Birmingham St Philip, Warwickshire Genealogy

Parish History
Birmingham St Philip. A church district called St. Philip's was formed out of the parish of St Martin Bull Ring and a chapel of ease built by 1715. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, Swedenborgians, and Unitarians; a Scottish church, and two Roman Catholic chapels. Additional information:

Birmingham St Philip is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Warwickshire, created in 1708 from Birmingham St Martin, Warwickshire Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Birmingham Christ Church.

The living of St. Philips is a rectory not in charge; patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church, erected in 1725, unfortunately of a perishable kind of stone, is a handsome building combining the Corinthian and Doric orders, with a tower supporting a dome surmounted by a cupola; the churchyard, which is very spacious, is surrounded with elegant buildings of modern date.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Philip is the Church of England cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of Birmingham. Built as a parish church and consecrated in 1715, St Philips became the cathedral of the newly-formed Diocese of Birmingham in the West Midlands in 1905. St Philips was built in the early 18th century in the Baroque style by Thomas Archer and is located on Colmore Row, Birmingham, England. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building. St Philips is the third smallest cathedral in England after Derby and Chelmsford.

St Philips Church was planned when the nearby medieval church of St Martin in the Bull Ring became insufficient to house its congregation because of the growing population of Birmingham. The land, previously named The Barley Close, was donated by Robert Philips in 1710. It is one of the highest points in the district and is said to be at the same level as the cross on St Paul's Cathedral in London. Following an Act of Parliament, construction commenced in 1711, to the design of Thomas Archer, and was ready for consecration in 1715, when it was dedicated to the Apostle Philip as a tribute to the benefactor Robert Philips. It appears to have been Archer's first church, apart from a rebuilt chancel at Chicheley attributed to him. Construction was estimated to cost £20,000, however, the final figure was only £5,012. (£660,000 as of 2011), This was because many of the materials were donated and transported to the site at no cost. St Philips served as a Parish church from 1715 to 1905.

The church contained a theological library which was bequeathed to the church by the Revd William Higgs. In 1792, a library room was constructed next to the parsonage house by the Revd Spencer Madan and was named the Parochial Library.

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Information about the parish may be found on Warwickshire Online Parish Clerks. Records are also available at the Warwickshire County Record Office.

Census Records
Some indexes for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records but the complete series of census indexes for all (publicly) available censuses are now available at:


 * findmypast
 * Ancestry.co.uk
 * Familyrelatives

Poor Law Unions
Birmingham Poor Law Union, Warwickshire

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