Bournemouth, Hampshire Genealogy

England Hampshire

Bournemouth was founded in 1810 on heathland, by the sea, within what was the Liberty of Westover in the parish of Holdenhurst in Hampshire.

In 1837 when civil registration commenced the settlement was included within the Christchurch registration district. Bournemouth's growth accelerated with the arrival of the railway, becoming a recognised town in 1870.

In 1894, four years after gaining borough status (1890) Bournemouth became it's own civil parish. At the same time new civil parishes of Winton and Southbourne were also created. These continued until 1902 when they were both amalgamated along with Pokesdown into a much larger Bournemouth civil parish still part of the Christchurch district.

In 1925 the registration district was renamed Bournemouth &amp; Christchurch. Seven years later in 1932 this was divided into separate districts for each town.

As part of the reorganisation of local government in 1974, county boundaries were changed resulting in Bournemouth becoming part of Dorset.

The town celebrated its bi-centennary in 2010.

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.


 * Jul 1837 - Jun 1925 Christchurch district
 * Jul 1925 - Sep 1932 Bournemouth &amp; Christchurch district
 * Oct 1932 - present Bournemouth district

Church records
List of parishes

Available from the FHL
The following list of churches is from the Family History Library Catalogue


 * Bishop's transcripts for Holy Trinity Church, Bournemouth, 1867-1871 / Church of England. Holy Trinity Church (Bournemouth, Hampshire)
 * Church records, 1887-1978 / Boscombe United Reformed Church (Bournemouth, Hampshire: Congregational)
 * Church records, 1921-1931 / St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Bournemouth, England)
 * Church records, 1923-1936 / St. Mark's Presbyterian Church (Bournemouth, England)
 * Monumental inscriptions, 1790-1900 / Church of England. St. Peter's Church (Bournemouth)
 * Parish registers of St. Clement Bournemouth Church, 1871-1945 / Church of England. St. Clement's Church ( Bournemouth, Hampshire)

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Hampshire 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 - Place: Bournemouth, Hampshire
 * 1897 Street Map and 1931 Ordnance Survey Map of Bournemouth

Web sites

 * Family Announcements, births, marriages, deaths, obituaries and in memoriam from Bournemouth - Bournemouth Daily Echo