Petersham St Peter, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey

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Parish History
PETERSHAM (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Richmond, First division of the hundred of Kingston, E. division of Surrey, 12 miles (S. W. by W.) from London; containing 636 inhabitants. The parish comprises by measurement 2800 acres, of which about 100 are arable, 140 pasture, 83 in gardens and lawns, and the remainder woods and parks chiefly the property of the crown. The village is pleasantly situated on the southern bank of the Thames, and in it and the vicinity are many handsome residences. Ham House, a noble mansion in the parish, belonging to the Earl of Dysart, was erected in 1610, and underwent great alterations, and was furnished at a large expense, in the time of Charles II. It is a curious specimen of that age; the ceilings are painted by Verrio, and the rooms present the massy magnificence of decoration then in fashion: in the centre is a large hall surrounded by an open gallery; the balustrades of the grand staircase are of walnut wood, and embellished with military trophies. The park contains very fine timber, especially elms, Scotch firs, and lime-trees. The celebrated John, Duke of Argyll, was born in the mansion. In 1790, George III. purchased a residence here for his late Majesty, William IV., when Duke of Clarence, who sold it some time afterwards to the Earl of Huntingtower, at whose decease it was again bought, in 1835, by the crown, and pulled down, when the grounds were thrown into Richmond Park. The living is annexed to the vicarage of Kew [which also see].

. The church, which is a brick edifice, supposed to have been erected about the commencement of the sixteenth century, was much enlarged in 1840. Petersham gives the title of Viscount to the family of Stanhope, earls of Harrington.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel A. Lewis (1848), pp. 558-564. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51211 Date accessed: 18 November 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.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Surrey 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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