Dewsbury, Yorkshire Genealogy

England &gt; Yorkshire &gt; West Riding &gt; Dewsbury

Parish History
For historical information, see these sources:


 * the GENUKI page for Dewsbury.
 * the entry for Dewsbury from Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) found at 'British History Online.'
 * the entry for Dewsbury from Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) found at 'Vision of Britain.'

Neighboring Parishes
The following is a list of the parishes and chapelries neighboring to Dewsbury, with the earliest date of their surviving records.


 * Alverthorpe (1825)
 * Batley (1559)
 * Birstall (1558)
 * East Ardsley (1654)
 * Heckmondwike (1831)
 * Horbury (1598)
 * Mirfield (1559)
 * Thornhill (1580)
 * Wakefield (1613)
 * West Ardsley (1652)

Parish Records
Dewsbury is an 'ancient' parish (created before 1813). Church of England records began in 1538, and those for Dewsbury All Saints survive from that date. Other pre-1837 Church of England (Anglican) churches in Dewsbury parish include:


 * St. Peter's Hartshead (with records from 1612)
 * Holy Trinity Ossett (from 1792)
 * St. Paul's Hanging-Heaton (from 1825)
 * St. John the Evangelist Dewsbury-Moor (from 1827)
 * St. Peter's Earls-Heaton (from 1827)

The original registers are deposited at the West Yorkshire Archives in Wakefield.

The copies made by the minister (ordered by an Act of 1598) and sent each year to the Bishop of the diocese (known as parish register transcripts or Bishop's transcripts) survive from 1600 and are deposited at the West Yorkshire Archives branch in Sheepscar, Leeds.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has both parish registers and bishop's transcripts on microfilm for Dewsbury and its chapelries, which are listed in the Family History Library Catalog.