Kent, England Genealogy

Kent is a maritime county located in the South East of England, and is one of the home counties.

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"KENT, a maritime county; bounded on the N, by the Thames and the German ocean; on the E, by the straits of Dover; on the SE, by the English channel; on the S, by the English channel and by Sussex; on the W by Surrey. It is separated, by the Thames, from the metropolitan part of [London] Middlesex... Its length is 64 miles; its greatest breadth, 38 miles; its circuit, about 190 miles; its area, 1,039,419 acres; its comparative [size], the 9th county of England.

"The county contains 423 parishes, parts of 2 other parishes, and 18 extra-parochial places and villages.

"The places of worship within the electoral county, in 1851, were 479 of the Church of England; 3 of the Presbyterian Church in England; 86 of Independents; 7 of General Baptists; 79 of Particular Baptists; 3 of New Connexion General Baptists; 18 of Baptists undefined; 10 of Quakers; 2 of Unitarians; 184 of Wesleyan Methodists; 1 of New Connexion Methodists; 26 of Primitive Methodists; 27 of Bible Christians; 8 of the Wesleyan Association; 4 of Wesleyan Reformers; 5 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion; 1 of the New Church; 2 of Brethren; 24 of isolated congregations; 1 of French Protestants; 2 of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; 7 of Latter Day Saints; 13 of Roman Catholics; and 5 of Jews.

"Population in was 1801, 308,667; in 1821, 427,224; in 1841, 549,353; in 1861, 733,887."

The above is taken from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). For the full version, go to Vision of Britain.

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

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

Parishes
Historically, the county of Kent consisted of 414 ancient parishes including 16 in the city of Canterbury, 3 in Hoo, 3 in Rochester, 3 in Sandwich, 2 in Deal, 2 in Deptford, and 2 in Dover. More parishes have been created as populous areas have grown.

To see a list of parishes, with links to their pages, click here.

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

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

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:


 * England,Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records)