England, Middlesex, Westminster, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

England Middlesex

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, ultimate rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians. Images for this collection are available at the Family History Library, FamilySearch Centers, and to members of the supporting organizations. Images can be viewed at a FamilySearch Center near you. A link to view images through the contributing organization, findmypast, is also available on each record.

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains baptisms, marriages, and burials from parishes in Westminster. This collection was done in cooperation with findmypast, and a full version of the index can be found at findmypast.

Currently there are 51 parishes, chapelries, or district church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials with online data now available for searching at findmypast. With about 113 Westminster churches pre-dating the year 1890, findmypast's first Westminster online coverage represents approximately 45 percent of Westminster's extant Church of England registers. View a comprehensive "List of the Parish Churches Lying Within the City of Westminster", to view what churches now have available data online, see findmypast.

Collection Content
Baptism records generally contain the following information:


 * Date of baptism
 * Child's name
 * Names of parents
 * Parents residence at time of baptism
 * Occupation of father

Marriage records' generally contain the following information:


 * Marriage date
 * Name of the bride and groom
 * Residence of the bride and groom
 * Marital status of bride and groom
 * After 1754, the full names of two witnesses and the minister's name.

After 30 June 1837, marriage records also include:


 * Age of the bride and groom
 * Name and occupation of fathers of bride and groom

Burial records generally contain the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Place of burial
 * Date of burial
 * Age at burial

How Do I Search the Collection?
To search this collection for baptism records, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Names of parents
 * Approximate year and place of birth

To search this collection for marriage records, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Name of bride and groom
 * Approximate year and place of marriage

To search this collection for burial records, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Approximate year and place of death

To search this collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at [FamilySearch Tips and Tricks]].

What Do I Do Next?
When you have found information for your ancestor, you can do the following:


 * Use the parents names to search for the rest of the family. If you are searching by batch number in the record, you can type in the surname of your ancestor, and in the Parents box, type in the names of the parents. That will enable you to find the family easily and help you further your research.
 * When you have found a marriage record, use the ages of the bride and the groom to determine their birth years.

What if I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For?
If you are unable to find the information that you are looking for, the following may help you further your research:


 * Children were usually christened within a few weeks of birth. Even in the Church of England, christenings of some older children or adults were recorded. The Church of England parish registers give at least the infant’s name and the christening (baptismal) date.


 * Couples usually married in the bride’s parish. Typically, the English married in their 20s. You may find records that show a couple’s “intent to marry” in addition to the records of the actual marriage. Sometimes, however, the couple registered their intent to marry but never married.


 * A burial usually took place in the deceased’s parish a few days after the death.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: