Wouldham, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Wouldham, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
WOULDHAM (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Malling, hundred of Larkfield, lathe of Aylesford, W division of Kent, 3¼ miles SSW from Rochester.

Wouldham is a village and civil parish in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent. Wouldham Wikipedia Please see Burham, Kent parish history. The legal name of the parish is Burham and Wouldham and the parish is situated in Wouldham Road. The Burham parish history explains the loss of the replacement church in Burham and conservation of the Ancient parish church building.

The church of All Saints Wouldham Road has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed buildings Kent Archaeological Society

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 4 (1798), pp. 399-408 at British History Online for Wouldham and Kent Churches website

Civil Registration
This parish was from 1837 in the Malling registration district.

See Maidstone Registration District.

Kent County Council (KCC) has a certificate centre at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells which holds all the completed registers for Kent since 1 July 1837 and can supply a certified copy of any Kent birth, death or marriage entry from any register within its custody or a Kent civil partnership registration from the government online database.

The Mansion House (Certificate Centre) Grove Hill Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1EP

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
Wouldham parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

International Genealogical Index Batch Numbers


 * Christenings 1538-1875 Batches (J135221, K135221, C135222)
 * Marriages 1568-1754; 1756-1877 Batches (M135221, M135222)

Land Tax

 * Images for Wouldham are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1830

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records
Census returns for Wouldham 1841-1891

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Category:England Family History Centres to locate local Family History Centres in UK
 * Introduction to Family History Centers to locate outside UK.
 * Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable).

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.


 * Ancestry UK Census Collection
 * Find my Past census search 1841-1901

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats, merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved.

Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search.


 * Find my Past 1911 census search.

Poor Law Unions

 * Malling Poor Law Union, Kent

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


 * See England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records

Local Family History Centre
Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent


 * FHC Portal This centre has access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access in the centre to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Publication of the restricted access images England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records and England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records means that it is advisable to telephone the centre to reserve a computer if you wish to view these

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