Belper, Derbyshire Genealogy

England Derbyshire  Derbyshire Parishes

Guide to Belper, Derbyshire family history and genealogy: parish registers (baptism, christening, marriage, and burial records), civil registration (birth, marriage, and death records), census records, history, wills, cemetery, online transcriptions and indexes, an interactive map and websites.

Parish History
BELPER, a market-town and chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Duffield, hundred of Appletree, S. division of the county of Derby, 8 miles (N.) from Derby, and 134 (N. N. W.) from London with nearly the whole of the ecclesiastical parish of Bridge-Hill. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Unitarians. The union of Belper comprises 35 parishes.

Church records
Belper Chapelry registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

Belper St. Peter was created as a chapelry in Duffield parish in 1783, with St. John the Baptist chapel built in 1824, and made a civil parish in 1843. Parish registers for baptisms start in 1783 and burials in 1794, while marriages begin in 1847. The original registers are held at the Derbyshire Record Office (call no.: D2609A/PI/1/1-2, D2609A/PI/2/1-6, D2609A/PI/3/1-7, P1928/PI/4/1, D1928/PI/5/1-4, D2609A/6/1/1-3). They have been microfilmed and are available through the Family History Library. The records include an index.

Bishop's Transcripts are available for 1783-1832 (with 1815 and 1825 missing), also available on film through the Family History Library.

To find the names of neighbouring parishes, use Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Non-Conformist Churches

 * Christians, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * General Baptist
 * Independent/Congregational
 * Methodist New Connexion
 * Primitive Methodist
 * Roman Catholic
 * Unitarian
 * Wesleyan Methodist
 * Wesleyan Methodist Reform

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Registration District

 * Belper

Poor Law Unions
Belper Poor Law Union, Derbyshire

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

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain