Seaforth, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Seaforth St Thomas was a chapel of ease with an ecclesiastical district created in 1816 from, and lying within the boundaries of Sefton, Lancashire Ancient Parish. Part of Seaforth also lay within Litherland Christ Church, Lancashire chapelry.

It was founded in 1815. The church building closed in 1976 and was demolished in 1990. Services moved to the parish hall.

The modern parish is Litherland St Andrew with Seaforth St Thomas part of the Bootle Team ministry benefice in the Bootle deanery of the Diocese of Liverpool.

Seaforth is situated between Waterloo in the north, Litherland to the east, Bootle to the south, and the River Mersey and the Port of Liverpool to the west. It is mainly an area of Victorian terraced housing.

Seaforth is historically part of Lancashire. Seaforth joined Crosby Municipal Borough in 1937 having previously been part of Waterloo with Seaforth urban district. The whole of Crosby became part of the new Metropolitan Borough of Sefton on 1 April 1974.

The name of Seaforth is thought to come from the Old Norse sæ-fjord, sæ-ford, "sea inlet". It was recorded as Safforde "sea ford" in 1128, suggesting Old English name origins. Another theory for the name of the area is that the name was taken from 'Seaforth House', a former mansion located in the area, which took its name from the name of the family who owned it.

Seaforth Dock opened in 1972 and is the largest dock facility on the River Mersey. It is part of the Port of Liverpool and Liverpool Freeport.

"SEAFORTH, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish of Sefton, union and hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 5 miles (N.) from Liverpool; containing 1869 inhabitants. It is beautifully situated on the shore of Bootle bay, with views of New Brighton, the Cheshire hills, and the Welsh mountains; and is studded with the villas and seats of Liverpool merchants. Several of the houses are very handsome: Seaforth House, a spacious and elegant mansion, belongs to Sir John Gladstone, Bart. The line of the Southport railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool canal, run through the district. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £100, with a good house and two acres of land; patron, Sir John Gladstone, from whom, in 1855, the patronage will pass to the Rector of Sefton. The church, dedicated to St. Thomas, was erected in 1815, at the expense of the patron, and is a neat cruciform edifice in the early English style, with a small tower. Attached are boys', girls', and infants' schools."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 36-40. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51261 Date accessed: 21 July 2010.

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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Church records
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts 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

Parish registers for St. Thomas' Church, Seaforth Microfilm copy of original records at the Liverpool Record Office. Liverpool Record Office no.: THS 2/1-12, 3/1-5, 5/1-2.

Baptisms, 1839-1871. FHL BRITISH Film 1546064 Items 8 - 9 Baptisms, 1870-1937. FHL BRITISH Film 1546065 Marriages, 1870-1939. FHL BRITISH Film 1546066 Marriages, 1939-1956. Banns, 1950-1966. FHL BRITISH Film 1546067 Items 1 - 3 Bishop's transcripts for Seaforth, Great Crosby, and Waterloo Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Seaforth, Great Crosby and Waterloo are chapelries in the parish of Sefton, Lancashire.

Baptisms, 1840, 1855-1859, 1873-1877 (Seaforth); baptisms, 1749-1869 and burials, 1854-1869 (Great Crosby); baptisms 1841-1847, 1868- 1870 and marriages, 1870 (Waterloo). FHL BRITISH Film 1468974 Item 2

Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
West Derby, Lancashire Poor Law Union

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire 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

Web sites
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.