Dover St James the Apostle, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent    Kent Parishes



Parish History
DOVOR, or Dover, one of the cinque-ports, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 15 miles (S. E. by S.) from Canterbury, and 71 (E. S. E.) from London. The town formerly consisted of the parishes of St. James the Apostle, St. Mary the Virgin, St. John, St. Martin the Greater, St. Martin the Less, St. Nicholas, and St. Peter; of these, the five last no longer exist, and the churches have been demolished.There are places of worship for General and Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics.

The Ancient Parish of St James the Apostle, St James Street included the mediaeval district surrounding the church.

During the Second World War Dover became known as "Hell Fire Corner" due to the intense bombardment from France and heavy bombing of the town.

The church of St James the Apostle and most of Church Street was totally destroyed by shelling from France. The remains of the building are scheduled as an Ancient monument see British listed building.

The church had not been used as a church post 1851 when the garrison church in the Castle had been restored. The Norman church was mainly built of Caen stone but had undergone restoration in the nineteenth century.

Edward Hasted 'The town and port of Dover', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (1800), pp. 475-548 at British History Online refers to the Ancient Parish history. See also kent Churches website

Civil Registration
See Dover Registration District

Kent County Council (KCC) has a certificate centre at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells which holds all the completed registers for Kent since 1 July 1837 and can supply a certified copy of any Kent birth, death or marriage entry from any register within its custody or a Kent civil partnership registration from the government online database.

The Mansion House (Certificate Centre) Grove Hill Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1EP

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
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Family History Library film numbers See also England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

From Spring 2012 material formerly held at Centre for Kentish Studies,County Hall,Maidstone,Kent ME14 1XX is available at Kent History and Library Centre see Kent Archives which also enables a search of the catalogue for Kent Archives material deposited at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

Census records
Census returns for Dover, 1841-1891 generic census microfilm collection in the Family History Library for the town

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. to locate local Family History Centres in UK to locate outside UK. 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

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
Dover Poor Law Union, Kent

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Kent Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

See England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Local Family History Centre
Canterbury Family History Centre, Kent

Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent


 * FHC Portal This centre has access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access in the centre to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Publication of the restricted access images England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records) and England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) means that it is advisable to telephone the centre to reserve a computer if you wish to view these

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