Catholic Family History Society Publications

 

from country house catholicism to city church 3

Catholic Ancestor Journals

The Catholic Ancestor Journals are again available  via the online shop at GENfair www.genfair.co.uk

 
Catholic Ancestors index
  ECA CA index 
 
Catholic Ancestors in.........
  CatholicAncestor

Available so far:

Booklets around 22 pages A4, £3.00 each, plus £1.50 post & packing for up to two booklets:

Catholic Ancestors in London Volume 1
Catholic Ancestors in London Volume 2
Catholic Ancestors in Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Catholic Ancestors in Northumberland,Durham and North Yorkshire Volume 1
Catholic Ancestors in Catholic Ancestors in Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight
More to follow in due course.

 

The above printed publications can only be ordered through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

The following publications are available for purchase from our genfair site. Clicking on the title above each publication will open a new window in the appropriate part of the GENfair site. From there you may order the publication by using a credit card. In case of difficulty downloading contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Printed publications (books) may also be ordered through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

 The Margaret Higgins Database of Catholics in England and their Friends: 1607 - 1840

Higginsdb

The Database on this CD provides records of approximatelu 274,500 persons found in many "Returns of Papists": 1705-6, 1711, 1735, 1745, 1767 and 1780 plus other sources listed at the end of the 30 page introduction. For Each entry in the database the following facts may be available:

  • Year
  • Surname and Forename(s)
  • Status/Occupation
  • Age (Yrs) 
  • Length of Residence

The amount of information given varies and it is rare to find that all of these fields contain information for an individual. The data has been compiled over very many years by Brother Rory Higgins FSC of Australia and other members of the Catholic Family History Society.

This CD is available from GenFair.

The publications below are available on-line by click on the appropriate title or image. Note some puclications are available as downloads, this is indicated on the appropriate link.
 
 

Manchester Discovery

  • Baptisms : 1794-1812, 1812-1819, 1820-1831, 1832-1841 & 1842-50
  • Marriages : 1831-1836
  • Burials : 1816-1825 & 1832-1837
  • plus a List of Parents, extracted from the Baptism Registers

St.Mary's is the oldest existing Catholic Church in Manchester and Salford. The Manchester Mission first began in 1773, in a room in Roman Entry (off High St.). In 1776, it moved to Rook Street Chapel (off Market St.). The Mission finally moved, in 1794, to Mulberry Street and remained on the same site, as a functioning parish church, to the present day. The Registers have been fully transcribed and, with the exception of the Marriages, are presented in Surname sorted order. 

cat d 002St. Patrick's was founded in 1832 to cater for the huge intake of Irish people into Manchester. It quickly became Manchester's largest Roman Catholic parish numerically with more than 1,000 baptisms in some years.The CD-ROM contains scanned copies of the original baptism register for the period 2 Mar 1832 to 30 Dec 1860. The index contains over 26,000 entries in the form child's surname, Christian name, mother's maiden surname, date of baptism, register page number and image number.

 

 

 

Burial StPatrick's

The plot on which St. Patrick's chapel was established in 1832 was big enough to include a sizeable graveyard. It soon became the focal point for the burial of Catholics over much of North Manchester, even as far afield as Openshaw. The period covered in this Index is from May 1832 to June 1858, when burials ceased. The entries total 27,094. As well as the name of the deceased and the date of burial, the cause of death and address are given in many entries. A considerable number of the deceased do not appear in the GRO Death Indexes, even as late as 1857.

 

Sardinian Embassy

This CD-ROM contains transcriptions with indexes of 12 baptismal registers from the Sardinian Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields from 1772 to 1841. This mission has been rightly termed 'the Mother Church of the Catholic faith in the Archdiocese of Westminster'. In total the indexes contain over 60,000 names.

 
 
 
 

cat d 005

This CD-ROM contains scans of 27 indexed transcriptions of Catholic parish registers from churches, chapels and missions in the County of Middlesex. All were located in the ecclesiastical division known as the London District until 1850, and thereafter that part of the London District which fell within the Archdiocese of Westminster following the reorganisation of 1850.
The registers cover:

  • Bavarian Embassy Baptisms 1748-1838 Marriages 1747-1840
  • St Aloysius Baptisms 1802 Confirmations 1808-1820
  • St Boniface Baptisms 1812-1862
  • St Mary Moorfields Baptisms 1763-1839 Marriages 1777-1853 Burials 1819-1853
  • Virginia Street Chapel Wapping Baptisms 1789-1800
  • Westminster St Mary Baptisms 1809-1838

Volume 2 complements Volume 1 with scans of a further 23 indexed transcriptions of Catholic parish registers from churches, chapels and missions in the ecclesiastical division known as the London District until 1850. The registers on this CD cover:

  • Frcat d 008ench Chapel Royal: Baptisms 1842-1911 and Marriages 1846-1910
  • Kentish Town, St Alexis: Baptisms 1849-1854
  • Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa and St Stanislaus Kostka Chapels, Central London: Baptisms 1863-1877
  • Soho St Patrick: Baptisms 1779-1851, Index to Baptisms 1793-1937, Confirmations 1818-1854 and Marriages 1809-1856
  • Southwark St George's Fields Chapel: Baptisms 1788-1823 and Marriages 1823-1837
  • St James, Spanish Place, Westminster: Baptisms 1732-1848 and Marriages 1732-1845
  • Standon, Old Hall Green, Herts.: Baptisms 1811-1831, Confirmations 1814-1849 and Marriages 1812-1848
  • Virginia Street Chapel, Wapping: Baptisms 1832-1840

 

cat d 006

This is a valuable finding aid for those researchers with Catholic ancestors in Lancashire. It contains names which appear in the wills of persons reputed to be Catholics. Over 4,000 wills are included and the Index shows the names of nearly 50,000 testators, beneficiaries, family members and witnesses. In addition, wherever possible, the reputed Roman Catholic status of the testators and others has been confirmed by reference to other sources such as parish registers and Returns of Papists, which are also noted in the Index.

cat d 007St Anne, Junction St, Ancoats, was founded in 1848. Approximately 9,000 entries with about 40,000 names in all, including godparents. Contains both a transcript and scanned copies of the original baptism register All names in the register are fully indexed.

Southampton

 

 

Canon Scantlebury's last work, his Introduction to Catholic Southampton, belies its title since is in fact a record of his extensive research into the history of Catholicism in the city since the Reformation.
This CD contains:

  • Introduction to Catholic Southampton by Canon R. E. Scantlebury
  • The Registers of St Joseph's Church, Southampton:
    • Baptisms 1792 - 1848
    • Marriages 1803 - 1849
  • Introduction to St Joseph's Registers with Transcriptions of the Latin and French entries Bibliography
  • Researches into the precursors of St Joseph's Church
  • Documents relating to the enlargement of St Joseph’s Church, its School and Anti-Catholic Hostility in Southampton
  • Biography of Fr H. C. E. Van Doorne, the Belgian Poet and Curate and Historian of St Joseph's
  • A full transcription of the Pylewell House and Elm Cottage Marriage Register (1843 and 1855)
 
cat d 010

The Roman Catholic Register of Wrightington Hall (later St Joseph's) and The Registers of Standish Hall (later St Marie's). Wrightington and Standish are two Lancashire villages about 2 miles apart, in a county which was perhaps the centre of English Catholicism following the Reformation and in which Bishop Leyburn confirmed 8,900 Catholics in 1687. Originally farming communities, they became more industrial during the development of the Lancashire coalfield. Wrightington Hall was the seat of the Dicconson family from the middle of the 17th century; it inherited the manor by marrying into the Wrightington family. Despite being predominantly Catholic the family managed to maintain its estates from the penal laws. As was often the case with Catholic gentry the hall chapel served the local Catholic community. The chapel continued in use until succeeded by St Joseph's in 1894.

In a similar fashion Standish Hall became a centre for its local Catholic community. The original hall was probably built in the late 16th century but was rebuilt with a larger chapel in the mid 18th century, which continued in public use until 1884. The mission was succeeded by the church of St Marie of the Annunciation.

 
cat d 011
  • Baptisms: 1768 - 1803 and 1813 - 1899
  • Marriages: 1769 - 1803, 1813 - 1829, and 1836 - 1899
  • Death/Burials: 1768 - 1803, 1817 - 1854, and 1891 - 1915

The Jesuits served the Preston Mission from at least 1701 and possibly earlier from 1685, first in an older chapel, then in a newly built St Mary's, on Friargate, from 1761. Preston Catholics used this chapel for over thirty years. By the late 1780s, St Mary's had become too small for the congregation and was closed and used as a warehouse when St Wilfrid's Church was constructed off Fishergate, opening in 1793. Later in the nineteenth century St Wilfrid's was extended and substantially renovated both inside and out. This is the church we see today.

 
cat d 012

This CD provides the following records of the French Chapel Royal, King St., Portman Sq., London.

  • Baptisms 1792-1841 (1148 entries)
  • Marriages 1792-1846 (487 entries)
  • Burials 1794-1801 and 1813-1814 (65 entries)

Records largely relate to French Émigrés and their subsequent families. Baptisms are recorded from a number of Hampshire locations as well as in London. The earlier burials are almost all at St Helier, Isle of Jersey, and Winchester, as are many marriages, while those of 1813-14 are at Lymington. Much genealogical data beyond that normally found in such registers is provided. The originals of these registers are held in the French National Archives at Nantes. A filmstrip copy was given to the Archivist of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocese, and this was lodged for safekeeping and for wider access at the Portsmouth City Archives, located at the Portsmouth History Centre. References are provided to enable copies from the filmstrip to be obtained. The transcriptions are provided in both date and surname order, in searchable PDF formats.

 
cat d 014

The Midland Register covers 1768 - 1811 and 1816. The Midland District comprised the counties of Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Includes an index to names. 265 pages.

The London Register covers 1826 - 1837 and 1843. The London District was comprised of the counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, and The Channel Islands. Includes an index to names. 192 pages.

These are scans in PDF of the original printed publications which are now out of print.

 
cat d 015

The majority of the records in this Catholic Family History Society database relate to nuns who professed later than 1795 and thus usefully complements, rather than duplicates, the detailed study of the families of nuns of the English convents in exile 1600-1800, by Dr.Caroline Bowden et alia. This CD provides records of approximately 14,000 nuns. For each nun in the index the following facts may be available:

  • Surname and Forename(s)
  • Her Religious Order or Community
  • Birthdate and Place
  • Religious Name
  • Family Place
  • Names of her Father and Mother
  • Dates and Place of Entry, Profession, Leaving and Death

The amount of information given varies and it is rare to find that all of these details are available for an individual. The data has been compiled over many years by members of the Catholic Family History Society and we are very grateful for their hard work and dedication to this project. A number of different sources have been used and these are:-

  • Original archives, annals and published archive transcripts
  • Monumental Inscriptions and Burial records
  • Family supplied data
  • Census / BMD records research
  • Religious Order or Community website information
  • Obituaries and ancillary information in obituaries of others and miscellaneous information from Order and Community archivists

It should be noted, however, that some orders did not contribute data. In preparing this index, the Society has included those nuns whose records indicate their having died and if not, show their having:-

  • been born before 1915, or, if no birth date is given
  • having entered a community before 1934, or if neither
  • having professed before 1936

Two documents are provided. The first gives a list of nuns sorted into alphabetical order of surname and has indices to family names, places, and religious names. The second document provides a list of nuns grouped by Religious order or Community.

Beneditine

1624 - 1969. The contents of the registers are presented in alphabetical order of the students' names. Entries often include details of parents, other relations and brief biographical details. 120 pages.

 
 
Papist Counties

Contents

  • Bangor, Long-Whittenham Berks, Wooton Basset Wilts 1767 British Library ADD 33,409
  • Lancashire 1715 TNA FEC 11176
  • Lancashire before 1715 TNA FEC 11178 Persons convicted qr session
  • Leicester county 1717 TNA FEC 1 1193
  • Newcastle upon Lyme 1716 & 1717 TNA FEC 1121 8 papists, non jurors incl Quakers
  • Northamptonshire 1715 TNA FEC 11227
  • Warks 1791 TNA PC 1 19 23
  • West Riding 1715 TNA FEC 1 1311
  • Wiltshire St Peter's Stourton 1662 Wiltshire & Swindon Archives
  • Worcester 1715 TNA FEC 1 1301

Background

The problems for Roman Catholics started with Henry VIII falling out with the Pope over Henry's desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine. Henry declared himself Head of the Church in England. Successive monarchs and their Governments were concerned about a take-over of England by Catholic powers in Europe. Between 1559 and the Emancipation Act of 1829 many Acts of Parliament were passed in order to prevent Roman Catholics practising their Faith and to force them into conforming to the newly established Anglican Church and its rites. They were barred from many occupations and activities. Those who refused to conform were called recusants. People who followed the Pope in Rome were papists. All those who refused to take the required Oaths to prove their loyalty to the British monarch were described as non-jurors. Not all of these were Roman Catholics. Jacobitism was a political movement working towards restoring the Catholic Stuart King James II of England and VII of Scotland, and his heirs, to the throne, leading to various uprisings and support from Catholic monarchs in Europe. Followers of James were called Jacobites and many of them were also Roman Catholic.Roman Catholics who came into any of these categories were sought out by the local Anglican Church wardens and constables in order to be punished usually by fines or by double land taxes. To facilitate this, local officials were ordered to make lists of papists/recusants/Jacobites in their area and send such lists to the higher authorities. Such lists may be found in the archives of the Anglican Diocese or local Record Offices. A complete set for 1767 is in the House of Lords Archive. They are not kept in any Catholic Archives, though copies of transcriptions may be.

The Lists

The lists available in this package have been transcribed by Sylvia Dibbs as part of a long term project undertaken by Brother Rory Higgins of the De La Salle Brothers to build a database of pre-1837 Roman Catholics, mainly in England. The lists have names of adult men and often women. Sometimes children are named or just the number of children in a family. Some lists include occupations. Addresses did not exist then, but locations, necessary for land taxes, areas are often given. As marriages and usually burials had to take place in Anglican Churches this can be a useful pointer to a parish register.The originals of these lists are in London, England at:

  • The National Archives, Kew: TNA
  • The London Metropolitan Archives: LMA
  • The British Library

Reference numbers are given on each transcription. The transcriber has made every effort to avoid mistakes, but cannot guarantee there are none. It is recommended that the original documents are checked if possible. Many documents are in very poor condition or poorly written and therefore very difficult to read. Anyone researching their Catholic ancestors should find out a little of the history of this era. Remember everyone in England was Roman Catholic before the Reformation of Henry VIII.

Transcriptions and notes are © Sylvia J. Dibbs 2014

 
Papist London

Contents

  • City of London Ma 1709 1710 LMA CLA 047 LR 02 04 050
  • City of London Mar 1712 to 13 LMA CLA 047 LR 02 04 054
  • City of London Mar 1714 to 1715 LMA CLA 047 LR 02 04 055
  • City of London 1743 LMA MISC MSS 63 17
  • City of London 1745 LMA MISC MSS 63 18
  • City of London Jul 1715 LMA CLA 047 LR 02 04 056
  • City of London Ma Ap 1711 LMA CLA 047 LR 02 04 051
  • Clerkenwell 14 Apr 1711 LMA MR RR 16
  • Covent Garden 1715 LMA WR RR 14
  • Holborn Oct 1745 TNA SP 36 72 1 list of Catholic Members of the law residing in Grays Inn
  • Middlesex 1712 1714 LMA MR RR 19
  • St Dunstan West Apr 1711 LMA MR RR 14
  • Westminster June 1722 LMA WR RR 17
  • Westminster 1708 TNA SP 34 26 1
  • Westminster 1715 LMA WR RR 15 1 to 6
  • Westminster 1715 LMA WR RR 13
  • Westminster Mar 1712 1713 LMA WR RR 12 03 WR RR 12 04_ WR RR 12 05
  • Westminster St James 1744 TNA SP 36 63 106

Background

The problems for Roman Catholics started with Henry VIII falling out with the Pope over Henry's desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine. Henry declared himself Head of the Church in England. Successive monarchs and their Governments were concerned about a take-over of England by Catholic powers in Europe. Between 1559 and the Emancipation Act of 1829 many Acts of Parliament were passed in order to prevent Roman Catholics practising their Faith and to force them into conforming to the newly established Anglican Church and its rites. They were barred from many occupations and activities. Those who refused to conform were called recusants. People who followed the Pope in Rome were papists. All those who refused to take the required Oaths to prove their loyalty to the British monarch were described as non-jurors. Not all of these were Roman Catholics. Jacobitism was a political movement working towards restoring the Catholic Stuart King James II of England and VII of Scotland, and his heirs, to the throne, leading to various uprisings and support from Catholic monarchs in Europe. Followers of James were called Jacobites and many of them were also Roman Catholic.Roman Catholics who came into any of these categories were sought out by the local Anglican Church wardens and constables in order to be punished usually by fines or by double land taxes. To facilitate this, local officials were ordered to make lists of papists/recusants/Jacobites in their area and send such lists to the higher authorities. Such lists may be found in the archives of the Anglican Diocese or local Record Offices. A complete set for 1767 is in the House of Lords Archive. They are not kept in any Catholic Archives, though copies of transcriptions may be.

The Lists

The lists available in this package have been transcribed by Sylvia Dibbs as part of a long term project undertaken by Brother Rory Higgins of the De La Salle Brothers to build a database of pre-1837 Roman Catholics, mainly in England. The lists have names of adult men and often women. Sometimes children are named or just the number of children in a family. Some lists include occupations. Addresses did not exist then, but locations, necessary for land taxes, areas are often given. As marriages and usually burials had to take place in Anglican Churches this can be a useful pointer to a parish register.The originals of these lists are in London, England at:

  • The National Archives, Kew: TNA
  • The London Metropolitan Archives: LMA
  • The British Library

Reference numbers are given on each transcription. The transcriber has made every effort to avoid mistakes, but cannot guarantee there are none. It is recommended that the original documents are checked if possible. Many documents are in very poor condition or poorly written and therefore very difficult to read. Anyone researching their Catholic ancestors should find out a little of the history of this era. Remember everyone in England was Roman Catholic before the Reformation of Henry VIII.

Transcriptions and notes are © Sylvia J. Dibbs 2014

 

book81118

The Catholic FHS has been given a 25% discount off the RRP on the new book pictured here.
Phone: 0122673422 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Quote code number: CFH25
 
parishchest