Eltham St John the Baptist, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Eltham St John the Baptist, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
ELTHAM, a parish, in the union of Lewisham, hundred of Blackheath, lathe of Sutton-At-Hone, W division of Kent, 8½ miles SE by S from London.

"Eltham is, ecclesiastically, (as of 1847) in the diocese of London. From 1845 to 1861 Eltham was not assigned to any deanery. From 1861 to 1868 Eltham was included in the rural deanery of Greenwich, thereafter in that of Woolwich. Prior to 1847 Eltham was in the diocese of Rochester and the rural deanery of Dartford. The parish church is named for St. John the Baptist with original parish registers dating from 1583. Mottingham, a hamlet in Eltham parish, Kent; 3-1/4 miles South of Woolwich."

Eltham was a civil parish of Kent until 1889 when it became part of the County of London and from 1900 formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. The metropolitan borough was abolished in 1965 and Eltham then became part of the present-day London Borough of Greenwich.

There has been a succession of churches on the site of the present church.

The church was rebuilt in 1668 after the 1667 collapse of the nave during building work to create a vault. That church was demolished and between 1872 and 1879 the present church was built and dedicated on the feast of St John the Baptist 24 June 1880.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
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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.


 * 1837-1941 Elham Registration district
 * 1941-1974 Folkestone Registration District

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Kent ($)
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Kent ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records

 * Ancestry UK Census Collection ($)
 * Census returns for Eltham 1841-1891
 * Findmypast Census ($)

Poor Law Unions

 * Lewisham 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.

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

Websites

 * Eltham GENUKI
 * Church of ST John the Baptist British Listed Buildings
 * St Mary Elham Kent Churches