England Nonconformist Church Records

Nonconformist is a term referring to Churches that did not belong to the Church of England.

Nonconformist Church Records

A nonconformist denomination is any denomination not conforming to the Church of England, including Roman Catholics, Jews, and Quakers. The registers of these religions sometimes contain more information than those of the Church of England, often including the person’s birth date, baptism date, father’s name and residence, and mother’s name (including maiden name). They rarely contain marriage records (except for Quakers and Jews).

Nonconformist registers contain some burial entries, though nonconformists were usually buried in parish churchyards until the chapel obtained its own burial grounds or until civil cemeteries opened.

It is not uncommon to find an ancestor affiliated with more than one religion during his or her lifetime. Search all religions and all chapels of a particular religion if an ancestor might be a nonconformist because some people changed religions and travelled long distances to attend their meetings. Ministers often travelled large circuits keeping the vital statistics of several places in the register they carried with them.

A law passed in 1836 required many nonconformist groups to send their registers into the Public Record Office. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of those that were deposited. Many of these records have been extracted, and the names appear in the International Genealogical Index.

Major nonconformist groups are discussed below. The following two works contain more information about nonconformist sects:

Steel, Donald J. Sources for Nonconformist Genealogy and Family History. London, England: Phillimore, 1973. (FHL book 942 V26ste, vol. 2.)

Sources for Roman Catholic and Jewish Genealogy and Family History. London, England: Phillimore, 1974. (FHL book 942 V26ste, vol. 3.)
Presbyterians, Baptists, and Independents

These religions evolved from 16th century Puritanism. The records of these religions are similar to those of the Church of England. The Baptists, however, practiced adult baptism and recorded births in birth registers, not baptism registers. The Independent Church is also known as the Congregational Church.

Many congregations did not keep consistent records. In January 1743 officials formed a central registry for births for all three denominations, called Dr. Williams’ Library.

This registry contains about 50,000 birth records. Information recorded includes the child’s name, parents’ names, birth date, address, names of witnesses, registration information, and sometimes the grandparents’ names.

The original records are housed at The National Archives. Copies of these records are on microfilm in the Family History Library to 1837. To find the film numbers, look in the Author/Title Search of the Family History Library Catalogue under:

Dr. Williams' Library (London)

The following book discusses Baptist history and records:

Breed, Geoffrey R. My Ancestors Were Baptists: How Can I Find Out More About Them? London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1988. (FHL book 942 K23bg 1988.)

For information or history about Baptists, contact:

Baptist Historical Society15 Fenshurst Gardens Long Ashton, Bristol BS18 9AU England

The Family History Library filmed pre-1837 Presbyterian records from the Presbyterian Historical Society. The Presbyterian and Congregational churches are now combined. For information or history about either denomination, contact:

United Reformed Church History Society 86 Tavistock Place LondonWC1H 9RT England

For information on Presbyterians, see:

Ruston, Alan R. My Ancestors Were English Presbyterians/Unitarians: How Can I Find Out More About Them? London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1993. (FHL book 942 K23ra.)

For information on Congregationalists or Independents, see:

Clifford, D. J. H. My Ancestors Were Congregationalists in England & Wales: With a List of Registers. London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1992. (FHL book 942 K23cd.)
Methodists

There are many forms of Methodists Societies in England: Wesleyan, Primitive, New Connexion, and so on. The Wesleyan group was the largest. They were all united under the United Methodist Church in 1932. Some groups recorded their baptisms and burials in the Church of England until the 19th century. For historical material, contact:

The Methodist Archives and Research Centre John Rylands University Library; Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH England.

To find the location of the birth and burial records, contact:

Wesley Historical Society34 Spiceland Road Northfield, Birmingham B31 1NJ England

A useful guide for tracing Methodist ancestors is:

Leary, William. My Ancestors Were Methodists: How Can I Find Out More About Them? Second Edition. London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1990. (FHL book 942 D27l 1990.)

The Wesleyan Methodist Metropolitan Registry recorded over 10,000 Wesleyan Methodist births and baptisms that occurred between 1773 and 1838 throughout England, Wales, and elsewhere. The records and indexes are on microfilm at the Family History Library and in The National Archives. Read the Archives and Libraries for the address.
Roman Catholics

Catholic priests usually did not keep registers before 1778 and many registers were written in Latin. Baptism registers usually include the names of the child’s sponsors or godparents.

Some registers have been published by the Catholic Record Society. The Family History Library has most of these published registers, which are listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalogue under one of the following:

ENGLAND, [COUNTY], [PARISH] - CHURCH RECORDS

ENGLAND, [COUNTY] - CHURCH RECORDS

For information on records not available at the library, contact the society at:

The Catholic Record Society c/o 114 Mount Street London W2Y 6AH England
Jews

Most synagogues have retained their own records. For historical information, contact:

Jewish Historical Society c/o Mocatta Library University College, Gower Street London WC1E 6BT England

Isabel Mordy collected and indexed a group of English Jewish records. This is now available in the Family History Library, listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalogue under:

England, London - Jewish records

For more information, see:

Gandy, Michael. My Ancestor Was Jewish: How Can I Find Out More About Him? London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1982. (FHL book 929.1089924 G153.)
Huguenots

This Protestant group began in France, and then spread to England as its members fled persecution. Huguenots began keeping records as early as 1567; however, few pre-1684 records still exist.

After arriving in England many Huguenots changed their names from French to English. For example, the French surname LeBlanc may have changed to White.

Until 1754 Huguenots often recorded their marriages in both Huguenot and Church of England registers. None were recorded in Huguenot registers after that date. The Huguenot Society has transcribed and published most of their original church records. You may write to them at the following address:

Huguenot Society c/o University College, Gower Street London WC1E 6BT England

The best way to locate published Huguenot records at the Family History Library is to look in the Author/Title Search of the Family History Library Catalogue under:

PUBLICATIONS OF THE HUGUENOT SOCIETY
Society of Friends

Also known as Quakers, the Society of Friends did not have appointed clergy to perform the rites of baptism. They recorded births instead. Burial registers usually include the date of death. Quakers recorded marriages to ensure their validity.

The organization of Quaker religious groups, known as "meetings," includes:

The preparative meeting or the local church group, is about the size of a parish.

The monthly meeting, made up of several preparative (local) groups, is the primary meeting for church affairs and includes records of births, marriages, and deaths.

The quarterly meeting, comprised of two to seven monthly meetings, is similar to a diocese.

The yearly meeting includes representatives from the quarterly meetings and Friends from other countries.

Quaker registers began in the late 1650s. From 1840 to 1842, the Society made digests of its records (to about 1837), which cover all English meetings. The digests are arranged first by date and then alphabetically by surname. Copies of digests and original registers are in the Family History Library. The original records are in the National Archives, England. See the "Archives and Libraries" article in the Wiki for contact information.

For a valuable booklet on this subject, refer to:

Milligan, Edward H., and Malcolm J. Thomas. My Ancestors Were Quakers: How Can I Find Out More About Them? London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1983. (FHL book 942 D27m.)

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