Kingston upon Thames, London Borough Genealogy

Guide to The Royal London Borough of Kingston upon Thames history, family history, and genealogy parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
As with all other London Boroughs created in 1965, Family History researchers need to understand that this is a melding of many historic areas without consideration to history or family research. Researchers should plan on using old Surrey county records, as well as referring to the old Boroughs' towns and villages as listed below.

This area of the London Suburbs has major historic significance, dating to before the conquest of William the Conqueror. Many of the major Saxon kings had their coronations here, as identified below, using the ancient coronation seat pictured in the main heading. It was later thought that the coronations were conducted in the chapel of St Mary, which collapsed in 1730, and a large stone recovered from the ruins has been regarded since the 18th century as the Coronation Stone. It was initially used as a mounting block, but in 1850 it was moved to a more dignified place in the market before finally being moved to its current location in the grounds of the guildhall.

Kingston was called Cyninges tun in AD 838, Chingestune in 1086, Kingeston in 1164, Kyngeston super Tamisiam in 1321 and Kingestowne upon Thames in 1589. The name means 'the king's manor or estate' from the Old English words cyning and tun. It belonged to the king in Saxon times and was the earliest royal borough. The first surviving record of Kingston is from AD 838 as the site of a meeting between King Egbert of Wessex and Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury. Kingston lay on the boundary between the ancient kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, until in the early tenth century when King Athelstan united both to create the kingdom of England. Probably because of the town's symbolic location, several tenth-century kings were crowned in Kingston, Æthelstan in 925, Eadred in 946 and Æthelred in 978. Other kings who may have been crowned there are Edward the Elder in 902, Edmund in 939, Eadwig in 956, Edgar in about 960 and Edward the Martyr in 975.

For much of the 20th century, Kingston was a major military aircraft manufacturing center specializing in fighter aircraft – first with Sopwith Aviation, H G Hawker Engineering, later Hawker Aircraft, Hawker Siddeley and eventually British Aerospace. The renowned Sopwith Camel, Hawker Fury, Hurricane, Hunter and Harrier were all designed and built in the town and examples of all of these aircraft can be seen today at the nearby Brooklands Museum in Weybridge. Well known aviation personalities Sydney Camm, Harry Hawker and Tommy Sopwith were responsible for much of Kingston's achievements in aviation. British Aerospace finally closed its Lower Ham Road factory in 1992; part of the site was subsequently redeveloped for housing but the riverside part houses a community center and sports complex. The growth and development of Kingston Polytechnic and its transformation into Kingston University has made Kingston a university town.

Surbiton is a smaller adjacent town. The present-day town came into existence after a plan to build a London-Southampton railway line through nearby Kingston was rejected by Kingston Council, who feared that it would be detrimental to the coaching trade. This resulted in the line being routed further south, through a cutting in the hill south of Surbiton. Surbiton railway station opened in 1838, and was originally named Kingston-upon-Railway. It was only renamed Surbiton to distinguish it from the new Kingston railway station on the Shepperton branch line, which opened on 1 January 1869. The present station has an art deco façade.

As a result, Kingston is now on a branch line, whereas passengers from Surbiton (smaller in comparison) can reach London Waterloo in about 15 minutes on a fast direct service; as well as places further afield, including Portsmouth and Southampton.

The place names of towns and villages now within the Borough are listed here:


 * Berrylands
 * Canbury
 * Chessington
 * Coombe
 * Hook
 * Kingston upon Thames
 * Kingston Vale
 * Malden Rushett
 * Motspur Park
 * New Malden
 * Norbiton
 * Old Malden
 * Seething Wells
 * Surbiton
 * Tolworth

Cemeteries (Civil)
Kingston Cemetery and Crematorium Bonner Hill Rd Kingston upon Thames KT1 3EZ Phone: +44 20 8546 4462

Long Ditton Cemetery 92 Rectory Ln Long Ditton, Surbiton KT6 5HW Phone: +44 1372 474474

Cuddington Cemetery 17 Lindsay Rd Worcester Park KT4 8LF Phone: +44 20 8644 9437

Burvale Cemetery 149 Burwood Rd Hersham, Walton-on-Thames KT12 4AR Phone: +44 1372 474474

Sunbury Cemetery 28 Green Way Sunbury-on-Thames TW16 6NW Phone: +44 1784 446379

Parishes
All Saints Church address: 14-16 Market Place Kingston upon Thames KT1 1JP Year built: 1120 Phone: +44 20 8546 5964

St Peter's Church address: London Rd Kingston upon Thames KT2 6QL Phone: +44 20 8546 3212

St John's Church address: St John the Evangelist Grove Ln, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2SU Phone: +44 20 8546 9882

St George's Church address: 127 Hamilton Ave Surbiton KT6 7QA Phone: +44 20 8391 5682

St Mary the Virgin Church address: The Avenue Worcester Park KT4 7HL Phone: +44 20 8337 4026

Non Conformists
The following other Christian denominations and religions are also represented in Harrow Borough:


 * Baptists
 * Evangelical
 * First Church of Christ Scientist
 * Jehovah's Witness
 * Kingston Spiritualist Church
 * Methodists
 * Plymouth Brethren
 * Presbyterians
 * Roman Catholics
 * Seventh Day Adventist

Non Christian populations include:


 * Buddhists
 * Confucian
 * Hindus
 * Jews
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths, have been kept by the UK government from July 1837 to the present day.


 * Kingston upon Thames Borough BMD records


 * Surrey County Council BMD records


 * FreeBMD: Kingston upon Thames Borough BMD records


 * UKBMD: Kingston upon Thames Registration District

Local Histories

 * localhistories.org: Kingston upon Thames


 * Kingston upon Thames Borough History Center


 * Kinston upon Thames through Time by Tim Everson


 * Secret Kingston upon Thames by Julilan McCarthy


 * Surbiton through Time by Tim Everson

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Kingston upon Thames Borough Council: maps


 * Openstreetmap.org: Kingston upon Thames Borough


 * Google maps: Kingston upon Thames Borough


 * Hidden London: Kingston upon Thames gazetteer


 * Hidden London: Hook gazetteer


 * Hidden London Tolworth gazetteer


 * Hidden London: Surbiton Gazetteer

Newspapers

 * The Surrey Comet; Kingston edition


 * The London Evening Standard: Kingston Edition


 * get west london: Kingston news


 * The Independent: Kingston Edition

Occupations
Historically Kingston upon Thames was an engineering and technical manufacturing hub. As noted above,most of the WWI and WW2 fighter planes were made in the community. However this type of activity has long gone.

Following the end of WW2, and gradually as the center of the City took prominence, these local towns became bedroom cities for Greater London. Indeed Kingston and Surbiton have been part of the more wealthy London Suburbs with a preponderance of Bankers, Stockbrokers, and Politicians living there.

Kingston has relatively high rates of employment in wholesale and retail (14,200 jobs), as well as public administration; education and health (23,300 jobs). There was a total of 81,100 employees working in the Kingston economy in 2015. Kingston has sustained its growth in both market and non-market activities, with significant jobs growth in financial and business services (+2,100) and public administration; education and health (+1,200).

Entrepreneurship is currently above the national average in Kingston and there has been considerable growth in the business base in recent years. There were 8,150 active enterprises in Kingston in 2016 (up from 6,295 in 2010) according to official estimates. This was equivalent to 46.7 enterprises per 1000 in Kingston, above the England average of 40.4.

Kingston boasts a highly skilled workforce. In 2015, 53.6% of working age residents in Kingston were qualified to University degree and higher. In contrast, the proportion across London was 49.8% and the whole of England was 36.8%. Kingston also had a lower proportion of working age residents with no qualifications (5.9%) in 2015. Nevertheless, local businesses do face an issue with regards to the availability of skills. According to the UKCES Employer Skills Survey 2015, Kingston employers had hard-to-fill vacancies at all levels of employment.

Societies

 * Kingston Local History Society


 * East Surrey Family History Society


 * West Surrey Family History Society

Archives

 * Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Archives


 * The National Archives: Kingston History Center


 * Kingston University Archives


 * The National Archives: Surbiton

Websites

 * Wikipedia: Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames


 * Wikipedia: Kingston upon Thames


 * Wikipedia: Surbiton


 * Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council


 * Surrey County Council