Derbyshire, England Genealogy

Derbyshire is an inland county in central 'England'.

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"DERBYSHIRE, or Derby, a midland and almost central county in England; nearly alike distant from the eastern and the western seas, and from Scotland and the English channel. It is bounded on the NW, by Cheshire; on the N and NE, by Yorkshire; on the E, by Notts; on the SE, by Leicestershire; on the S, by Warwickshire and Staffordshire; on the W, by Staffordshire and Cheshire. Its length south-south-eastward, is 52 miles; its greatest breadth, 30 miles...

"Derbyshire contains 132 parishes, parts of 6 others, and 6 extra-parochial tracts; and is divided into the borough of Derby, and the hundreds of High Peak, Wirksworth, Scarsdale, Appletree, Morleston and Lit-church, and Repton and Gresley...

"The county is governed by a lord-lieutenant, a high sheriff, about 90 deputy-lieutenants, and about 200 magistrates; is in the midland military district and judicial circuit; and constitutes an archdeaconry in the diocese of Lichfield. The assizes and the quarter sessions are held at Derby...

"[The number of] marriages in 1860 [was] 2,322, -of which 505 were not according to the rites of the Established church; births, 10,239, -of which 762 were illegitimate; deaths, 6,115, of which 2,211 were at ages under 5 years, and 126 at ages above 85. The places of worship in the county proper, in 1851, were 250 of the Church of England, 45 of Independents, 39 of Baptists, 6 of Quakers, 11 of Unitarians, 1 of Moravians, 222 of Wesleyan Methodists, 10 of New Connexion Methodists, 132 of Primitive Methodists, 6 of the Wesleyan Association, 34 of Wesleyan Reformers, 2 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, 2 of the New Church, 2 of isolated congregations, 6 of Latter Day Saints, and 8 of Roman Catholics...

"Population in 1801 was 161,567; in 1821, 213,651; in 1841, 272,202; and in 1861, 339,327..."

The above extract is from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). To see the full account, go to Vision of Britain.

Research Tools
For more help with Derbyshire ancestry, visit one of these websites:


 * Derbyshire Family History Society.

Civil
When civil (government) registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1837, Derbyshire was divided into registration districts, each including several parishes. For a list of districts and the parishes they include, click here.

Eccesiastical
The parishes of Derbyshire.