Paddington St James, Middlesex Genealogy

England   Middlesex   Middlesex Parishes

Parish History
[St James] PADDINGTON, a metropolitan parish and two sub-districts, in Kensington district, Middlesex. The parish lies on the Paddington canal, the Great Western railway, and the Metropolitan railway, between Edgware road and Uxbridge-road, 3½ miles W N W of St. Pauls; includes Bayswater, Craven-Hill, Maida-Hill, and Westbourne-Green; contains the terminus of the Great West-bourne-Green; contains the terminus of the Great Western railway; and has post-offices‡ under London W-Acres, 1, 245 Real property, £1, 886, 486; of which £1, 180,030 are in railway s. Pop. in 1851, 46, 305; in 1861, 75, 784. Houses, 9, 687. The manor was given, by King Edgar, to Westminster Abbey; was transferred, by Henry VIII., to his new see of Westminster; went afterwards to the see of London; and was leased, for one-third of the rental, to Thystlethwaite of Southwick. The area is now all urban, or mainly so; has multitudes of large and handsome houses; and includes Cambridge, Oxford, Hyde-Park, Gloucester, Connaught, and Sussex squares. The Great Western railway terminus is a prominent feature, and has been noticed in the article London. The Grand, Junction water-works and St. Mary's hospital also are prominent features. The hospital was built in 1843-50, by Hopper, at a cost of £30,000; had originally 150 beds, but was designed to have 400; and was extended by the addition of a large wing in 1865-7. A lock hospital likewise is here; and, at the census of 1861, had 124 inmates.

Only a section, with a pop. of 5,817 in 1861, is now served by the parish church; and the rest of the parish is ecclesiastically cut into ten sections. These, with their respective dates of erection, and their respective pop. in 1861, are All Saints, 1848, 6,337; St. John, 1832, 6,123; St. Mary, 1845, 10,646; Holy Trinity, 1846, 13,497; Christchurch, 1856, 4,019; St. Saviour, 1856, 5,787; St. Stephen-Westbourne Park, 1856, 8,433; St. Matthew-Bayswater, 1858, 5,513; St. Michael and All Angels, since 1861, 3,851; St. Mary Magdalen, since 1861, about 5,000; and part of St. John Kensal-Green, 1845, 4,662 in the whole, and 766 in the Paddington part. There are also chapelries of St. Philip, St. Thomas, and St. Luke; but the first is annexed to the charge of St. Mary, and the other two to the charge of St. Stephen. All the livings are p. curacies in the diocese of London. Value of the head living, or St. James, £1,200; * of All Saints, £700; of St. John, £1,000; of St. Mary, £500; * of Holy Trinity and St. Stephen, each £1,000; * of St. Michael and All Angels, £600; of St. Mary Magdalen, £150; of the others, not reported. Patron of St. James, All Saints, St. Mary, Holy Trinity, Christchurch, and St. Saviour, the Bishop of London; of St. John, the Incumbent of St. James-Paddington; of St Stephen, the Rev. H. W Brooks; of St. Matthew-Bayswater, the Rev. Smalley; of St. Michael and All Angels, W. Gibbs, Esq.; of St. Mary Magdalen, Trustees. St. Mary's church was built in 1788-91, on the site of a previous church, at a cost of £6,000; is a brick structure, after designs by Wapshott; and contains the monuments or graves of the Marquis of Lansdowne, Mrs. Siddons, Geddes the translator of the Bible, Bryan the author of the Dictionary of Painters, Caleb Whitefoord of the time of Goldsmith, Nollekensthe father of the famous artist, Barrett and W. Collinsthe painters, Bankes and Bushnell the sculptors, and Vivares and Schiavonetti the engravers. St. Stephen'schurch was built in 1856, at a cost of about £9,000; and is in the early decorated English style. Holy Trinity church stands in Westbourne-terrace; and is a fine edifice, with a crocketted spire. Another of the churches stands near the Great Western railway terminus; was built in 1861; and is a spacious brick structure, of considerable architectural character. The returns of the dissenting chapels and the schools are included in the Kensington statistics. New schools in connexion with Holy Trinity church, were erected in 1864; are in the pointed style; and present a very picturesque appearance. The two sub-districts are Paddington-St Mary and Paddington, St. John. P., St. Mary sub-district comprises all the parts of P. parish within a line extending from the corner of Praed-street to the Irongate wharf inclusive, along the centre of the Paddington basin of the Grand, Junction canal to the Harrowgate-road, and then over the railway -bridge at the Great Western railway terminus along the centre of Bishops-road and West-bourne Grove, crossing Westbourne-Grove North to the boundary of Chelsea parish then crossing the Grand Junction canal and the Harrow-road by the boundary of Willesden parish to Kilburn, and thence along the Edgware-road to the corner of Praed-street. Acres, 795. Pop. in 1851, 17,252; in 1861, 39,015. Houses, 4,826. P., St. J. sub-district is bounded, on the E, by part of the Edgware-road; on the S, by part of Kensington gardens and the Uxbridge-road; on the W, by Kensington parish; and on the N, by part of Westbourne-Grove-road, Bishops-road, and part of the Paddington canal. Acres, 450. Pop. in 1851, 29,053; in 1861, 36,769. Houses, 4,851. The two sub-districts are jointly conterminate with the parish; and are administered, as a single parish, under the poor-law amendment act. Poor-rates in 1863, £40,526. The workhouse is in P, St. Mary sub-district; and, at the census of 1861, had 276 inmates.

From: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870)

Civil Registration
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Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
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