Liberty of the Rolls, Middlesex Genealogy

Guide to Liberty of the rolls, Middlesex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: Parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
The Liberty of the Rolls was a liberty, and civil parish from 1866, in the metropolitan area of London, England.

It consisted of the part of the ancient parish of St Dunstan in the West that was in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex, the rest was within the City of London. It became a separate civil parish in 1866.

Named perhaps for the ancient Rolls House upon Chancery Lane where the rolls of the Court of Chancery of England were kept, or perhaps, like other parishes, its more recent chapel. The site of the house and chapel was later associated with the Public Record Office, and currently occupied by a library of King's College London.

It was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works.

In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922.

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
Liberty of the Rolls parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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

Records are also available at the London Metropolitan Archives.

1634-1900 Rate Books

 * Westminster Rate Books at findmypast - (£).

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
The Westminster, Poor Law and Parish Administration collection at findmypast includes:


 * 1685-1832 - Precinct of Liberty of the Rolls, Paupers
 * 1685-1832 - Precinct of Liberty of the Rolls, Examinations

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