England, Kent, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The first of these collections consists of Parish Registers for the County of Kent. The records contain baptisms, marriages, and deaths for parishes throughout Kent. Availability of records vary by year and locality.

The second collection consists of Bishop's Transcripts for the County of Kent. The records contain yearly summaries of baptisms, marriages, and deaths for parishes throughout Kent. Availability of the records varies by year and locality, and most submissions end by the year 1900.

These projects are part of an agreement with the Centre for Kentish to digitize and publish our microfilm holdings. The images have all been scanned and delivered. We will be creating waypoint data with the help of the archive, we will publish images for FamilySearch Members and deliver the data to the archive as they are implementing the "Reading Room Solution".

For information on the Dioceses and Deaneries in Kent see the wiki article: England, Kent Dioceses and Deaneries

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in Baptism records generally contain the following information:




 * Child's Christian Name
 * Mother's Christian Name
 * Mother's Maiden Name
 * Father's Christian Name
 * Father's Occupation
 * Father's Duality Trade or Profession
 * When baptism was performed

The key genealogical facts found in marriage records may contain the following information:






 * When marriage was performed
 * Groom's full name
 * Bride's full maiden name
 * Groom's age at marriage
 * Bride's age at marriage
 * Condition (Usually Bachelor (Groom) and Spinster (Bride))
 * Rank or Profession
 * Residence at the time of marriage
 * Groom's and Bride's Father's name and surname
 * Groom's and Bride's Mother's name
 * Rank or profession of both fathers

The key genealogical facts found in burial records may contain the following information:




 * Name of Deceased
 * Where died
 * Date of burial
 * Name of cemetery
 * Age at death
 * By whom the ceremony was performed

How to Use the Record
For information on using the church records of Kent see the wiki article: England Church Records

Record History
Bishop's Transcripts exist because of the Order in the Constitution of Canterbury (1597) which compels churchwardens to send within one month of Easter a copy of all baptisms, marriages and burial register entries in the parish register to the bishop. In 1603 it was stipulated that transcripts were to run from Lady Day (25 March).

The Diocese of Rochester Transcripts are arranged by parish and should be contemporary copies of the parish register entries sworn by the churchwardens to be " a true and accurate account". There is variation in performance of these duties and gaps and omissions are common. It is possible that the Transcript may contain entries not found in the parish register and for this reason transcripts should be read in conjunction with parish register where both records are available.

Transcripts prior to 1812 appear to have been destroyed although some survive. Within the Diocese of Rochester the practice of sending transcripts had lapsed by 1800 and few submissions were received. The survival of parish registers therefore may be the more effective means of locating events.

The later series from 1813 is on printed form.

There are two series of Bishop's Transcripts for the Diocese of Rochester held at Kent Archives, Maidstone.

The first series are transcripts up to the year 1812 and are found under reference RT1

The later series from 1813 are under reference RT2. The series were microfilmed at Kent Archives Maidstone in 1987 by the Genealogical Society of Utah. The process of forming entries in the catalogue for the Family History Library for this era of microfilm acquisition from England was often reliant on the information provided at the time of microfilming and accuracy of the resulting catalogue may be affected. It is advisable to check the Kent Archives catalogue which will include all years in the transcript series; microfilming was undertaken within a year range with a cut off date; later transcript years may exist which were not filmed.

The transcript series usually end within the year range for digital publication adopted by FamilySearch with respect to privacy and data protection.( see the privacy section at the foot of this page).

Related Websites
Kent Archives

Related Wiki Articles

 * England Church Records
 * England, Kent Dioceses and Deaneries

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org Historical Records. It may include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

"England, Kent, Bishop's Transcripts, 1560-1904." FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org). Kent Archives, Maidstone, England. FHL digital images, 68 digital folders. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Information about creating source citations for FamilySearch Historical Collections is listed in the wiki article Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.