Hackney Wick, Middlesex Genealogy

Guide to Hackney Wick, Middlesex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: Parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HACKNEY, a parish, forming a union with Stoke Newington, in the Tower division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex, 2 miles NE from London; comprising four districts, viz., Hackney Street St John with Lower Clapton; South Hackney; West Hackney and Stamford Hill with Upper Clapton. This place is almost united to the metropolis by successive ranges of building, many of which are of respectable appearance. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, and Unitarians.

St Mary of Eton Hackney Wick was a small district church lying within the parish boundaries of St John Hackney and was established by the year 1881.

From the parish's web site: On 16th March 1880 a meeting was held at Eton College, under the presidency of the Headmaster, where the following resolution was passed:

“It is desirable to connect school distinctly with some charitable work in London.” The direct result of this meeting was to establish a Mission, the school to support a priest, in Hackney Wick, an extremely poor district with a population of 6,000.

The first “church” was a converted undertaker’s shop in Mallard Street where the first service was held on 17th October 1880. On Advent Sunday 1880 William Carter, the first Mission Priest celebrated Holy Communion for the first time in his new “parish”. The attendance was himself and one other man, David Hewlett, who was to become the first Verger.

Despite much opposition, the congregation grew rapidly and on 24th June 1881 a temporary iron church was dedicated, holding 200.

The present site was acquired in 1880 and, after much fundraising by Eton, the Parish Hall was opened in May 1884 and the new “Iron Church” was dedicated the following month. Fundraising continued and the Foundation Stone of the present building was laid on 7th June 1890 by Princess Christian, [also known as Princess Alice] the third daughter of Queen Victoria. The architect was George Bodley, a former pupil of Sir Gilbert Scott. Two years and over £12,000 later the church was dedicated on 18th June 1892 and by an Order of Council of 26th August 1893 the new Parish of St. Mary of Eton was created.

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
Hackney Wick 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.


 * Records are also available at the London Metropolitan Archives.

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
Hackney Wick on GENUKI