Bristol, Gloucestershire Genealogy

England Bristol

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

See a "Comprehensive List of Bristol City Parishes and Episcopal Chapels"

Parish History
BRISTOL, a city and county of itself, and a considerable port, situated near the mouth of the Bristol Channel, and between the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, into both of which the town extends, 34 miles (S. W. by S.) from Gloucester, 12 (N. W.) from Bath, and 118 (W.) from London; containing, in the old city, 64,266 inhabitants, exclusively of those in Clifton, Bedminster, and the out portions of the parishes of St. James, St. Paul, and St. Philip and St. Jacob, which form the suburbs.

Bristol was created a county borough (a borough or a city independent of county council control). There were a considerable number of parishes and chapels associated and attached to it--some of which did not reside physically-speaking within the city proper, but lay outside of the city, but still within its jurisdictional boundaries. In 1888, it expanded by annexing some parts of south Gloucestershire in 1898 and 1904.

Bristol was included as part of the county of Avon along with Bath and large portions of Gloucestershire and Somerset when Avon was created in 1974. In 1996, the County of Avon was disbanded and split into four parts, namely:

1. The City and County of Bristol

2. South Gloucestershire – formed from the Kingswood and North Avon districts.

3. North Somerset – formed from the Woodspring district.

4. Bath and North East Somerset – formed from the Bath and Wansdyke districts.

Online Histories

 * “The New Guide or Picture of Bristol,” Archive.org, published in 1828
 * Bristol History, Articles and Documents
 * Pictorial Record of Bristol’s History
 * “This History of Bristol, Civil and Ecclesiastical,” a Google eBook, published in 1816
 * “Bristol Past and Present: Volume I—Civil History,” a Google eBook, published in 1881
 * “Bristol Past and Present: Volume III—Civil and Modern History,” a Google eBook, published in 1882
 * “Bristol,” a Google eBook, published in 1889

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
Many of Bristol City's parish and chapel registers have been or are being indexed and made searchable online (Church of England Church Records): England, Bristol Parish Registers, 1538-1900 at FamilySearch Historical Collections. Bristol has about 60-plus parishes and chapels within its boundary.

Here's a "Comprehensive List of Bristol City Parishes and Episcopal Chapels". Print out this list as a guide to help you more thoroughly search all of these parish (chapel) registers.

A wiki article describing these collections are found at England Bristol Church of England Parish Registers and Bishops’ Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records).

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Gloucestershire 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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Online Maps

 * Bristol in 1885
 * Bristol in 1868
 * Bristol in 1832
 * Know Your Place: Historic Bristol, various historic photos and maps about Bristol