St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, England Genealogy

St Martin in the Fields

Guide to St Martin in the fields, Middlesex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: Parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

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The Parish of St Martins in the Fields
Type	Ancient Parish
Civil Jurisdictions
County	Middlesex
Hundred	Westminster
Poor Law Union	St Martin in the Fields
Registration District	St Martin in the Fields
Records Begin
Parish registers	1550
Bishop's Transcripts	1800
Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions
Rural Deanery	Not created until 1858
Diocese	London
Province	Canterbury
Probate Court	Court of the Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster (Abbey)
Archive
Middlesex Record Office

Parish History

Westminsterstmartin.jpg

St. Martin-in-the-Fields is a parish, in the city and liberty of Westminster. The patron is the Bishop. Other churches standing within its boundaries included those listed below. St. Martin-in-the-Fields parish, stood in the city and liberty of Westminster. St Martin-in-the-Fields parish was one of about 13 parishes within the City. To view or print out an excellent and helpful list of all of the parishes and their attached chapels for the City of Westminster, visit the City of Westminster Archives "Parishes" page. ^[1]

The church of St. Martin's in the Fields is situated on the northern side of the western extremity of the Strand, and derives its name from being dedicated to St. Martin an Hungarian Saint, who was distinguished for his ferocity against the Arians, and its addition from its former situation in the fields.

The original church on this site is of great antiquity, as there are authentic records of the dispute between the abbot of Westminster and the Bishop of London, concerning the exemption of this church from episcopal jurisdiction. At the time of the Reformation the church was in such bad condition that Henry VIII had built a small church at his own expense, which being found not sufficiently capacious, was much enlarged in 1607 at the expense of Prince Henry and some of the nobility. At length after many expensive repairs, that building was taken down in 1721, and the first stone laid shortly after. It was finished, consecrated and opened for divine service in 1726.

'King George I who laid the first stone, gave the workmen a hundred guineas; and when the church was nearly finished he presented the parish with £1500 pounds for an organ.

'This church is remarkably handsome edifice of the Florida Roman or Italian style of architecture,designed by James Gibbs. The interior is richly ornamented and has a splendid appearance. 'This parish is supposed to have been abstracted from that of St. Margaret, Westminster. The advowson is a vicarage in the county and archdeaconry of Middlesex, in the diocese of London, and in the patronage of the Bishop of London.'^[2]

The following churches at some point, stood within the civil parish of St Martin-in-the-Field by act of Parliament:

St Martin le Grand, Westminster - pulled down in 1548 ^[3]
St Matthews, Spring Gardens Chapel - 1731 ^[4]
St. Michael, Burleigh St. - 1848
St. John the Evangelist, Drury Lane - 1855

Resources

Find Neighboring Parishes

Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map

Type the name of the parish in the search bar
Click on the location pin on the map
Choose Options from the pop up box
Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

Cemeteries

1595-1703 Monumental Inscriptions in the Churches of St. Bartholomew the Great & St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 1595-1703(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
1800-1886 St. Martin's Burial Ground, Camden-town, Middlesex (ca. 1800-1886)(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
1806-1856 Index to St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, Middlesex(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
1806-1856 Index to St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, Middlesex(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
1642-1857 St. Martin-the-Fields, Burial Records, 1642-1857(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images

Civil Registration

Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day.

See England Civil Registration for online resources and information.

Church Records

The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor.
Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England

Due to the increasing access of online records:

Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified

Dates in the following table are approximate

Hover over the collection's title for more information

St Martin in the Fields Online Parish Records
Collections	Baptisms		Marriages		Burials
	Indexes and images	Indexes only	Indexes and images	Indexes only	Indexes and images	Indexes only
FamilySearch Collections-Middlesex	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-
FamilySearch Parish Registers-Middlesex	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-
Bishop's Transcripts - FamilySearch Catalog	1700s-1800s	-	1700s-1800s	-	1700s-1800s	-
FreeREG	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s
Findmypast-Middlesex ($)	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1400s-1900s
Findmypast (Westminster)-Middlesex ($)	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1400s-1900s
Findmypast Banns-Middlesex ($)	-	-	-	1700s-1800s	-	-
Ancestry-London Church of England BMD (Early) ($)	1500s-1800s	-	1500s-1800s	-	1500s-1800s	-
Ancestry-London Church of England BMD (Late) ($)	1800s-1900s	-	1700s-1900s	-	1800s-2000s	-
Ancestry Marriage Bonds and Allegations-London and Surrey ($)	-	-	1600s-1900s	-	-	-
Ancestry-England & Wales, Birth, Christening, Marriage and Death Indexes ($)	-	1500s-1900s 1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s 1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s
Databases with Known Incomplete Parish Coverage
Boyd's Marriage Indexes-FMP (Free)	-	-	-	1500s-1800s	-	-
National Burial Index-FMP (Free)	-	-	-	-	-	1600s-1800s

Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.

Joiner Marriage Index - Middlesex ($)
The Genealogist Parish Registers - Middlesex ($)
UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Nonconformist Records

"Nonconformist" is a term referring to religious denominations other than an established or state church. In England, the state church is the Church of England.

1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast - index & images ($); coverage may vary
1841-1964 Westminster, London, England, Non-Conformist Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1841-1964 at Ancestry ($); index & images (dates may vary by parish)

Census Records

Census records from 1841 to 1911 are available online. For access, see England Census Records and Indexes Online. Census records from 1841 to 1891 are also available on film through a FamilySearch Center or at the FamilySearch Library.

1600s-1800 Occupiers of Houses

Occupiers of houses at British History Online

1755-1840 Land Tax

The Westminster, Poor Law and Parish Administration collection at Findmypast (£) includes St Martin in the Fields Land Tax records (1755-1840).

Probate Records

Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Cemetery

A 1940 survey of monuments and wall tablets in the crypt is available online.^[5]

Findagrave is an international database of cemetery interments. In some cases there are photographs and comments regarding the deceased's family. It is a collaborative project, meaning any volunteer may add names and photos. As of 2016 it contained over 150 million burial records and 75 million photos. ^[6]

Poor Law Union

St Martin-in-the-Fields Settlement Examinations Index (1732-1775) is available online at the Westminster Archives.

Before the formation of Poor Law Unions the workhouse for the parish was established. Refer to http://www.londonlives.org/static/Workhouses.jsp#toc3 for history and free online searchable database 1680 - 1820 for the parish records.

The Westminster, Poor Law and Parish Administration collection at Findmypast (£) includes:

1514-1840 - St Martin in the Fields, Examinations
1574-1834 - St Martin in the Fields, Bastardy records
1638-1802 - St Martin in the Fields, Apprentices
1638-1871 - St Martin in the Fields, Paupers
1660-1856 - St Martin in the Fields, Workhouses

On 29th April, 1835, St Martin's became a Poor Law Parish under the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Its poor relief activities were then overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 24 in number.

In 1868, St Martin's parish was incorporated into the Strand Poor Law Union. The St Martin's workhouse was demolished in 1871 to make way for an extension to the National Gallery. Records are held at:

City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann's Street, London SW1P 2DE.

Extensive holdings include:

Churchwardens' and overseers' minutes (1755-64, 1772-1892, indexed 1774-84, 1856-63);
List of churchwardens and overseers (1755-1856, indexed);
Churchwardens' and overseers' accounts (1598-1844);
Lists of the poor in churchwardens' accounts (1741-42, 1758-61);
Workhouse building minutes (1770-83);
Workhouse sub-committee reports (1817-22);
Workhouse admission and discharge registers (1725-29, 1741-1846);
Workhouse admission registers (1818-33);
Workhouse day books including admissions and discharges (1737-1826);
Workhouse selling books [forfeits of food in return for day out] (1826-35);
Workhouse building accounts (1770-1830);
Workhouse accounts (1725-50);
List of lunatics in workhouse day book (1744-48);
Lists of nurses and children (1762-3, 1768-9, 1779-95); etc.

London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R OHB.
Holdings for St Martin-in-the-Fields workhouse: Admissions and discharges (1824-70); Births and deaths (1848-57); etc. Other holdings: Guardians' minute books (1836-68).

Websites

References

↑ Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) Adapted. Date accessed: 22 January 2014.
↑ James Elmes, A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs (London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, 1831). Adapted. Digitised by Google Books.
↑ Dunn, P.B, Guide to Ancestral Research in London. (Salt Lake City, UT: 2010)
↑ British-History.ac.uk St. Matthew, Spring Gardens Chapel (redundant by 1885) Adapted. Date Accessed: 22 Jan 2014
↑ 'The church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields: Monuments', Survey of London: volume 20: St Martin-in-the-Fields, pt III: Trafalgar Square and Neighbourhood (1940), pp. 31-54. British History Online, accessed: 15 March 2012.
↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Find_a_Grave

[1] Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) Adapted. Date accessed: 22 January 2014.

[elmes-2] James Elmes, A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs (London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, 1831). Adapted. Digitised by Google Books.

[3] Dunn, P.B, Guide to Ancestral Research in London. (Salt Lake City, UT: 2010)

[4] British-History.ac.uk St. Matthew, Spring Gardens Chapel (redundant by 1885) Adapted. Date Accessed: 22 Jan 2014

[5] 'The church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields: Monuments', Survey of London: volume 20: St Martin-in-the-Fields, pt III: Trafalgar Square and Neighbourhood (1940), pp. 31-54. British History Online, accessed: 15 March 2012.

[6] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Find_a_Grave

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