Westminster St James, Middlesex Genealogy

England   Middlesex   Westminster St James

Parish History
St James [Piccadilly] Westminster, the church of, is situated on the south side of Piccadilly, nearly opposite Sackville Street. it owes its origin to the increase of buildings in its neighborhood, and its parish is a cantlet from that of St Martin's in the Fields. It was built from the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, in the reign of Charles II, and was finished in 1683. This church may be justly considered, in spite of its mean exterior, as one of the most perfect of its great architect's designs, whether it be considered for commodiousness, beauty, or ingenuity of construction... The church was made parochial by act of parliament of the 3d James II. The parish is rectorial in the county and archdeaconry of Middlesex, in the diocese of London, and in the patronage of the Bishop of London.

[Adapted From: A Topographical Dictionary London by James Elmes; published 1831]

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
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.

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

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.

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

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

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.