Streatham St Leonard, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey   Surrey Parishes Here is a Comprehensive List of Chapels and District Churches within St Leonard Streatham.

Parish History
STREATHAM (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Wandsworth, E. division of the hundred of Brixton and of the county of Surrey, 6 miles (S. by W.) from London; containing 5994 inhabitants. This parish, which derives its name from its situation near the great Roman road from London to Arundel, extends along the principal road to Brighton for nearly three miles, and comprises 2832 acres, of which 221 are common or waste. The houses, mostly modern, are well built, and the parish contains a number of villas and stately mansions, particularly in the neighbourhood of the common, between which and the lower part of the village was an ancient mansion of red brick, the residence, about half a century ago, of Lord William Russell. Streatham Park, where Dr. Johnson spent much of his time, was the seat of Mrs. Thrale, afterwards Madame Piozzi. The neighbourhood is richly wooded, and diversified with hills and valleys; and the air, which is considered particularly salubrious and invigorating, combined with other local advantages, has rendered the village the favourite residence of many opulent families. A mineral spring was discovered in 1660, which is still held in esteem, being highly efficacious in scorbutic eruptions, and in many other cases. The manufacture of silk has been introduced. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £18. 13. 9., and in the gift of the Duke of Bedford: the tithes have been commuted for £1200, and the glebe contains 1½ acre. The ancient church, with the exception of the tower, which is of flint and surmounted by a spire, forming a picturesque object in the landscape, was taken down in 1830, and handsomely rebuilt upon an enlarged scale in the later English style. On the upper part of Brixton Hill, about 100 yards to the east of the high road, is a church dedicated to Christ, which was consecrated Nov. 19th, 1841, and is in the Eastern or Byzantine style, with a campanile tower; the cost, amounting to £8000, was raised by subscription, aided by a grant of £1300 from the Church Commissioners. The living is in the Rector's gift. In Upper Tooting is another incumbency [chapel]. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans; and four almshouses for aged women have been lately erected in the Elizabethan style, by a bequest from the late Mrs. Henry Thrale, of Streatham Park. Dr. Hoadley, Bishop of Bangor, was rector of the parish.

From: Samuel A. Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 246-250. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51314 Date accessed: 13 April 2011.

Also consider the following treatise for a hamlet within the jurisdiction of Streatham St Leonard with its accompanying two chapels:

TOOTING, UPPER, a hamlet, in the parish of Streatham, union of Wandsworth, E. division of Brixton hundred and of the county of Surrey, 6¾ miles (S. S. W.) from London. This village, which is also designated Tooting-Beck, is well sheltered from the north winds; and the salubrity of the air, the purity of the water, and its dry gravelly soil, have made it the residence of several respectable families. In that part adjoining Balham-Hill, a hamlet in the same parish, is a proprietary episcopal chapel, dedicated to St Mary, built by the inhabitants, at an expense of nearly £7000, by the year 1808, and since greatly enlarged; it will accommodate about 1000 persons: over the altar is a painted window.

In 1855, a district chapel was built, called Holy Trinity in Upper Tooting, in the parish of Streatham.

From: 'Tonbridge - Topsham', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 372-377. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51349 Date accessed: 13 April 2011.

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870)

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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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
FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal: Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

to locate local Family History Centres in UK

to locate outside UK. Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Ancestry UK Census Collection

Find my Past census search 1841-1901

for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Wandsworth and Clapham Poor Law Union,Surrey

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Surrey 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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