Great Ilford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes

Parish History
Great Ilford was created a chapelry in Barking ancient parish in 1831; Ilford was historically known as Great Ilford to differentiate it from nearby parish of Little Ilford, in the London Borough of Newham. Ilford belongs to the East London sub-region. The name is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ilefort and means ford over the Hyle; an old name for the River Roding that means "trickling stream". Little Ilford shares the origin.

Ilford formed a ward in the large ancient parish of Barking, in the Becontree hundred of Essex. The parish authorities gradually lost responsibility for a variety of functions during the 19th century; from 1836, for the administration of poor relief, Ilford came within the Romford Poor Law Union and in 1840 the Metropolitan Police District was extended to cover the area. In 1875 the Romford rural sanitary district was created, covering a wide area including Ilford. In 1888 Ilford and the neighbouring ward of Chadwell to east were split from Barking and together formed a separate Ilford civil parish. In 1890 a local board of health was set up for the parish, replacing the rural sanitary authority, and in 1894 a reform of local government reconstituted it as an urban district. It formed part of the London Traffic Area from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. It was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Ilford in 1926. The suburban expansion of London caused a significant increase in population and the borough became one of the largest in England not to gain county borough status. In 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its former area was combined with that of Wanstead and Woodford, the northern extremity of Dagenham and a small part Chigwell Urban District around Hainault; it was removed from Essex and since then has formed the greater part of the London Borough of Redbridge in Greater London.

Here is an 1870 historical perspective on this township chapelry:

"ILFORD (GREAT), a small town, a chapelry, and a ward in Barking parish, Essex. The town stands on the river Roding, and on the Eastern Counties railway, near Epping forest, 3½ miles ENE of Stratford; is within the jurisdiction of the central criminal court and the Metropolitan police; and has a station of the name of Ilford on the railway, a post office of the same name under London E, a police station, a reading room, a church, Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, a national school, and an endowed hospital with a chapel. The church is a modern edifice, of white brick, in the lancet style; and has pinnacles at the corners, a large cross over the E window, and a tower with light spire. The hospital was founded, for lepers, in the time of Henry II., by an abbess of Barking; was reconstituted by Queen Elizabeth, for six poor men, and for a town chaplain; is an edifice of the 15th century, much modified by alterations and repairs; forms three sides of a quadrangle, with the chapel on the S side; is under the Marquis of Salisbury, as master and patron; and has an income of £65. The river Roding was made navigable to the town about the year 1738.—The chapelry was constituted in 1836; included then BarkingSide, Aldborough-Hatch, Chadwell-Street, and a portion of Hainault Forest; and was reconstituted, to the exclusion of Barking-Side, in 1841. Rated property, inc. of Barking-Side, £24, 200. Pop., in 1861, exc. of Barking-Side, 3, 688. Houses, 750. The property is much subdivided. Fossil remains, comprising very large bones of oxen, horns and bones of stags, a spiral horn, 13 feet long, and the head, teeth, and bones of an elephant different from the elephants of Asia or Africa, were discovered, in 1812, in a field near the river Roding; and other fossil remains, including teeth and tusks of the hippopotamus, were found in a neighbouring field. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of London. Value, £430. Patron, All Souls College, Oxford. The vicarage of Aldborough Hatch is a separate benefice.-The ward is more extensive than the chapelry. Pop. in 1851, 3, 745; in 1861, 4, 523. Houses, 903."

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870))

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

Census records
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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
Romford 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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