Dewsbury, Yorkshire Genealogy

England &gt; Yorkshire &gt; West Riding &gt; Dewsbury

Parish History
For historical information, see these sources:


 * the GENUKI page for Dewsbury.
 * the entry for Dewsbury from Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) found at 'British History Online.'
 * the entry for Dewsbury from Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) found at 'Vision of Britain.'

Neighboring Parishes
The following is a list of the parishes and chapelries neighboring to Dewsbury, with the earliest date of their surviving records.


 * Alverthorpe (1825)
 * Batley (1559)
 * Birstall (1558)
 * East Ardsley (1654)
 * Heckmondwike (1831)
 * Horbury (1598)
 * Liversedge (1816)
 * Mirfield (1559)
 * Thornhill (1580)
 * Wakefield (1613)
 * West Ardsley or Woodkirk (1652)

Cemeteries
Transcripts of monumental inscriptions for Dewsbury may be found at the West Yorkshire Archives, Kirklees Branch, at the Central Library, Huddersfield.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a number of transcripts of monumental inscriptions for Dewsbury, which are available on microfilm through family history centers.

Parish Records
Dewsbury is an 'ancient' parish (created before 1813) in the diocese of Wakefield. Church of England records for Dewsbury All Saints survive from 1538. Other pre-1837 Church of England (Anglican) churches in Dewsbury parish include:


 * St. Peter's Hartshead (with records from 1612)
 * Holy Trinity Ossett (from 1792)
 * St. Paul's Hanging-Heaton (from 1825)
 * St. John the Evangelist Dewsbury-Moor (from 1827)
 * St. Peter's Earls-Heaton (from 1827)

The original registers are deposited at the West Yorkshire Archives in Wakefield. Microfilm/fiche copies are available at archive branches such as Leeds at Sheepscar and Kirklees in Huddersfield.

The copies made by the minister (ordered by an Act of 1598) and sent each year to the Bishop of the diocese (known as parish register transcripts or Bishop's transcripts) survive from 1600 and are deposited at the West Yorkshire Archives branch in Sheepscar, Leeds.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has both parish registers and bishop's transcripts on microfilm for Dewsbury and its chapelries, which are listed in the Family History Library Catalog. Many of these records are indexed in the International Genealogical Index available online through the 'Advanced Search' at www.familysearch.org.