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England Worcestershire  Dudley

Guide to Dudley history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands of England, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of Wolverhampton and 10.5 miles (16.9 km) north-west of Birmingham. While its castle is in Staffordshire, historically the main town was always an enclave in the county of Worcestershire. With the administrative changes made by the UK Government in 1974 when it was incorporated into the county of West Midlands. Dudley covers an area of the South Staffordshire Coalfield, which contributed heavily to its growth and industrialization during the 18th century Industrial Revolution.

Dudley has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, its name deriving from the Old English Duddan Leah, meaning Dudda's clearing, and one of its churches being named in honor of the Anglo-Saxon King and Saint, Edmund.

Mentioned in the Domesday Book as Dudelei, in the hundred of Clent in Worcestershire, the town was listed as being a medium-sized manor in the possession of Earl Edwin of Mercia prior to the Norman Conquest, with William Fitz-Ansculf as Lord of the Manor in 1086. Dudley Castle, constructed in 1070 by William's father Ansculf de Picquigny after his acquisition of the town, served as the seat of the extensive Barony of Dudley, which possessed estates in eleven different counties across England.

The castle provided the center from which the town and borough grew, with early coal and iron workings helping establish Dudley as a major market town during the Middle Ages, selling not only agricultural produce, but also iron goods at a national level.

During the English Civil War Dudley served as a Royalist stronghold, with the castle besieged twice by the Parliamentarians and later partly demolished on the orders of the Government after the Royalist surrender.

Dud Dudley, an illegitimate son of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley and Elizabeth Tomlinson, devised a method of smelting Iron ore using coke at his father's works in Cradley and Pensnett Chase, though his trade was unsuccessful due to circumstances of the time. Abraham Darby was descended from Dud Dudley's sister, Jane, and was the first person to produce iron commercially using coke instead of charcoal at his works in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire in 1709. Abraham Darby was born near Wrens Nest Hill near the town of Dudley and it is claimed that he may have known about Dud Dudley's earlier work.

Dudley's population grew dramatically during the 18th and 19th centuries because of the increase in industry, with the main industries including coal and limestone mining.[21] Other industries included iron, steel, engineering, metallurgy, glass cutting, textiles and leather-working.

With the decline of industry in Dudley since the end of WWII, the area has had an extremely high level of unemployment, resulting in the closure of many businesses in the town.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Luton has only one cemetery and crematorium. The name and address follows:

Vale Cemetery and Crematorium


 * 111 Butterfield Green Road
 * Luton, Bedfordshire, England

Some useful websites for access to Luton graves follow:


 * findagrave.com


 * billion graves: Luton Vale Cemetery

Parishes
Luton has a number of Anglican Churches. They follow:

St Mary's


 * Church Street
 * Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 3JF

St Paul's


 * New Town Street
 * Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3EB

St Francis'


 * Carteret Road
 * Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 9JZ
 * Tel 01582 451132

St Luke's


 * High Street
 * Leagrave
 * Luton, Bedfordshire LU4 9JY

Non Conformists
The following Christian churches are active in Luton:


 * Baptist
 * Chinese Christian
 * Hope Church
 * Methodist
 * Pentecostal
 * Roman Catholic
 * Salvation Army
 * Seventh Day Adventist
 * Ukrainian Greek Catholic

Additionally the following non-Christian groups have assemblies in Luton:


 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Muslim

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths records have been kept by government since July 1837 to the present day. Prior to that, local parishes of the Church of England, and local branches of other faiths were the only repositories of this information.

Luton does not have its own BMD office.

Useful sites follow:


 * ukbmd: Bedfordshire


 * Bedfordshire County Council


 * genuki Bedfordshire records

Local Histories

 * local histories: Luton


 * History of Luton by Anne Allsopp


 * Luton Past and Present by Robert Cook

Maps and Gazetteers

 * oldmapsonline: Bedfordshire


 * my-towns: Luton


 * britain express; Bedfordshire Gazetteer


 * genuki Bedfordshire Gazetteer

Newspapers
Luton does not have a full size daily newspaper. News for Luton comes from a number of sources, including:


 * Luton Today


 * Bedford Today

Occupations
As a primary bedroom city for London, many of the occupations available are in the city, and in Finance, Insurance, and Services. Local employment can be found at the Luton Airport, as well as suck companies as the local University Hospital, Carlisle Security Services, and the local campus of the University of Bedfordshire.

Societies

 * Bedfordshire Family History Society


 * Bedfordshire local history association

Archives

 * Bedfordshire Archives


 * Luton Borough Archives

Web Sites

 * wikipedia; Luton


 * Luton Borough