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England London Boroughs  Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

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



History
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is an inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Central Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge. It was cobbled together from the original areas of Kensington and Chelsea by the UK government in 1965, with no regard to the research required for Family History. They were both part of the ancient county of Middlesex, which was dissolved by the Government at the same time (1965). Researchers would be wise to refer to the records of Middlesex for earlier data.

The history will be continued in 2 parts, Kensington and Chelsea.

The manor of Kensington, Middlesex, was granted by William I to Geoffrey de Montbray or Mowbray, bishop of Coutances, one of his inner circle of advisors and one of the wealthiest men in post-Conquest England. He in turn granted the tenancy of Kensington to his vassal Aubrey de Vere I, who was holding the manor in 1086, according to Domesday Book. The bishop's heir, Robert de Mowbray, rebelled against William Rufus and his vast barony was declared forfeit. Aubrey de Vere I had his tenure converted to a tenancy in-chief, holding Kensington after 1095 directly of the crown. He granted land and church there to Abingdon Abbey at the deathbed request of his young eldest son, Geoffrey. As the Veres became the earls of Oxford, their estate at Kensington came to be known as Earls Court, while the Abingdon lands were called Abbots Kensington and the church St Mary Abbots.

The word Chelsea (also formerly Chelceth, Chelchith, or Chelsey, originates from the Old English term for "landing place [on the river] for chalk or limestone" (Cealc-hyð: chalk-wharf, in Anglo-Saxon). Chelsea hosted the Synod of Chelsea in 787 AD. The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes the Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King's Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. Abbot Gervace subsequently assigned the manor to his mother, and it passed into private ownership. By 1086 the Domesday Book records that Chelsea was in the hundred of Ossulstone in Middlesex, with Edward of Salisbury as tenant-in-chief.

King Henry VIII acquired the manor of Chelsea from Lord Sandys in 1536; Chelsea Manor Street is still extant. Two of King Henry's wives, Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves, lived in the Manor House; Princess Elizabeth – the future Queen Elizabeth I – resided there; and Thomas More lived more or less next door at Beaufort House. In 1609 James I established a theological college, "King James's College at Chelsey" on the site of the future Chelsea Royal Hospital, which Charles II founded in 1682.

By 1694, Chelsea – always a popular location for the wealthy, and once described as "a village of palaces" – had a population of 3,000. Even so, Chelsea remained rural and served London to the east as a market garden, a trade that continued until the 19th-century development boom which caused the final absorption of the district into the metropolis. The street crossing that was known as Little Chelsea, Park Walk, linked Fulham Road to King's Road and continued to the Thames and local ferry down Lover's Lane, renamed "Milmans Street" in the 18th century.

Chelsea once had a reputation as London's bohemian quarter, the haunt of artists, radicals, painters and poets. Little of this seems to survive now – the comfortable squares off King's Road are homes to, among others, investment bankers and film stars. The Chelsea Arts Club continues in situ; however, the Chelsea College of Art and Design, founded in 1895 as the Chelsea School of Art, moved from Manresa Road to Pimlico in 2005.

Chelsea shone again, brightly but briefly, in the 1960s Swinging London period and the early 1970s. The Swinging Sixties was defined on King's Road, which runs the length of the area. The Western end of Chelsea featured boutiques Granny Takes a Trip and The Sweet Shop, the latter of which sold medieval silk velvet caftans, tabards and floor cushions, with many of the cultural cognoscenti of the time being customers, including Keith Richards, Twiggy, and many others.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Gunnersbury Cemetery


 * 143 Gunnersbury Ave
 * London W3 8LE
 * Phone: +44 20 8992 2924

Brompton Cemetery


 * Fulham Rd
 * Kensington, London SW10 9UG
 * Phone: +44 20 7351 1689

Kensal Green Cemetery


 * Harrow Rd
 * London W10 4RA
 * Phone: +44 20 8969 0152

Parishes
St Helen's


 * St Helens Vicarage
 * St Helens Gardens, North Kensington, London W10 6LP
 * Phone: +44 20 8968 7807

St Stephen's


 * Gloucester Rd
 * Kensington, London SW7 4RL
 * Phone: +44 20 7370 3418

St Luke's


 * Redcliffe Gardens
 * Kensington, London SW10 9HF
 * Phone: +44 20 7370 0338

St Peter's


 * Kensington Park Rd
 * London W11 2PN
 * Phone: +44 20 7792 8227

St Phillip's


 * Earls Ct Rd
 * Kensington, London W8 6QH
 * Phone: +44 20 7938 1367

Christ Church


 * Christchurch St
 * Chelsea, London SW3 4AS, UK

St Paul's


 * 44 Onslow Square
 * Kensington, London SW7 3NX
 * Phone: +44 20 7052 0200

St Mary's


 * The Boltons
 * Kensington, London SW10 9TB
 * Phone: +44 20 7835 1440

St Paul's Knightsbridge


 * 32a Wilton Pl
 * Knightsbridge, London SW1X 8SH
 * Phone: +44 20 7201 9999

St Augustine's


 * 115a Queen's Gate
 * Kensington, London SW7 5LP
 * Phone: +44 20 7581 1877

St Simon Zelotes


 * 34 Milner St
 * Chelsea, London SW3 2QF
 * Phone: +44 20 7589 8999

St George's


 * 28 Aubrey Walk
 * Kensington, London W8 7JG
 * Phone: +44 20 3602 9873

St Gabriel's


 * Warwick Square
 * Pimlico, London SW1V 2AD
 * Phone: +44 20 7828 0185

Non Conformists
Other Christian and non Christian religious groups follow:


 * Baptists
 * Evangelical
 * Christ Church
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Church of Christ, Scientist
 * Evangelical >
 * Iglesia Ni Christo (Philippines)
 * Methodist
 * Pentecostal Church
 * Roman Catholic
 * Reedeemed Christian Church of God

Non Christian populations include:


 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Jews
 * Muslims
 * Sikhs

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the UK government, from July 1837 to the present day. Previous to that date, records were primarily kept by local parishes, and by other ecclesiastical bodies.

The Borough has a confirmed Registry Office as follows:


 * Hornton St
 * Kensington, London W8 7NP
 * Phone: +44 20 7361 4100

Other searchable links follow:


 * Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea BMD records


 * ukbmd.org: Kensington District


 * ukbmd.org: Middlesex Parish Records


 * freebmd.org: Search for records

Local Histories

 * wikipedia: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea history


 * explore Kensington: history


 * british history on line: Kensington


 * localhistories.com: Chelsea


 * Chelsea through Time by Brian Girling


 * Kensington history by Geoffrey Charles Evans


 * Kensington and Chelsea by Barbara Denny

Maps and Gazetteers

 * google maps" Borough of Kensington and Chelsea


 * streetmaps.co: Kensington


 * oldmaps.com: Kensington and Chelsea


 * [https://www.francisfrith.com/us/kensington/maps francis frith: Old map of Kensington}


 * hidden london: West Kensington


 * hidden london: Chelsea

Newspapers
All the major UK dailies are readily available in the Borough. More specific units follow:


 * Kensington Chelsea and Westminster Today


 * getwestlondon: Kensington


 * The Kensington Magazine


 * The London Evening Standard: Kensington and Chelsea edition


 * Search old newspapers for Kensington and Chelsea newspapers

Occupations
Kingston has recorded reasonable job growth over the last 16 years (14%), under-performing the Greater London average but similar to the national trend. Declining industrial employment over this period has been offset by office job growth. Key sectors include admin and support, retail, education and professional services while job losses have been recorded in manufacturing, communications, public admin and financial services.

Kingston’s employment space is dominated by commercial office and distribution uses. The Borough has one of the largest stocks of commercial office space in the sub-region, although this has eroded away in recent years. Office space tends to be concentrated within and surrounding the key town and district centers and rail routes.

The overall population of Kingston, currently 160,1001, grew by some 7% between 2001 and 2011, slightly below the regional (12%) average but similar to the rate of population growth recorded nationally over this period (7%). Kingston recorded 88,270 workforce jobs in 2013, representing an increase of 14% from its 1997 level.

In employment terms, the Borough’s largest sectors in 2013 were admin and support (15%), retail (13%), education (10%) and professional services (8%), with healthcare (7%), wholesale (6%), social care (6%), recreation (6%) and hospitality (6%) sectors also accounting for a significant share of employment opportunities.

Over the last 16 years (1997-2013), the largest contributors to job growth in the Borough have been utilities (367% - albeit starting from a low base), recreation (187%), professional services (136%) and real estate (108%), where Kingston outperformed regional and national growth rates. However the Borough saw significant job losses in manufacturing, communications, public admin and financial services sectors.

Societies

 * West Middlesex FHS


 * London Westminster and Middlesex FHS


 * The Kensington Society (history)


 * The London Society: Chelsea history group

Archives

 * Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames History Center and Archives


 * The National Archives; Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames


 * Kingston University Archives


 * The National Archives: Surbition


 * Surrey County Council Archives

Web Sites

 * The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Cuncil


 * wikipedia: Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames


 * wikipedia: Kingston upon Thames


 * wikipedia: Surbiton


 * wikipedia: Surrey


 * Surrey County Council