Beckenham St George, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
BECKENHAM (St. George), a parish, in the union of Bromley, hundred of Bromley and Beckenham, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 1¾ mile (W.) from Bromley, and 10 (S. S. E.) from London.

Beckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley Beckenham Wikipedia

Beckenham St George is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Rochester; a map of the parish boundary may be found at A church near you.

The detached part of Battersea St Mary, Surrey Penge North West Kent Family History Society Penge St John became part of the parish in 1899.

The church of St George High Street Beckenham has been designated as a grade B listed building British listed building

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 1 (1797), pp. 527-550 at British History Online and Kent Churches website

See Beckenham North West Kent Family History Society and Beckenham St George Shortlands St Mary

Beckenham London Road Cemetery (Beckenham Cemetery) a municipal cemetery for Bromley Borough was opened in 1877 and Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery Elmers End Beckenham is also located to serve that borough.

From this Ancient Parish were created:

Beckenham Christchurch: Fairfield Rd. Built 1876; parish created 1878 from Beckenham St George.Kent Churches website Beckenham Holy Trinity: Lennard Rd. (Formerly 'Penge Lane'). Built 1878; parish created 1878 from Beckenham St George. Kent Churches website Beckenham St Barnabas: Oakhill Rd.Built 1878/84, replacing iron church; parish created 1877 from Beckenham St George. Kent Churches website Elmers End, St James: St James's Ave. Built 1879-88; parish created 1879 from Beckenham St George. New Beckenham, St Paul: Brackley Rd. Built and parish created 1872 from Beckenham St George. Kent Churches website St Michael &amp; All Angels: Birkbeck Estate (Ravenscroft Rd). Church built 1899-1906, succeeding 1877 iron church; Destroyed 1944 and rebuilt 1955-6; parish created 1907 from Beckenham St George. Kent Churches website

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
Beckenham St George 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.

Kent Online Parish Clerks has indexes available for select parishes. Records are also available at the Kent Archives.

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

Census records
Census returns for Beckenham 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

Poor Law Unions
3 Volumes Deposited Poor Books for Beckenham St George are held at Bromley Archives reference 1778 - 1802 P/19/5/6 Poor Book 1803-1829 P/19/5/3  Parish: Poor Book 1829-1836 P/19/5/5

Bromley Central Library Telephone: 020 8461 7170 Fax: 020 8466 7860 e-mail: localstudies.library@bromley.gov.uk

See England, Kent, Workhouse Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

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.

Websites
Beckenham on GENUKI