Lancashire, England Genealogy

Lancashire is a maritime county and is located in the northern part of 'England'.

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"LANCASHIRE, a maritime and northern county bounded on the N, by Cumberland and Westmoreland, on the E by Yorkshire, on the S by Cheshire, and on the W by the Irish sea. A portion of it in the NW, forming Furness, is detached from the main body by Morecambe bay and a tongue of Westmoreland...

"Lancashire contains 69 entire parishes, divided into about 446 townships; and contains also parts of 4 other parishes, and 9 extra-parochial places. The townships here, in a general view, are more considerable than parishes in most other counties; and they have separate rates for their poor and for highways. The county is divided into the city of Manchester, the boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, and Wigan, with parts of the boroughs of Stalybridge, Stockport, and Warrington, and into the hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford, and West Derby... comprises 1,319,391 acres...

"Lancashire is governed by a lord lieutenant, a high sheriff, and about 350 magistrates; and is in the northern judiciary circuit, and in the N military district. The assizes, for the N section, are held at Lancaster; those for the S section are held at Liverpool and Manchester; quarter sessions are held at Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool, and Manchester...

"The deanery of Furness and Cartmel is in the diocese of Carlisle; the deanery of Warrington, excepting the parish of Leigh, is in the diocese of Chester; and the deaneries of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Manchester, and Tunstall, and the parish of Leigh, constitute the diocese of Manchester.

"Marriages in 1863 were 23,919, of which 6,242 were not according to the rites of the Established church; births, 95,216, of which 6,253 were illegitimate; deaths, 67,202, of which 32,408 were at ages under 5 years, and 602 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 221,212; births, 845,962; deaths, 591,784. The places of worship, in the electoral county, in 1851, were 529 of the Church of England, 5 of the Church of Scotland, 12 of the Presbyterian church in England, 5 of the United Presbyterian church, 1 of Reformed Irish Presbyterians, 170 of Independents, 100 of Baptists, 27 of Quakers, 11 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, 8 of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, 2 of Moravians, 35 of Unitarians, 300 of Wesleyan Methodists, 27 of New Connexion Methodists, 1 of Bible Christians, 1 of Independent Methodists, 81 of the Wesleyan Association, 4 of Wesleyan Reformers, 1 of Sandemanians, 21 of the New Church, 5 of Brethren, 36 of isolated congregations, 114 of Roman Catholics, 1 of the Greek Church, 1of the Catholic and Apostolic church, 15 of Latter Day Saints, and 7 of Jews...

"Population in 1801 was 673,486; in 1821 was 1,052,948; in 1841 was 1,667,054; and in 1861 was 2,429,440."

The above extract is taken from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). For the full account, go to Vision of Britain.

Civil Districts
When civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1837, Lancashire was divided into districts, each containing several parishes. To see a list of districts and the parishes they contain, click here.

Parishes
See a list of Lancashire parishes with links to their pages.

Probate Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every town and parish in Lancashire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and one or more secondary courts. To see a list of Lancashire parishes and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, go to the Lancashire Probate Records page.