Sandhurst, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Sandhurst, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Sandhurst is a village and civil parish in the Tunbridge Wells district of Kent, see Sandhurst kent Wikipedia

Sandhurst St Nicholas is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Canterbury Deanery website and part of the parish boundary forms part of the county boundary with neighbours Bodiam, Sussex Ewhurst, Sussex and Northiam, Sussex A map of the parish boundary may be found at A church near you

The Church of St Nicholas, Church Road, Sandhurst has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building there are a group of scheduled monuments associated with the church and church yard.

The Baptist Chapel and former school, Sandhurst dates from 1853 and has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building there are other scheduled monuments associated with the chapel.

Here is an important jurisdictional perspective by Samuel A. Lewis -

SANDHURST (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Cranbrooke, hundred of Selbrittenden, Lower division of the lathe of Scray, W. division of Kent, 7 miles (S. W. by W.) from Tenterden. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans.

Civil Registration
This parish was part of the Cranbrook registration district. See Maidstone Registration District

Kent County Council (KCC) has a certificate centre at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells which holds all the completed registers for Kent since 1 July 1837 and can supply a certified copy of any Kent birth, death or marriage entry from any register within its custody or a Kent civil partnership registration from the government online database.

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
Sandhurst parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Kent Online Parish Clerks has indexes available for select parishes. Records are also available at the Kent Archives.

Census records
Census returns for Sandhurst 1841-1891

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. Category:England Family History Centres to locate local Family History Centres in UK Introduction to Family History Centers 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

Poor Law Unions
Cranbrook 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.

Local Family History Centre
Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent


 * FHC Portal This centre has access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access in the centre to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Publication of the restricted access images England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records) and England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) means that it is advisable to telephone the centre to reserve a computer if you wish to view these collections using the portal.

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