East Ham, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
East Ham St Mary Magdalene is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Other places in the parish include: Greenstreet. A settlement in the area named Ham is first recorded as Hamme in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 958 and then in the 1086 Domesday Book as Hame. It is formed from Old English 'hamm' and means 'a dry area of land between rivers or marshland', referring the location of the settlement within boundaries formed by the rivers Lee, Thames and Roding and their marshes.

The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene dates to the first half of the 12th century and is claimed to be the oldest parish church still in use in Greater London. It contains a memorial to an Edmond Nevill, who laid claim to the attainted title of Earl of Westmoreland in the 17th century.

There has reputedly been a church on this site since before the Norman Conquest of 1066 although the present church is thought to date from no earlier than the first half of the 12th century. The tower probably dates from the early 13th century, but has been much restored. The church suffered from bomb damage in 1941, including the loss of all of its stained glass windows.

The churchyard covers an area of about 9.5 acres but has recently been closed for burials. Since 1977 most of the churchyard has been left as a nature reserve, managed by the London Borough of Newham as East Ham Nature Reserve, although this area around the church is maintained for worshippers and weddings.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

From 1894 East Ham formed the East Ham Urban District of Essex and was incorporated as a borough on 10 August 1903. As a result of popular pressure East Ham sought and obtained county borough status; becoming, in modern terms, a unitary authority on 1 April 1915 and remaining such until 1965 when it was abolished and its former area was merged with that of the County Borough of West Ham to form the London Borough of Newham.

The principal offices of Newham Council were located at the junction of Barking Road and High Street South in the former East Ham Town Hall, a Grade II listed Edwardian structure designed by A. H. Campbell, H. Cheers and J. Smith, and including a landmark clock tower. Built between 1901 and 1903, the Town Hall was opened by Passmore Edwards on 5 February 1903. The council moved to Building 1000 on Dockside in 2009.

Contributor: Please add separate and linked pages for each of the denominations churches in the area of the Ancient parish (see church records).

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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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

Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office

St Mary Magdalene High St South Baptisms 1701-1960 Marriages 1696-1982 Burials 1700-1960: ERO Baptisms 1960- date Marriages 1982- date Burials 1960-1975: Not deposited

Monumental Inscriptions: EoLFHS Publications

St Andrew Roman Rd Beckton Baptisms 1934-1952 Marriages 1946-1952: ERO

St Bartholomew Barking Rd Baptisms 1945-1952 Marriages 1903-1977: ERO Baptisms 1952- date Marriages 1977- date: Not deposited

St George and St Ethelbert Burford Rd Baptisms 1923-1955 Marriages 1924-1967: ERO Baptisms 1955- date Marriages 1967- date: Not deposited

St John the Baptist High Street North Marriages 1871-1902: ERO

St Michael and All Angels Beckton Rd Beckton Baptisms 1909-1941 Marriages 1924-1941: ERO

St Paul Burges Rd Baptisms 1924- date Marriages 1925- date: Not deposited

St Michael (Roman Catholic) Tilbury Rd Formed 1926

Primitive Methodist Chapel High St. South Marriages 1913-1940: ERO

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Abbotts Park Baptisms 1893-1904: ERO

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
West Ham Poor Law Union, Essex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex 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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.