Talk:Hove, Sussex Genealogy

Hove St. Andrew records held at West Sussex Record Office Bishop’s transcripts 1831-1893 The parochial history of Hove is complicated with the result that the correct provenance of many of its records is often difficult to establish. The deposited parish material is now held at East Sussex Record Office The prebendaries of Hova Ecclesia were patrons of the livings of both Hove and Preston and were rectors of the former. On 28 August 1523 John Segar, LL.B was instituted vicar of Preston at the presentation of Thomas Adished, prebendary of Hova Ecclesia. Segar himself was later created prebendary and resigned the living of Preston, to which he (as prebendary) presented John Hudson, who was instituted vicar of Preston with Hove (E F Salmon (ed) 'The parish registers of Hove and Preston' (1912) vi). Succeeding vicars were instituted to the united benefice until the resignation in 1878 of the Revd Walter Kelly when the vicarages were separated, the Bishop of Chichester becoming the patron of Preston. Possibly as a result of the uniting of the benefices St Andrew's, the parish church of Hove, had become dilapidated and was completely re-built in 1836. On its consecration in 1891 All Saints Hove became the parish church and St Andrews (now 'old' St Andrews to distinguish it from St Andrew Waterloo Street) became a chapelry. In 1957 'old' St Andrew was once again constituted a parish by an Order-in-Council (PAR 387/7/8/1-2). At some time between September 1952 (the date of John Playford's inspection of the parish records) and 1971, the three earliest parish registers were sent by the vicar to Hove Public Library. While at the library, which had never been a Diocesan Record Office, the first register, the first two Preston registers and one loose leaf were inexpertly repaired and bound up together. It is clear from the introduction to E F Salmon (ed) 'The parish registers of Hove and Preston' (1912) that there were at that time five volumes and one loose sheet where now there are three volumes: only the fourth volume in fact contained material from both parishes. These registers were returned to official custody in 1978. The civil parish records, certainly at Hove Town Hall in 1910 (E F Salmon 'Inventory of books and documents belonging to the vicar and churchwardens of Hove', Sussex Archaeological Collections 53 (1910) 267) were by the early 1950s in the church strongroom where they were reported on for the National Register of Archives. It is probable that the civil parish records had been removed to the Town Hall as a result of the creation of Hove Urban District Council in 1894. It seems likely that only ancient material was reclaimed by the church and that the more important administrative documents remained at the Town Hall only to be destroyed by fire in 1966; this would account for the discrepancies between the 1910 list and this present deposit. This complicated administrative history has had two major effects on the present arrangement of the parish records. First, the volumes created by Hove Library have been given a single reference but paginated and described separately to distinguish their component parts. Secondly, a certain dispersal of the funds has inevitably taken place. Strictly speaking all ecclesiastical material deposited by the vicar of Hove forms an archival unity. However, it has been found necessary to split certain classes of records, most importantly registers, into classes according to the church to which they relate. This is caused first by the failure of St Andrew's church to close its registers when it ceased to be the parish church and second by the difficulty of applying East Sussex record Office's classification scheme to parishes which appear, disappear and re-emerge. It must be remembered that the early registers are the records of the parish of Hove and thus belong to the parish church, All Saints (where they were held before being sent to Hove Library). As many of the civil parish records as possible have been allocated to Hove All Saints since the administration of business passed with the title of parish church in 1891 without leaving a continuing series of records at St Andrews. It must of course be remembered that the bulk of the material was actually produced while St Andrews was the parish church. Summary of contents: East Sussex Record Office PAR386/1/1 Early registers; 1538-1812 PAR386/1/2 Baptism registers; 1813-1873 PAR386/1/3 Marriage registers; 1814-1965 PAR386/1/4 Banns registers; 1927-1971 PAR386/1/5 Burial registers; 1813-1953 PAR386/1/6 Confirmation records; 1938-1958 PAR386/2 Records relating to registers; 1861-1963 PAR386/3 Service registers; 1917-1973 PAR386/6 Income of the benefice; 1861-1889 PAR386/7 Other records; 1855-1891 PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL PAR386/14 Minutes; 1937-1977