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Nonconformist
& Roman Catholic Registers Until the Reformation
Roman Catholicism was the established religion in England and those
with Protestant feelings were treated as dissenters appearing before
the church and royal courts. Once Henry VIII declared himself Head
of the Church Protestant ideas began to flourish. There was a brief
return to Catholicism during the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558)
but after her death Protestantism was re-established. Some groups of Protestants thought that the changes were not radical enough but decided to remain within the Church of England, becoming known as Puritans. In the 1630s William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, tried to impose uniformity and emphasised the sacramental authority of the Church. These reforms were resented by the Puritans and during the Civil War period a number of other types of church were established, known as 'The Three Denominations': Presbyterians, Independents (also known as Congregationalists) and Baptists.
Restoration The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 led to the restoration of episcopacy and Puritans became subjected to persecution. It was not until 1662 under the Act of Uniformity that these groups were formally expelled from the established church and the term 'Nonconformist' was used to describe them. Many took their congregations with them and founded independent chapels, although few have registers of baptisms or births, marriages, and burials or deaths from this date. In 1689 the Toleration
Act allowed nonconformist congregations to meet (behind unlocked
doors), provided that the meeting place was registered with the
diocesan bishop (records held at
John
Street Meeting House in the 19th century. It was identified as a
Presbyterian Meeting House on Isaac Taylor's map of
Importance of Church of England records It is important
to remember that some of these 'dissenters' still considered themselves
part of the Church of England and, in many cases they continued
to use their parish church for the rites of baptism, marriage, and
burial. Some Nonconformists felt quite strongly that these ceremonies
were not sacraments, which can explain the absence of early registers
as they felt that they did not have any religious significance.
In 1754, after Hardwicke's Marriage Act, only clergyman of the Church
of England could perform marriages. However, Quakers and Jews were
exempted. Some Anglican vicars refused to bury an unbaptised person,
which can result in the establishment of a separate burial ground
or burial on unconsecrated ground. In fact, Nonconformists were
influential in the establishment
Where are the records of Nonconformist churches? Most Wolverhampton Nonconformist churches have deposited their records at Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies. Some transcripts of registers pre-1837 are available on our website. See our
guide to Nonconformist and Roman
Catholic registers A religious
census was taken in 1851, and gives details of when the church was
established and where it was located. Wolverhampton Archives & Local
Studies holds printed copies of the census for the present Wolverhampton
Borough. You could also look at our There may
also be information in one of the national collections. A number
of non-parochial registers of the chapels and congregations outside
the Anglican Church were deposited with the Registrar General in
the 19th century. Microfilm copies of these can be seen at the Public
Record Office or Family
Records Centre. also known
as Dr William's Library, for Baptists,
Congregationalists and Presbyterians.
The registry was established in 1743 to enable dissenters (eventually
anyone regardless of creed) to provide evidence of their birth.
It was most commonly used by Londoners and was closed in 1837 when
civil registration began.
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for a list of our holdings for individual churches. You may find
that some records are deposited at 
