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England London Boroughs  Merton

Guide to London Borough of Merton history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
As with most of the other London Boroughs, the British Government action of 1965 destroyed all traces of the original towns and villages from the point of view of Family History. Researchers should instead consider researching the original Merton Borough townships in their original county of Surrey.

The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey. The main commercial centers in Merton are Mitcham, Morden and Wimbledon, of which Wimbledon is the largest. Other smaller centers include Raynes Park, Colliers Wood, South Wimbledon, Wimbledon Park and Pollards Hill.

As the Borough was cobbled together from Mitcham, Wimbledon, Merton and Morden, the history is quite difficult to identify. The information below is an amalgamation of materials from all four.

Human activity in Morden dates back to the Iron age period when Celtic tribes are known to have occupied areas around Wimbledon, when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common, the second-largest in London, is thought to have been constructed. The original nucleus of Wimbledon was at the top of the hill close to the common – the area now known locally as "the village".

Remains of the ditch between the two main ramparts of the Iron Age hill fort Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common, the second-largest in London,[3] is thought to have been constructed. The original nucleus of Wimbledon was at the top of the hill close to the common – the area now known locally as "the village".

The village is referred to as "Wimbedounyng" in a charter signed by King Edgar the Peaceful in 967. The name Wimbledon means "Wynnman's hill", with the final element of the name being the Celtic "dun" (hill). The name is shown on J Cary's 1786 map of the London area as "Wimbleton", and the current spelling appears to have been settled on relatively recently in the early 19th century, the last in a long line of variations.

At the time the Domesday Book was compiled (around 1087), Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake, and so was not recorded. The ownership of the manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. The manor was held by the church until 1398 when Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury fell out of favor with Richard II and was exiled. The manor was confiscated and became crown property.

Wimbledon's convenient proximity to the capital was beginning to attract other wealthy families and in 1613 Robert Bell, Master of the Worshipful Company of Girdlers and a director of the British East India Company built Eagle House as a home at an easy distance from London. The Cecil family retained the manor for fifty years before it was bought by Charles I in 1638 for his Queen, Henrietta Maria.

Following the King's execution in 1649, the manor passed rapidly through various parliamentarian ownerships including Leeds MP Adam Baynes and civil war general John Lambert but, following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, was back in the ownership of Henrietta Maria (now Charles I's widow and mother of the new King, Charles II).

The village continued to grow and the introduction in the 18th century of stagecoach services from the Dog and Fox public house made the journey to London routine, although not without the risk of being held-up by highwaymen such as Jerry Abershawe on the Portsmouth Road. The stage coach horses would be stabled at the rear of the pub in the now named 'Wimbledon Village Stables'.

The first decades of the 19th century were relatively quiet for Wimbledon, with a stable rural population coexisting alongside nobility and wealthy merchants from the city, but renewed upheaval came in 1838 when the opening of the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) brought a station to the south east of the village at the bottom of Wimbledon hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of the town's subsequent growth away from the original village center.

Transport links expanded further with new railway lines to Croydon (Wimbledon and Croydon Railway, opened in 1855) and Tooting (Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway, opened in 1868). The District Railway (now London Underground's District line) extended its service over new tracks from Putney in 1889. This resulted in rapid growth to Wimbledon itself, as well as to Mitcham, Merton, and Morden.

In the second half of the century, Wimbledon experienced a very rapid expansion of its population. From a small base of just under 2,700 residents recorded in the 1851 census, the population grew by a minimum of 60% each decade up to 1901 increasing fifteenfold in fifty years. During this, time large numbers of villas and terraced houses were built along the roads from the center towards neighboring Putney, Merton Park and Raynes Park.

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club cemented Wimbledon's claim to fame in sporting world. The Club was founded by six gentlemen at the offices of The Field on 23 July 1868 at the height of a croquet craze, as the All England Croquet Club, and held its first croquet competition in 1870.

The then-infant sport of lawn tennis (a game introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so prior, and originally called Sphairistikè) was introduced in 1875 and instantly became popular.

In 1882, croquet was dropped from the name, as tennis had become the main activity of the Club. But in 1899 it was restored to the Club's name for sentimental reasons, and the Club's name became The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. In 1884, the Club added Ladies' Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles, and then in 1913 Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Since that time, WImbledon has become the stellar tennis sporting event, and is the only major tennis competition to be played on grass.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Nunhead Cemetery


 * Linden Grove
 * London SE15 3LP
 * Phone: +44 20 7732 9535

Camberwell Old Cemetery


 * Forest Hill Rd
 * London SE22 0RU
 * +44 20 7525 5600

Camberwell New Cemetery


 * Brenchley Gardens
 * London SE23 3RD
 * Phone: +44 20 7525 5600

Additional information on cemeteries and crematoria in the Borough can be found on the Southwark Borough web site as follows: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/births-deaths-marriage-and-citizenship/deaths-funerals-and-cremations/cemeteries

Parishes
Southwark Cathedral


 * London Bridge
 * London SE1 9DA
 * Phone: +44 20 7367 6700

Christ Church


 * 27 Blackfriars Rd
 * South Bank, London SE1 8NY
 * Phone: +44 20 7928 4707

St George the Martyr


 * Borough High St ,
 * London SE1 1JA
 * Phone: +44 20 7357 7331

St Giles's


 * Camberwell Church St
 * Camberwell, London SE5 8RB
 * Phone: +44 20 7703 4504

St George's Cathedral


 * Cathedral House
 * Westminster Bridge Rd
 * South Bank, London SE1 7HY
 * Phone: +44 20 7928 5256

St Peter's


 * Liverpool Grove
 * London SE17 2HH
 * Phone: +44 20 7703 3139

St James's


 * Thurland Rd
 * Bermondsey, London SE16 4AA
 * Phone: +44 20 3643 2327

St Mary Magdalen


 * 193 Bermondsey St
 * Bermondsey, London SE1 3UW
 * Phone: +44 20 7357 0984

St John's


 * 73 Waterloo Rd
 * Lambeth, London SE1 8TY
 * Phone: +44 20 7633 9819

St Mary's


 * St Marychurch St
 * Rotherhithe, London SE16 4JH
 * Phone: +44 20 7394 3394

St Saviour's


 * 118 Herne Hill Rd
 * Brixton, London SE24 0AH
 * Phone: +44 20 7737 4978

St Olave


 * 8 Hart St
 * London EC3R 7NB
 * Phone: +44 20 7488 4318

Christ Church


 * 90 Brixton Rd
 * London SW9 6BE
 * Phone: +44 20 7587 0375

Holy Trinity


 * 3 Bryan Rd
 * London SE16 5HF
 * Phone: +44 20 7237 4098

St Stephen's


 * 39 Walbrook
 * London EC4N 8BN
 * Phone: +44 20 7626 9000

St Margaret Pattens


 * Rood Ln
 * London EC3M 1HS
 * Phone: +44 20 7623 6630

To contact the Anglican Diocese of Southwark, use the following link: http://southwark.anglican.org/

Non Conformists
Other Christian groups follow:


 * Baptist
 * Christ Church
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Crossway United Reformed
 * Destiny International
 * Jehovah's Witnesses
 * Methodist
 * Presbyterian
 * Roman Catholic
 * Salvation Army
 * Seventh Day Adventists
 * United Reformed

Non Christian faiths include the following:


 * Ba'Hai
 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Jewish
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration

 * Southwark Borough historical BMD records


 * bmd certificates uk: SOuthwark Borough


 * ukbmd: Camberwell district


 * ukbmd: Southwark District


 * Surrey County COuncil Family Records

Local Histories

 * localhistories: Southwark


 * vision of britain: Southwark


 * british history on line: Camberwell


 * Southwark past by Richard Tames


 * Southwark, by Robert James Godley


 * History of the Parish of Camberwell by William Harnett

Maps and Gazetteers

 * google maps: London Borough of Southwark


 * Southwark Council: maps


 * oldmapsonline: Southwark


 * vision of britain: Southwark Gazetteer


 * genuki Southwark Gazetteer


 * genuki Camberwell Gazetteer

Newspapers

 * The Southwark News


 * The London Evening Standard for Camberwell


 * South London Press and Mercury

Occupations
The northern end of the borough opposite the Square Mile includes the More London and London Bridge City developments accommodating the offices of major professional service firms. Notable businesses include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Norton Rose, Ernst & Young, Lawrence Graham and Actis. The Greater London Authority is based at City Hall.

The press and publishing industry is also well represented in Southwark; the Financial Times has its head office in Southwark Bridge Road, IPC Magazines in Southwark Street, and the Evening Standard and Daily Mail at Surrey Quays. Campus Living Villages UK also has its head office in the borough.

Some of the old industrial and wharfside heritage remains at the now defunct Surrey Commercial Docks now Surrey Quays, including Greenland Dock and Baltic Quay, where major residential schemes were developed in the 1980s and 1990s. Near Tower Bridge old warehouses have been converted to new mixed uses at Butler's Wharf and Hay's Wharf. Similarly, further west, the Oxo Tower hosts restaurants, shops and housing.

There are major retail concentrations at Surrey Quays, Old Kent Road, Elephant & Castle/Walworth Road and central Peckham.

Finally there are a number of electronics companies active in Southwark. These include large companies such as Hughes Electronics, as well as smaller entities like G3 Comms Ltd., Telstra Global, and BAE Systems Ltd.

Societies

 * East Surrey FHS: Southwark Branch


 * Rotherhithe and Bermondsley History SOciety


 * The Peckham Society: local family history


 * Surrey Genealogy and Family History Society

Archives

 * The National Archives: Southwark


 * Historical Newspaper Archives: Southwark


 * Borough Council Archives


 * Camberwell Collections and Archives


 * Surrey County Council Archives

Web Sites

 * Southwark Borough Council


 * Surrey County Council


 * London Councils


 * Southwark wikipedia


 * London Borough of Southwark, wikipedia