St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex Genealogy

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England

Parish History
St. Martin's in the Fields the church of, is situated on the northern side of the western extremity of the Strand, and derives its name from being dedicated to St. Martin an Hungarian Saint, who was distinguished for his ferocity against the Arians, and it's addition from its former situation in the fields.

The original church on this site is of great antiquity, as there are authentic records of the dispute between the abbot of Westminster and the Bishop of London,concerning the exemption of this church from episcopal jurisdiction. At the time of the Reformation the church was in such bad condition that Henry VIII had built a small church at his own expense, which being found not sufficiently capacious, was much enlarged in 1607 at the expense of Prince Henry and some of the nobility. At length after many expensive repairs, that building was taken down in 1721, and the first stone laid shortly after. It was finished, consecrated and opened for divine service in 1726.

King George I who laid the first stone, gave the workmen a hundred guineas; and when the church was nearly finished he presented the parish with £1500 pounds for an organ.

This church is remarkably handsome edifice of the Florida Roman or Italian style of architecture,designed by James Gibbs. The interior is richly ornamented and has a splendid appearance.

This parish is supposed to have been abstracted from that of St. Margaret, Westminster .The advowson is a vicarage in the county and archdeaconry of Middlesex, in the diocese of London, and in the patronage of the Bishop of London. [Adapted from: A Topographical Dictionary of London by James Elmes; published 1831]

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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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
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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.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851


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Web sites
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