Romford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex



Parish History
Romford is an Ecclesiastical Parish and a market town in the county of Essex, created in c1840 from chapelry in Hornchurch, Essex Ancient Parish.

The original chapel of Romford, built about 1323 some distance east of the town, was taken down in 1407, and a larger one erected on the site of the present church. Romford Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Edward the Confessor, designed by Mr. J. Johnson, and was consecrated Sept. 19, 1850.

Romford formed a chapelry in the large ancient parish of Hornchurch in the Becontree hundred of Essex; it included Collier Row, Harold Wood, and Noak Hill. Through ancient custom the area enjoyed special status and a charter in 1465 removed the parish from the Becontree hundred and the county of Essex and it instead formed the independent liberty of Havering. Over time the vestry of Romford chapelry absorbed the local powers that would usually be held by the parish authorities and in 1849 Romford became a separate parish within the liberty. Improvement commissioners were set up in 1819 for paving, lighting, watching, and cleansing of the marketplace and main streets. As the town grew this arrangement became ineffective at controlling sanitation and in 1851 a local board of health was set up for the parish; although its area was reduced in 1855 to cover only the town. The remainder of the parish became part of the Romford rural sanitary district in 1875. These changes and the introduction of the Romford Poor Law Union in 1836 eroded the powers of the liberty and it was finally abolished in 1892 and reincorporated into Essex.

The Local Government Act 1894 reformed local government and created the Romford Urban District and Romford Rural District to replace the local board and sanitary district; and the Romford parish was split into Romford Urban and Romford Rural along the lines of the urban district. In 1900 the parish was recombined and the urban district expanded to cover all of the former area of the historic chapelry, except for Noak Hill which remained in the rural district and had become a parish in its own right in 1895. The enlarged urban district formed part of the London Traffic Area from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. The suburban expansion of London caused an increase in population during the 1930s and the urban district was expanded further in 1934, taking in the parishes of Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill. It was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Romford in 1937. In 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its former area was combined with that of Hornchurch Urban District; it was again removed from Essex and since then has formed the northern part of the London Borough of Havering in Greater London.

Contributor: Please create separate and linked pages for each of the other churches and their history and records.

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

Online Images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office St Edward the Confessor (St mary the Virgin and St Edward) See also the numerous churches in Romford.

St John the Divine Mawney Rd Baptisms Marriages 1928- date: Not deposited

St Michael &amp; All Angels Main Road Gidea Park Baptisms Marriages 1930- date: Not deposited

St Thomas Noak Hill Formed 1841

The Ascension Collier Row Formed 1880 as mission church Parish created 1927

St Edward (Roman Catholic) Park End Rd Baptisms 1852- date Marriages 1857- date: Not deposited Death register: 1858-1877: WDA

Congregational Chapel Hornchurch Lane Baptisms 1812-1818: PRO

Congregational Chapel South St Baptisms 1779-1854 Baptisms 1904-1943 Marriages 1904-1943 Burials 1781-1855: ERO

Methodist Chapel Victoria Rd Baptisms 1936-1961: ERO

Primitive Methodist Circuit Baptisms 1861-1916: ERO

Romford Baptist Chapel Marriages 1937-1943: ERO

Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Baptisms 1835-1837: ERO

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Romford Poor Law Union, Essex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex 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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.