St James Piccadilly, Middlesex Genealogy

England   Middlesex   Middlesex Parishes   St James Piccadilly

Parish History
"St James Piccadilly, the parish of, is situated on the south side of Piccadilly, nearly opposite Sackville Street. It owes its origin to the increase of buildings in its neighborhood, and its parish is a cantlet from that of St Martin's in the Fields. Is was built from the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, in the reign of Charles the II, and was finished in 1683. This church may be justly considered in spite of its mean exterior, as one of the most perfect of its great architect's designs, whether it be considered for commodiousness, beauty, or ingenuity of construction. Sir Christopher himself considered it as one the best contrived of his parochial churches.... It was built at the joint expense of Henry Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St Albans, whose name and title are used for two of the neighboring streets, and of the principal inhabitants of this district. The church was made parochial by act of parliament of the 3d James II. The walls are of brick, aith rusticated quoins, facias, architraves and other dressings of Portland stone. The ceiling is arched and beautifully panelled, supported by Corinthian columns, which divide the interior into a nave and two isles....

"The interior is 84 feet long, 68 broad, and 40 high, and will contain two thousand persons.

"This parish is rectorial in the county and archdeaconry of Middlesex, in the diocese of London..."¹

1. James Elmes, M.R. I. A., Architect. In “A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Envirions,” (London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, 1831).

Several additional divisional boundaries were drawn--all lying within the civil parish boundary of St James Piccadilly. St James had within each of these divisions, a district church, as follows:

St John the Baptist, Great Marlboro' Street - 1867

St Luke, Berwick Street - 1841

St Paul, Wilton Place, Westminster - 1843

St Peter, Great Windmill Street - 1861

St Peter, Palace St - 1822

St Peter’s Chapel, Palace St - 1890

St Thomas, Regent Street, or, sometimes known as Archbishop Tenison's Chapel - 1869

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

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist 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.

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

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

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.