Gloucestershire, England Genealogy

England Gloucestershire

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Gloucestershire is an inland but partly a maritime county located in South West England. It borders on Monmouthshire to the west.

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“GLOUCESTERSHIRE, or Gloucester, an inland, but partly maritime, county of England; bounded, on the NW, by Herefordshire and Worcestershire; on the N, by Worcestershire and Warwickshire; on the E, by Oxfordshire; on the SE, by Berks and Wilts; on the S, by Wilts and Somerset; on the W, by the Severn's estuary and by Monmouthshire... and its area is 805,102 acres... The hill section extends from end to end of the county; is, in some parts, 8 miles broad; bears the name of Cotswolds...

“The county contains 356 parishes or quasi-parishes, parts of 5 others, and 10 extra-parochial tracts...

“Gloucestershire is governed by a lord lieutenant, about 60 deputy lieutenants, and about 390 magistrates. It is in the Oxford judicial circuit, and in the Home military district. The assizes and the quarter sessions are held at Gloucester... The entire county is in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol... The places of worship in the political county, in 1851, were 433 of the Church of England, 96 of Independents, 102 of Baptists, 12 of Quakers, 7 of Unitarians, 3 of Moravians, 144 of Wesleyan Methodists, 30 of Primitive Methodists, 7 of Bible Christians, 3 of the Wesleyan Association, 30 of Wesleyan Reformers, 11 of Calvinistic Methodists, 1 of the New Church, 8 of Brethren, 16 of isolated congregations, 9 of Latter Day Saints, 14 of Roman Catholics, and 2 of Jews.

“Population in 1801 was 250,723; in 1821, 336,190; in 1841, 431,495; in 1861, 485,770.”

The above extract comes from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). To see the full version, go to Vision of Britain.

Jurisdictions
Use an interactive mapto find jurisdictions for each parish in Gloucestershire.

Church Records
In February, 2015, Ancestry.co.uk published well over a one-million names database for the county from early to beyond 1900. In addition, FindMyPast.co.uk published a Bristol City parish register online index from early to 1939. Add to these excellent resources, FamilySearch.org's available online Gloucestershire and a Bristol City parish register database on its website as well--with over 70 percent of the county's Church of England parish registers transcribed (from 1538 to at least 1812 and some parishes up 1875 or beyond). Family history researchers now have access to a rich reservoir of online historical data for tracing their ancestry in this southwestern England county.

Civil Registration Districts
When civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1837, Gloucestershire was divided into civil registration districts, each containing several parishes. To see a list of civil districts and the parishes they contain, click here.

Read more about England Civil Registration.

Parishes
Here is an alphabetical list of the historic Gloucestershire parishes, with links to their own pages.

Probates
Before 1858, every town and parish in Gloucestershire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and one or more secondary courts. To see a list of Gloucestershire parishes and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, go to Gloucestershire Probate Jurisdictions.

Abstracts of Wills. Article is a collection of Abstracts of Wills gathered from many sources covering 1654-1837 and includes Courtland SCHUYLER, formerly of Cheltenham, Co. Gloucester, but late of Cove, near Cork, Ireland dated 21 Sept. 1819 - Will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 26 March 1822. Article found in The Irish Ancestor, vol.II, no.2, 1970, pages 117-127, Family History Ref. 941.5 B2i

Web Sites

 * Gloucestershire Resources and help pages on RootsChat Gloucestershire Resources and help pages. (Free).

To view a further list of web sites and/or web pages for Gloucestershire and many of its parishes, visit FHLFavorites.info.