Whitechapel St Mary, Middlesex Genealogy

England   Middlesex   Whitechapel St Mary

Parish History
St Mary Whitechapel, the church of, stands at the eastern end of Whitechapel High Street, at the south side of the beginning of the Whitechapel, or Mile-End Road. This church is of some antiquity, as appears from Hugh de Fulbourn, being its rector in 1329. It was originally a chapel of ease to the parish of Stepney, and is supposed to have received its epithet white, from the colour of its walls. The ancient name of this church was St Mary Matfel, which signifies a woman recently delivered of a son, alluding to the birth of Christ, to whose mother it is dedicated. The old church becoming very ruinous, it was taken down in 1673, and rebuilt as at present [~1830]. This church was anciently a rectory, in the gift of the rector of Stepney, in whose successors the patronage continued till 1711, when it was purchased by the principal and scholars of Brosenose College, Oxford. It is a rectory, in the diocese of London, and exempt from archidiaconal jurisdiction.

[Adapted from: A Topographical Dictionary of London by James Elmes; published 1831]

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
To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.