Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex Genealogy

Guide to Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: Parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Lincoln's Inn is situated in Holborn, on Chancery Lane on the border of the City of London and the City of Westminster, and across the road from Royal Courts of Justice.

According to late 18th and early 19th Century London Architect, James Elmes, the Society of Lincolns Inn was established in the year 1310.

By the 17th century this had become too small, and discussions started about building a new one in 1608. The current Chapel was built between 1620 and 1823 by Inigo Jones (1573-1652), and was extensively rebuilt in 1797 and again in 1883. Other repairs took place in 1685, after the consultation of Christopher Wren, and again in 1915. The Chapel is built on a series of pillars, and has acted (sometimes simultaneously) as a Crypt, meeting place and place of recreation. For many years only Benchers were allowed to be buried in the Crypt, with the last one being interred on 15 May 1852. Before that, however, it was open to any member or servant of the society; in 1829 a former Preacher was interred, and in 1780 William Turner, described as Hatch keeper and Washpot to this Honble. Society", was buried.[33] The Chapel features an organ (installed in 1820, and rebuilt in 1969), and a Bell, which was said to date from 1596, although this is not considered likely. Traditionally, the bell would chime a curfew at 9 pm, with a stroke for each year of the current Treasurer's age. The bell would also chime between 12:30 and 1:00 pm when a Bencher had died.[34] Inside the chapel are six stained glass windows, three on each side, designed by the Van Linge family.

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond those of the other three, by tradition, none of the Inns claims to be the oldest of the four. It is believed to be named for Lincoln de Lacy, the third Earl of Lincoln.

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 neighbouring 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.

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.

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
Lincoln's Inn in Holborn on GENUKI