Chelsfield, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Chelsfield, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
CHELSFIELD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Bromley, hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-At-Hone, W division of Kent, 6¼ miles SE from Bromley. At Farnborough, in the parish, is a chapel of ease. Date accessed: 15 October 2012.

Chelsfield is now part of the London Borough of Bromley but until 1934 the village and civil parish included Pratt's Bottom, Cudham, Green Street and part of Orpington.
 * See Chelsfield Wikipedia,
 * Cudham Wikipedia
 * Pratt's Bottom Wikipedia

Chelsfield St Martin of Tours is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Rochester. Farnborough, Kent was formed as a chapelry in this parish.

Church website includes helpful link to "Chelsfield families" for family historians. A Church near You

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 2 (1797), pp. 83-97 at British History Online and Kent Churches website

Well Hill Mission church is within the parish boundary. Chelsfield also included a Wesleyan Methodist Church.
 * Green St Green Baptist Church
 * Green Street Green Wikipedia
 * Chelsfield North West Kent Family History Society
 * Chelsfield St Martin of Tours

Civil Registration
See Bromley Registration district

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

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Original records ar held at the Bromley Local Studies Library, High Street Bromley, BR1 1EX: Telephone 020 8461 7170 Fax: 020 8466 7860 e-mail: localstudies.library@bromley.gov.uk

Land Tax
Images for Chelsfield are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1831

Census records
Census returns for Chelsfield 1841-1891

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Category:England Family History Centres to locate local Family History Centres in UK
 * Introduction to Family History Centers to locate outside UK.
 * Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.


 * Ancestry UK Census Collection


 * Find my Past census search 1841-1901

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats, merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved.

Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search.


 * Find my Past 1911 census search

Local Family History Centre

 * Orpington Family History Centre, Kent is within the London Borough of Bromley, located adjacent to Orpington Station and on major bus routes through the borough.

FHC Portal This centre has access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access in the centre to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

Publication of the restricted access images England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records and England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records means that it is advisable to telephone the centre to reserve a computer if you wish to view these collections using the portal.

Poor Law Unions

 * Bromley Poor Law Union

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Kent Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.


 * See England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.&lt;br&gt;


 * England Jurisdictions 1851 *Vision of Britain

Websites
Chelsfield on GENUKI