Gillingham St Mary Magdalene, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent England    Kent Parishes



Parish History
GILLINGHAM (St. Mary Magdalene), a parish, in the union of Medway, hundred of Chatham and Gillingham, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent, 1½ mile (E. by N.) from Chatham.

Gillingham is a town and a Unitary Authority for the Medway district (or Medway Towns as referred to locally) in Kent. Gillingham Kent Wikipedia

Gillingham St Mary Magdalene is an Ancient Parish and the parish church is the oldest building in Gillingham on Gillingham Green. Lidsing, Kent was a chapelry formed from this parish

The church dates from the 13th century with 15th century additions and restoration 1868-1869 by A W Blomfield and is designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage. British listed building

See Edward Hasted The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 4 (1798), pp. 226-249 at British History Online and Kent Churches website

See Gillingham North West Kent Family History Society for other places of worship including Brompton, Kent Lidsing, Kent and Gillingham St Mary Magdalen

Civil Registration
Medway Registration District

Chatham Registration District

and registrations from July 1837 to the present day are held at

Medway district The Register Office Northgate Rochester ME1 1LS Telephone 01634 338902 Fax 01634 338913 register.office@medway.gov.uk

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
From Spring 2012 material formerly held at Centre for Kentish Studies,County Hall,Maidstone,Kent ME14 1XX is available at Kent History and Library Centre see Kent Archives which also enables a search of the catalogue for Kent Archives material deposited at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

Gillingham Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

International Genealogical Index Christenings 1558-1812 Batch (C147601) Marriages 1754-1770 Batch (M147602)

Also included Wesleyan Chapel Christenings 1808-1837 Batch (C068301)

Gillingham St Mary Magdalene Baptisms Marriages and Burials 1558-1967 reference P 153 digital images may be searched online at Medway Archives City Ark project http://cityark.medway.gov.uk

Family History Library film numbers See also England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records.

Land Tax
Images for the Borough of Whetstead available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) 1780-1832 Whetstead appears to be that part of Gillingham to the north east of the town in the Grange Road/Lower Rainham Road are of the modern town.

Images for Gillingham 1780-1832 are for the town and are ina separate series.

Census records
Census returns for Gillingham 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. 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

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
Medway 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.

See England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Local Family History Centre
Gillingham Family History Centre, Kent

Canterbury Family History Centre, Kent

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

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