Dewsbury, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  West Riding  Dewsbury

Parish History
To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes. 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.'

Civil Registration
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
Dewsbury is an 'ancient' parish (created before 1813) in the diocese of Wakefield. Church of England records for Dewsbury All Saints survive from 1538. 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. Microfilm/fiche copies are available at archive branches such as Leeds at Sheepscar and Kirklees in Huddersfield.

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. Many of these records are indexed in the International Genealogical Index available online through the 'Advanced Search' at www.familysearch.org.

Cemeteries
Transcripts of monumental inscriptions for Dewsbury may be found at the West Yorkshire Archives, Kirklees Branch, at the Central Library, Huddersfield.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a number of transcripts of monumental inscriptions for, which are available on microfilm through family history centers. Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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

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