South Kennington, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey   Surrey Parishes   South Kennington

Parish History
'KENNINGTON, a district, in the parish and union of Lambeth, E. division of the hundred of Brixton, county of Surrey, 2½ miles (S. S. W.) from London; containing 31,289 inhabitants. The name is said to be of Saxon origin, there having been a royal palace here prior to the Conquest, whence the appellation Cynington, from the Saxon Cyning, a king. Kennington is distinguished in history as the scene of the banquet, or marriage festival of a Danish nobleman, at which Hardicanute, the son of Canute the Great, became the victim of his own intemperance, or, according to some writers, was poisoned; in commemoration of his death, the festival called Hocktide is supposed to have been instituted. The place was the favourite residence of the Black Prince, and the occasional resort of Henry VIII. and some of his predecessors; but the royal mansion was at length superseded by the manor-house, which was inhabited by Charles I. when Prince of Wales; and the site, called Park Place, is now covered by modern buildings. The village has several ranges of handsome houses on the line of road leading from the metropolis towards Clapham and Brixton, and has been greatly increased by others branching from the main road to the east and west. In the latter direction is Kennington Oval, an area about nine acres in extent, cultivated as market-gardens and nursery-grounds, and surrounded with cottages and a few good houses. Kennington Common, an uninclosed tract of ground, belonging to the duchy of Cornwall, and on which, under the control of two stewards appointed by the duchy court, the inhabitants have the privilege of turning horses and cattle to graze during part of the year, was formerly the place of execution for criminals convicted at the Surrey assizes; here, also, several of the adherents of the Pretender underwent the sentence of the law as traitors, in 1746. It is a polling-place for the eastern division of the county. The village is lighted with gas, and supplied with water from the South London Water-works, which are situated within the district. At the Horns tavern is a spacious and elegant assembly-room, supported by subscription, in which assemblies and concerts frequently take place, and public meetings are held. Here are manufactories for oil of vitriol and wadding. Kennington is within the limits of the Metropolitan Police act. The living is a district incumbency; net income, £700; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to St. Mark, is a noble edifice with a Grecian-Doric portico, tower, and cupola, erected in 1824, at an expense of £22,720, of which sum the Parliamentary Commissioners gave £7651. There are four episcopal chapels in the district , namely, Carlisle chapel, built about 40 years ago [about 1827], by the Rev. George Gibson; Vauxhall chapel, Upper Kennington-lane; Verulam chapel, Walcot-place; and St. James's, in Clayton-place. The Independents have two places of worship, and the Baptists and Wesleyans one each. In Kennington-lane is a school under the patronage of the Licensed Victuallers, forming a spacious and handsome structure.'

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
The Independents have two places of worship, and the Baptists and Wesleyans each have one place of worship

Census records
FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal: Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

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Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Ancestry UK Census Collection

Find my Past census search 1841-1901

for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search.Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Lambeth Poor Law Union

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Surrey 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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.