England, Hampshire Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

England Hampshire

What is in the Collection?
This genealogical collection includes records for the years 1538-1980. The records are from the county of Hampshire in southern England, also known as Southamptonshire. They include Parish Registers containing baptisms, marriages, and burials. Date ranges of available records may vary by locality.

In its most basic sense, a parish register is a record of religious ordinances performed in the Church of England. Beginning in 1538, every parish priest was required to write down certain information about every baptism (officially termed “christening” in Anglican use), marriage, and burial that took place in his parish over the course of each year. He was then supposed to bind these pages into a single volume, thereby annually producing a comprehensive history of his ministerial efforts. After 1754, a new law required that marriages be recorded in a separate book, and banns—public proclamations of a couple’s intent to marry—were to be recorded in yet another book. Starting in 1812, pre-printed registers were introduced, and separate registers were then kept for baptisms, marriages, and burials. It should also be noted that many parish records were not kept during the Interregnum, 1649-1660, due to temporary changes in the hierarchy of the Church of England.

Due to this long and relatively stable tradition, parish registers are central to English genealogical research as they are often one of the only sources for finding families and individuals in England before the start of civil registration in 1837.

One of the 39 historic counties of England, Essex is a coastal county located in the region of East Anglia, with the River Thames forming its southern border. The London metropolis takes up much of the south and west of the modern county. For a list of parishes which historically made up this county, see the Essex Parishes page.

Collection Content
This collection contains a mixture of baptismal, marriage, and burial records. Birth records are the most common in the collection, followed by burial records, with marriage records making up the smallest portion.

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
The following lists indicate potential information given in each type of record. It must be remembered that every record may not provide all the listed information, as the procedures for keeping parish records evolved considerably over the centuries after 1538. It must also be noted that individual parishes often developed record-keeping traditions unique to themselves.

How Do I Search the Collection?
Before beginning a search in these records, it is best to know the full name of the individual in question, as well as an approximate time range for the desired record. When entered into the search engine on the Collection Page, this information provides the quickest, most reliable path to finding the correct person. Of course, other information can be substituted as necessary.

What Do I Do Next?

 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the index entry for future reference; see below for assistance in citing this collection.
 * Look at an image of the original record, if possible. The online index entry generally lists only the most basic identifying information for an individual; the original record may contain further information which was not included in the index. Save or print a copy of the image if possible.
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find more. For instance, use the age listed in the record to estimate a year of birth, if that is yet undetermined.
 * If in the appropriate period, use the information which has been discovered to find the individual in civil records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century England are the England Census and the England Civil Registration records.
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Remember that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * When looking for a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which candidate is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records.
 * Check for variants of given names and surnames. An individual might appear under a different name in a record for a variety of reasons:
 * An individual might have been listed under a middle name, nickname, or abbreviation of their given name.
 * Spelling was not standardized for much of the period of this collection, so names were often spelled as they were pronounced. Pay attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try spelling variations that could have that pronunciation.
 * Some women reverted to their maiden names after the death of their husbands.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible candidates which can then be examined for matches. Alternatively, try expanding the date range; this is especially useful in searching baptismal records, as it was not unusual for a child to be baptized weeks or even months after birth.
 * Search the records of nearby parishes. While it was uncommon for an individual in this period to move more than about 20 miles from their place of birth, smaller relocations were not uncommon. For this particular collection, this step may require finding records in the bordering English counties of Dorsetshire and Wiltshire to the west, Berkshire to the north, or Surrey and Sussex to the south.
 * The individual in question may not have records in the Church of England at all, but rather might have belonged to a nonconformist denomination. See the England Nonconformist Church Records page for more information.
 * Some parish records might have been lost over time. If possible, use Bishop's Transcripts as a substitute. See the Hampshire Bishop's Transcripts page for more information.

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Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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