Church of England

Parish Registers

West front of St Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton.

TRANSCRIPTS OF REGISTERS

some registers are available on this site, indexed by name:

Bilston St Leonard registers
baptisms 1686-1812, marriages 1686-1754, burials 1727-1812

Wednesfield St Thomas registers
baptisms and burials 1751-1837

Willenhall St Giles registers
baptisms 1642-1812, burials 1727-1812

Wolverhampton St Peter registers
baptisms 1539-1812, marriages 1539-1838, burials 1539-1812

In 1538 it was ordered that every baptism, marriage and burial performed by a parish priest should be recorded in a register. Most entries were made on paper, often on loose sheets, but few registers have survived from this date. However Wolverhampton is fortunate in that the registers for the main church, St Peter's Collegiate, date back to 1539 for baptisms, marriages, and burials.

Sixty years later the system was improved by the introduction of 'parchment registers' for the recording of entries. It was also required that all previous entries be copied into these books. However, the wording of the measure only required priests to copy the entries from 1558 onwards and not for the previous 20 years.

Dates - old and new style

It is very important to be aware that until 1752 the New Year began, not on 1st January, but on 25th March. Thus, an entry between 1 January and 24 March would, by our calendar, have taken place a year later than actually recorded. For example, a baptism on 20th March 1750 would really have been on 20th March 1751. These dates are often recorded in printed transcripts like this: 20th March 1750/1.

How do I know which church my ancestors used?

Until the beginning of the 19th century St Peter's Collegiate Church covered the whole of the parish of Wolverhampton (roughly the central part of the present borough). The church had several chapelries including Bilston, Wednesfield and Willenhall for which it acted as a 'mother church'. These chapelries resented their dependence on St Peter's and in 1718 Bilston and Willenhall won the right to bury their own dead. However Bilston lost the right, to St Peter's, to perform marriages from 1755-1841. As there are no marriage registers for Wednesfield and Willenhall it seems likely that their marriages also took place at St Peter's.

During the 19th century the ancient parish was divided up to cope with the growing population. The other parts of the present borough of Wolverhampton (Bushbury, Penn, and Tettenhall) were separate parishes as they still are today. They were also divided during the
19th century.

To help you locate your family in the parish registers try searching the International Genealogical Index (IGI). This is a partial surname index to parish registers compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church) and is available to search online. It is always worth checking IGI entries against the parish register to make sure that all the information is correct.

If you cannot find your ancestors in the Church of England parish registers then try looking in
Nonconformist or Roman Catholic Registers.

Where are the registers ?

All of the registers for Anglican churches in Wolverhampton,
if they are not at the church itself, should be deposited at the
Staffordshire Record Office. Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies has microfilm/fiche copies for a number of local parishes. Many of the earlier registers (often pre-1813) have also been published - we have copies of all printed registers produced by the Staffordshire Parish Registers Society.

Our Guide to Church of England Parish Registers (PDF file) has details of all our holdings.

For those registers which are still held at the church, you may contact the vicar to arrange an appointment to view them but be aware that there is likely to be a charge for this.

Wolverhampton is part of the Lichfield Diocese and their web site has an online directory of current parish churches including the address of the vicar.