Stratford St John, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Stratford St John is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Essex, created in 1844 from West Ham, Essex Ancient Parish.

The name is first recorded in 1067 as Strætforda and means 'ford on a Roman road'. It is formed from Old English 'stræt' and 'ford'. The crossing is that of the London to Colchester road over one of the many branches of the River Lea to the west of the settlement. The nearby settlement of Bow —over the River Lea and now in Tower Hamlets— was also known as Stratford and a variety of suffixes were used to distinguish the two. The settlement to the east of the Lea was also known as Estratford refererring to the location east of the other Stratford, Statford Hamme alluding to the location within the parish of West Ham, with Abbei Stratford and Stretford Langthorne both referring to the presence of Stratford Langthorne Abbey.

Stratford was one of three ancient wards in the large parish of West Ham, in the Becontree hundred of Essex. It came within the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. Despite forming part of the built up area of London the parish remained outside the statutory metropolitan area established in 1855 and the County of London established in 1889. Instead, administrative reform was undertaken in the area in much the same way as a large provincial town. A local board was formed in 1856 under the Public Health Act 1848 and subsequently the parish was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1886. In 1889 the borough was large enough in terms of population to become a county borough and was outside the area of responsibility of Essex County Council. Stratford formed the centre of administration of the county borough and was the location of the town hall.

Contributor: Please add separate and linked pages for each of the churches and chapels in Stratford to this page (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 John the Evangelist The Broadway Stratford Baptisms 1834-1939 Marriages 1844-1960 Burials 1835-1912,1915,1922: ERO Baptisms 1939- date Marriages 1960- date: Not deposited

Christ Church

High St Baptisms 1851-1956 Marriages 1855-1960: ERO

Holy Trinity Oxford Rd Baptisms 1888-1941 Marriages 1920-1941: ERO

St Aidan Ward Rd Baptisms 1900-1940: ERO

St Mark Windmill Lane Baptisms 1892-1903 Records with St. Paul Stratford

St Paul Maryland Rd Baptisms 1860- date Marriages 1866- date: Not deposited

St Stephen Cedars Rd Baptisms 1918-1936 Records with St. John's Stratford

St Francis of Assisi (Roman Catholic) Grove Crescent Rd

Baptisms 1770-1812 Marriages 1805-1853: ERO (copies) All originals 1770- date: Not deposited

St Patrick (Roman Catholic) Lett Rd Formed 1897 Closed 1945

Congregational Chapel (Brickfields Chapel) Baptisms 1774-1838 Burials 1784-1840 Burials 1845-1854: PRO

Latter Day Saints Assembly Hall Maryland Rd All records ?-1918: SLC

Methodist Chapel West Ham Lane Marriages 1937-1948 : ERO

Primitive Methodist Chapel Henniker Rd Baptisms 1865-1959: ERO

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Baptisms 1838-1880 Marriages 1891-1941: 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.