Lewisham, London Borough Genealogy

Guide to London Borough of Lewisham history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
The London Borough of Lewisham is a London borough in south London, England and forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council and it is based in Catford. The borough was formed in 1965, by the London Government Act 1963, as an amalgamation of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham and the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford, which had been created in 1900 as divisions of the County of London.

Because of the typical bureaucratic hacking of ancient boundaries all in the name of modernization, genealogists will need to be aware that older records could be found under the county of Kenty, as well as encroaching into the former environs of the previous Greater London.

The Prime Meridian (O degrees of longitude) passes through Lewisham. The former districts of Blackheath, Goldsmiths, and the University of London are located within the borough.

Lewisham was most likely to have been founded by a pagan Jute, Leof, who settled (by burning his boat) near St Mary's Church (Ladywell) where the ground was drier, in the 6th century. As to the etymology of the name, Daniel Lysons (1796) wrote:

"In the most ancient Saxon records this place is called Levesham, that is, the house among the meadows; leswe, læs, læse, or læsew, in the Saxon, signifies a meadow, and ham, a dwelling. A Latin legal record, dated 1440, mentions a place in Kent as Levesham which may refer to Lewisham. It is now written, as well in parochial and other records as in common usage, Lewisham." "Leofshema" was an important settlement at the confluence of the rivers Quaggy (from Farnborough) and Ravensbourne (Caesar's Well, Keston), so the village expanded north into the wetter area as drainage techniques improved.

King Alfred was Lord of the Manor of Lewisham, as is celebrated by a plaque in Lewisham Library.

The Manor of Lewisham, with its appendages of Greenwich and Combe, was given by Elthruda, King Alfred's niece, to the abbey of St. Peter at Ghent, of which Lewisham then became a cell, or an alien priory. This grant is said to have been confirmed by King Edgar in 964, and by Edward the Confessor in 1044, with the addition of many privileges.

In the mid-17th century, the then vicar of Lewisham, Abraham Colfe, built a grammar school, a primary school and six almshouses for the inhabitants.

In the 17th century the Manor of Lewisham was purchased by George Legge, later Baron Dartmouth. His son William was raised by Queen Anne to several positions of honour and trust, and was a member of her privy council; and on 5 September 1711, was ennobled as Viscount Lewisham, and Earl of Dartmouth. His grandson George, Lord Dartmouth, obtained from King Charles II[he had been dead for ages] the privilege of holding a fair twice a year, and a market twice a week, upon Blackheath in the parish. The fair used to be held on 12 May and 11 October, but in 1772 it was discontinued, (except for the sale of cattle) by the Earl of Dartmouth, as lord of the manor.[5] The village of Lewisham had its nucleus in its southern part, around the parish church of St Mary, towards the present site of University Hospital Lewisham. The centre migrated north with the coming of the North Kent railway line to Dartford in 1849, encouraging commuter housing. The Official Illustrated Guide to South-Eastern and North and Mid-Kent Railways of June 1863, by George Measom, describes Lewisham as follows: 'Lewisham Station, situated on the slope of an eminence admist picturesque scenery, beautiful green meadows rising abruptly to the summit of the hill on the left, dotted with handsome residences and gardens, while the Common is seen intersected by various cross roads and studded with country inns and houses on the low ground or valley to the right. The area of the parish is 5,789 acres... Lord of the manor, the Earl of Dartmouth to whom it gives the title Viscount'.

Lewisham was administratively part of Kent until 1889, and then formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham in the County of London until 1965.

The town center was hit by a V-1 flying bomb in 1944: there were over 300 casualties including 51 fatalities, and it devastated the high street, which was fully restored by the mid-1950s. This horrific event is commemorated by a plaque outside the Lewisham Shopping Center (opened in 1977). The plaque was on the pavement outside the Marks and Spencers store in the main shopping precinct. However, suffering wear and tear, the local authority arranged for it to be mounted to the façade. In 1955 Sainsbury's opened a store in Lewisham which was reported to be Europe's largest self-service supermarket, with 7,500 square feet of retail space, although the one now incorporated in the 1977 shopping center is much smaller. The area at the north end of the High Street was pedestrianised in 1994. It is home to a daily street market and a local landmark, the clock tower, completed in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The police station, opened in 2004 to replace the station in Ladywell, is officially the largest in Europe.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery 113 Brockley Grove London SE4 1DZ Phone: +44 20 8314 3210

Grove Park Cemetery Marvels Ln London SE12 9PU Phone: +44 20 8314 9635

Hither Green Cemetery London SE6 1TW

For further information on cemeteries and crematoria in the Lewisham London Borough, please contact the following website: www.lewisham.gov.uk.

Parishes
St Stephen and St Mark Church address: Lewisham High St London SE13 5AF Phone: +44 20 8318 1295

St Swithin Church address: 191 Hither Green Ln Lewisham, London SE13 6QE Phone: +44 20 8852 5088

St Mary the Virgin Church address: 346 Lewisham High St London SE13 6LE Phone: +44 20 8690 3298

St Laurence Catford Church address: 37 Bromley Rd London SE6 2TS Phone: +44 20 8698 9706

St Paul's Church address: Mary Ann Gardens Deptford, London SE8 3DP Phone: +44 20 8692 7449

Church of the Good Shepherd Church address: Handen Rd Lee, London SE12 8NR Phone: +44 20 8318 2363

St John's Church address: St John's Vale London SE8 4EA Phone: +44 7786 160993

St Margaret's Church address: Lee Terrace Blackheath, London SE13 5DL Phone: +44 20 8318 9643

All Saints Church address: All Saints Dr Blackheath, London SE3 0TY Phone: +44 20 8852 4280

St Andrew the Apostle Church address: Sandhurst Rd Catford SE6 1XD Phone: +44 20 8697 2600

St Hilda's Church address: Brockley Road Crofton Park, London, SE23 1PL Phone: +44 20 8699 1277

St Michael's and All Angels Church address: Champion Crescent Sydenham SE26 4HH Phone: +44 20 8778 4563

Non Conformists
Other Christian and non Christian religious groups follow:


 * Baptists
 * Evangelical
 * Christ Rock Ministries
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Evangelical
 * Lutheran
 * Methodist
 * Roman Catholic
 * Seventh Day Adventist
 * The Bear Church
 * United Reformed Church

Non Christian populations include:


 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Jews
 * Muslims
 * Sikhs

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the UK government, from July 1837 to the present day. Previous to that date, records were primarily kept by local parishes, and by other ecclesiastical bodies.

Lewisham has its own Registry Office:

Lewisham Register Office 368 Lewisham High St London SE13 6LQ Phone: +44 20 8690 2128

Other useful sources follow:


 * Kent County Council BMD records
 * UKBMD: Lewisham Registration District
 * BMD-Certificates: Lewisham District

Local Histories

 * British History Online: Lewisham


 * British History Online: Deptford


 * Lewisham Council: Local History and Heritage


 * History of the Borough of Lewisham by Leland Duncan


 * Lewisham (Archive Photographs)


 * Old Deptford History

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Google Maps: Borough of Lewisham
 * Oldmapsonline: Lewisham
 * Francis Frith: Old maps of Deptford
 * Hidden London: Deptford Gazetteer
 * Hidden London: Lewisham Gazetteer

Newspapers

 * South London Press and Mercury
 * Old newspapers: Lewisham
 * The Independent: Lewisham Edition
 * London Evening Standard: Deptford

Societies

 * Lewisham Local History Society
 * Northwest Kent Family History Society

Archives

 * Lewisham Borough Archives
 * The National Archives: Lewisham
 * The National Archives: Deptford
 * Kent County Archives

Websites

 * Wikipedia: Lewisham


 * Wikipedia: London Borough of Lewisham


 * Wikipedia: Deptford


 * Kent County Council