Hougham-in-Dover, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Hougham-in-Dover, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HOUGHAM (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Dovor, partly in the hundred of Bewsborough, lathe of St. Augustine, and partly within the jurisdiction of the cinque-port liberty of Dovor, E. division of Kent. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Hougham in Dover Christ Church is an Ecclesiastical Parish formed in 1844 from part of the Hougham, Kent Ancient Parish.

The Church stood on the Folkestone Road and was demolished for residential development.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hougham like this:

HOUGHAM, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Dover district, Kent. The village stands near the Southeastern railway, 1 mile from the coast, and 2½ WSW of Dover. The parish contains also the hamlets of Hougham-Court and West Hougham, and the western outskirts of the town of Dover; and is partly within Dover borough. Post town, Dover. Acres, 3, 275; of which 280 are water. Real property, exclusive of the part within Dover borough, £3, 700. Pop. of the whole, in 1851, 2, 639; in 1861, 3, 372. Houses, 389. The increase of pop. was caused by building operations of a Freehold Land Society, and by the opening of three new brickfields. Pop. of the part within Dover borough, in 1861, 2, 800. Houses, 285. The Heights barracks, the Citadel Engineers' barracks, the Western Heights hospital, the Drop redoubt, the Married Soldiers' quarters, and the Kent Artillery Militia stores are here; and, at the census of 1861, they aggregately had 1, 263 inmates. The property is much subdivided. The chapelry of Christ Church, or of Hougham-in-Dover, is within the parish; was constituted in 1844; and contained 1,803 of the pop. in 1861. The parochial living is a vicarage, and that of Christ Church is a p. curacy, in the diocese of Canterbury. Value of the former, £185; of the latter, not reported.* Patron of the former, the Archbishop of Canterbury; of the latter, Trustees. The parochial church is early English, and has been partially restored. and enlarged. The church of Christ Church is good.—The sub-district contains twelve parishes and an extraparochial tract. Acres, 19, 821. Pop., 8, 242. Houses, 1, 301

Civil Registration
See Dover Registration District

Kent County Council (KCC) has a certificate centre at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells which holds all the completed registers for Kent since 1 July 1837 and can supply a certified copy of any Kent birth, death or marriage entry from any register within its custody or a Kent civil partnership registration from the government online database.

The Mansion House (Certificate Centre) Grove Hill Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1EP

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
Hougham-in-Dover 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.

Poor Law Unions
Dover Poor Law Union, Kent

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)

Local Family History Centre
Canterbury Family History Centre, Kent

Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent


 * 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

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