Wednesbury St John, Staffordshire Genealogy

England Staffordshire

Parish History
Wednesbury St John is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Staffordshire, created in 1844 from Wednesbury St Bartholomew, Staffordshire The church closed in 1980 on merger of the two parishes.

Two new ecclesiastical parishes have been formed under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37; called, respectively, St. John's and St. James'. St. John's church, consecrated in May 1846, is in the early English style, with a tower, and cost about £4000, partly defrayed by the Church Commissioners: the tower is temporarily covered with slate; the spire, when erected, will cost £500. The length of the edifice is 130 feet, the width 54 feet, and the height, to the apex of an open timbered roof, 50 feet: above one-half of the seats are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately; income, £200. St. James' church, of which the first stone was laid in May 1847, is also in the early English style, with a tower; it contains 870 sittings, and was erected at a cost of £2500. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the same patronage, with an income of £150. At Moxley is an incumbency for parts of Wednesbury, Darlaston, and Bilston parishes. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. William, the first lord Paget, secretary of state to Henry VIII., was a native of the town.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 494-498. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51384 Date accessed: 03 April 2011.

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
Wednesbury St John was formed in 1844 from part of Wednesbury St Bartholomew, Staffordshire

In 1980 it united with Wednesbury St James, Staffordshire and the church is now closed.

Deposited parish registers at Staffordshire Record Office Bap 1845-1980 Mar 1845-1980 Bur 1846-1948 Lichfield Record Office holdings of Bishop's Transcripts None

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
West Bromwich Poor Law Union,Staffordshire

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