St Helen Bishopsgate, London Genealogy

England London  London Parishes  St Helen Bishopsgate

Parish History
St Helen Bishopsgate, the church of, is situated nearly in the middle of great St. Helens. It derives its name from its being dedicated to St. Helen's, the mother of Constantine the great, and escaped the great fire in 1666. You prepared and the new tower built in 1669, and contains many curious monuments among which is that of Francis Bancroft, who founded the alms houses called after his name. The patronage of his church appears to have been very anciently in lay hands, for in the reign of Henry the second, Randolph and his son, Robert, granted it to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, by whom it was afterwards granted to William Fitzwilliam, who, in 1212 founded the priory of St. Helen, and conferred advowson of the church on prior S. and nuns, in whom it continued till the suppression of their convent in 1539 when it devoled to the crown. In 1551, Edward VI granted it to Ridley, Bishop of London and his successors, which was confirmed by Queen Mary, in 1553; but it appears to have again reverted to the crown; for in 1568, Queen Elizabeth granted it, by lease to Caesar Aldermary Thomas Colcel in trust for the parishioners, for a term of 21 years. This church is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of London...

James Elmes, M.R. I. A., Architect. In “A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Envirions,” (London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, 1831). Adapted.

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.

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

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Census records

 * Inhabitants of London in 1638 - St Helen Bishopsgate, courtesy: British History Online

Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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.

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

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

Web sites

 * Society of Genealogists Library Catalogue (to narrow results, conduct a subject search for 'London St Helen')