominations kept membership rolls, and occasional vital events, such as ages of new converts or maiden names of women, are found therein together with much family detail. Dates of admission and first communion, as well as dates of leaving the group and why, or where they went may be found. Disciplinary matters can include freedom to marry, bad behaviour and questionable business practices. The term exclusion may have been used when a member was expelled, but dismission indicates migration from one area to another—valuable in tracking family movements.

Nonconformist Schools

The Church of England controlled schools since they licensed the schoolmasters and were trustees of most of old charitable educational foundations.

Nonconformists were extremely keen on education for their children so, with the wealth gained from business and trade enterprises, Nonconformists opened their own schools from which sprang future Nonconformist ministers as well as political activists (outside Parliament) and social reformers:

Sunday schools for children who had to work during the week. These usually taught reading and writing using religious texts, with a little arithmetic. Records of attendance may exist and are frequently annotated with family details that pertain to admission, non-attendance and removal.
Ragged Schools for poor and destitute children.
Full-time schools called Dissenting Academies, many of which became leading educational institutions after the Toleration Act of 1689 but declined in the mid- and late 18^th century. As an example, the Attercliffe Academy, on the outskirts of Sheffield, lasted from 1686 to 1750. Famous dissenting academies included those at Hackney in Middlesex and Warrington in Lancashire, and Philip Doddridge’s academy at Northampton. The best academies were for a time considered superior to the two universities and thus they attracted some Anglican students. A survey of dissenting academies and colleges of higher education and their records is given by Titford (Have You Tried…? Registers of Denominational Higher Education: Nonconformists. Family Tree Magazine Vol 15 #4, page 25-27, 1999).

Other Items in the Register Books

Lists of signatures to church covenants by both men and women.

Lists of ministers.

Summaries of church doctrines.

Charitable collections.

Accounts.

Details of special services.

Church business can include records of work performed by or supplies bought from members in their capacities as tradesmen.

Aid for those members in need was another frequent service provided and records of who was helped with goods, services and money were kept.

Setting up of a library.

Recording acts of philanthropy by members such as donation of land for a burial ground.

Nonconformist Written Works

Nonconformists were typically literate, prosperous and passionate about their religion, sent their children to Sunday School, and supported missionary work. They got involved in public affairs, wrote sermons, pamphlets, testimonies (obituaries) and books. Even humble folk were very given to writing their biographies detailing their struggles and conversion, and thus far more personal details are available about middle class citizens if they were Nonconformists. All these can be found in libraries throughout the world, and the strongest collections will naturally be in the denomination’s own library or archives. Much of the more general material has been microfilmed. Several denominational journals and newspapers were started from about 1790, many being ephemeral, but they are particularly useful for obituaries of relatively minor figures especially before civil registration commenced. Some newspapers were general low-church evangelical publications ensured of sales amongst a wide range of churchgoers. The first one of note was The Nonconformist in 1841. Others were aimed at specific denominations and are listed under those chapters here.

Nonconformist Newspapers

Chapel events would have been reported in detail in the later 19th and 20th century local newspapers, with names, speeches and photographs of people involved. Look particularly at dates around any kind of construction or rebuilding, ministers’ funerals, of chapel or register centenaries, or national events which may have occasioned a celebration.

Contemporary gazetteers can provide building dates, and subscription lists for construction were published. Try all the newspapers—one favourably disposed to the denomination will give glowing reports whilst others less enamoured might search out the scandals.

Nonconformist Clergy

Names of clergy can be ascertained from contemporary gazetteers and the various Dictionaries of National Biography will contain many life stories, even of quite obscure clerics. Most denominations have produced magazines and Year Books which also include information on the clergy and prominent lay persons.

The denominational historical societies are likely to have indexes and files on key personalities as well. Titford (Odd Vols: Unusual Printed Sources for Family Historians. Family Tree Magazine Vol 17 #12, page 4-6, 2001) discusses unusual sources for dissenting ministers. The Society of Genealogists has a useful source called the Fawcett Index which deals with British clergymen of all persuasions as well as northern England families and this has recently been filmed; so far 42 films are available starting at FS Library film 2220327.

Nonconformist Missionaries

The major denominations all sent missionaries abroad and these records date from the 1790s. The School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London holds records for some of them and is a good springboard to research in this area.

The children of missionaries were often left in England at a denominational school, and finding a child attending one, for example on a census, may be your first clue to missionary parents. The appropriate denominational Historical Society should be approached for further information.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Non-Anglican Church Records offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at wiki@genealogicalstudies.com

We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.



The original content for this article was contributed by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies in June 2012. It is an excerpt from their course English: Non-Anglican Church Records by Dr. Penelope Christensen. The Institute offers over 200 comprehensive genealogy courses for a fee ($).