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England London Boroughs  Richmond upon Thames

Guide to London Borough of Richmond upon Thames ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
As with all the other London Boroughs, Richmond upon Thames was organized by the central UK Government in 1965. It is the only new London Borough that straddles the Thames River, with portions both to the north and to the south, as well as being taken from two previous counties of Middlesex and Surrey. It includes the former areas of the Municipal Borough of Twickenham from Middlesex with the Municipal Borough of Richmond and the Municipal Borough of Barnes from Surrey. Family History Researchers should be aware that they should look for these separate entities in the County of Middlesex (a county no longer in existence) as well as the county of Surrey, rather than the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, although a lot of useful information is available from the latter source, as well as the two counties listed.

The area now known as Richmond was formerly part of Shene. Shene was not listed in Domesday Book, although it is depicted on the associated maps as Sceon, its Saxon spelling. Henry VII had a palace built there and in 1501 he named it Richmond Palace in recognition of his earldom and his ancestral home at Richmond Castle in Yorkshire. The town that developed nearby took the same name as the palace.

Henry I lived briefly in the King's house in "Sheanes". In 1299 Edward I, the "Hammer of the Scots", took his whole court to the manor house at Sheen, a little east of the bridge and on the riverside, and it thus became a royal residence; William Wallace was executed in London in 1305, and it was in Sheen that the Commissioners from Scotland went down on their knees before Edward.

Edward II, following his defeat by the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, founded a monastery for Carmelites at Sheen. When the boy-king Edward III came to the throne in 1327 he gave the manor to his mother Isabella. Edward later spent over £2,000 on improvements, but in the middle of the work Edward himself died at the manor, in 1377. Richard II was the first English king to make Sheen his main residence, which he did in 1383. Twelve years later Richard was so distraught at the death of his wife Anne of Bohemia at the age of 28 that, according to Holinshed, the 16th-century English chronicler, he "caused it [the manor] to be thrown down and defaced; whereas the former kings of this land, being wearie of the citie, used customarily thither to resort as to a place of pleasure, and serving highly to their recreation". It was rebuilt between 1414 and 1422, but destroyed by fire in 1497.

Following that fire Henry VII built a new residence at Sheen and in 1501 he named it Richmond Palace. There are unconfirmed beliefs that Shakespeare may have performed some plays there. When Elizabeth I became queen she spent much of her time at Richmond, as she enjoyed hunting stags in the "Newe Parke of Richmonde" (now Old Deer Park). She died at the palace on 24 March 1603. The palace was no longer in residential use after 1649, but in 1688 James II ordered its partial reconstruction: this time as a royal nursery. The bulk of the palace had decayed by 1779; but surviving structures include the Wardrobe, Trumpeter's House (built around 1700), and the Gate House, built in 1501. This has five bedrooms and was made available on a 65-year lease by the Crown Estate Commissioners in 1986.

Beyond the grounds of the old palace, Richmond remained mostly agricultural land until the 18th century. White Lodge, in the middle of what is now Richmond Park, was built as a hunting lodge for George II and during this period the number of large houses in their own grounds – such as Asgill House and Pembroke Lodge – increased significantly. These were followed by the building of further important houses including Downe House, Wick House and The Wick on Richmond Hill, as this area became an increasingly fashionable place to live. Richmond Bridge was completed in 1777 to replace a ferry crossing that connected Richmond town center on the east bank with its neighboring district of East Twickenham. Today, this, together with the well-preserved Georgian terraces that surround Richmond Green and line Richmond Hill to its crest, now has listed building status.

As Richmond continued to prosper and expand during the 19th century, much luxurious housing was built on the streets that line Richmond Hill, as well as shops in the town center to serve the increasing population. In July 1892 the Corporation formed a joint-stock company, the Richmond (Surrey) Electric Light and Power Company, and this wired the town for electricity by around 1896.

Like many other large towns in Britain, Richmond lost many young people in the First and Second World Wars. In the Second World War, 96 people were killed in air raids, which also resulted in the demolition of 297 houses.

Cemeteries (Civil)
East Sheen Cemetery


 * Sheen Rd
 * Richmond TW10 5BJ
 * Phone: +44 20 8876 4511

Teddington Cemetery


 * 189 Church Rd
 * Teddington TW11 8QN
 * Phone: +44 20 8876 4511

Barnes Cemetery


 * Rocks Ln
 * London SW13 0BY

Hampton Cemetery


 * 31 Templar Pl
 * Hampton TW12 2NE

Old Mortlake Burial Ground


 * Avenue Gardens
 * London SW14 8BP
 * Phone: +44 20 8876 4511

Richmond Cemetery


 * Grove Rd
 * Richmond TW10 6HP
 * Phone: +44 20 8876 4511

Twickenham Cemetery


 * 139 Hospital Bridge Rd
 * Whitton, Twickenham TW2 6LE
 * Phone: +44 20 8876 4511

Parishes
St Matthias


 * Church Rd
 * Richmond TW10 6LS
 * Phone: +44 20 8948 7217

Holy Trinity


 * Sheen Park
 * Richmond TW9 1UP
 * Phone: +44 20 8404 1112

St Luke's, Kew


 * The Avenue
 * Richmond TW9 2AJ
 * Phone: +44 20 8332 1324

St Mary's


 * Church St
 * Twickenham TW1 3NJ
 * Phone: +44 20 8744 2693

St John the Divine


 * Kew Rd
 * Richmond TW9 2NA
 * Phone: +44 20 8940 4905

St Mary's, Barnes


 * Church Rd
 * Barnes, London SW13 9HL
 * Phone: +44 20 8741 5422

St James


 * St James's Rd
 * Hampton Hill, Hampton TW12 1DQ
 * Phone: +44 20 8941 6003

St Anne's


 * Kew Green
 * Kew, Surrey, TW9 3AA
 * Phone: +44 20 8940 4616

St Etheldreda's


 * 528 Fulham Palace Rd
 * Fulham, London SW6 6JF
 * Phone: +44 20 7736 3809

Christ Church


 * Christchurch Rd
 * London SW14 7AW

St Stephen's


 * 30 Crown Rd
 * Twickenham TW1 3EE
 * Phone: +44 20 8892 5258

St Michael and All Angels


 * 39 Elm Bank Gardens
 * London SW13 0NX
 * Phone: +44 20 8876 5230

Holy Trinity, Barnes


 * 162 Castelnau
 * Barnes, London SW13 9ET
 * Phone: +44 20 8741 7330

St Michael's


 * Wilcox Rd
 * Teddington TW11 0SP
 * Phone: +44 20 8241 0761

Non Conformists

 * Baptist
 * Christ Church
 * Christ Apostolic
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Equipers Church
 * Evangelical
 * First Church of Christ, Scientist
 * Iranian Christian Fellowship
 * Lutheran
 * Methodist
 * Roman Catholic
 * Salvation Army
 * Seventh Day Adventist

There are a number of communities of non Christian religions including the following:


 * Baha'i
 * Buddhist
 * Scientology
 * Confucian
 * Jews
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the UK government from July 1837 to the present day. Prior to that, the only available records were those kept by the ecclesiastical bodies. As the Borough of Richmond upon Thames was previously part of the Counties of Middlesex (no longer in existence), and Surrey, these two counties records should be reviewed carefully.


 * Richmond upon Thames birth records (the same web site can provide Marriage and Death records)


 * ukbmd.org: Richmond upon Thames registration districts


 * Surrey County Council BMD records


 * ukbmd.org: Middlesex

Local Histories

 * London Borough of Richmond history notes


 * british history on line: Richmond


 * british history on line: Twickenham


 * british history on line: Barnes


 * Richmond upon Thames; then and now by Paul Howard Lang


 * Twickenham Past by Donald Simpson

Maps and Gazetteers

 * openstreet map.org: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames


 * mapquest.com: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames


 * oldmapsonline: Richmond upon Thames


 * francis frith: old maps of Twickenham


 * francis frith: old map of Barnes


 * hidden london: Barnes gazetteer


 * hidden london: Twickenham


 * hidden london: Richmond Park

Newspapers

 * Richmond and Twickenham Times


 * Your Local Guardian: Richmond News


 * London Evening Standard: Richmond news

Occupations
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, of which Richmond North and South make up two of its wards, has the least poverty in the Greater London area. Richmond also offers a wide variety of office accommodation and is the UK/European headquarters of several multi-national companies including eBay, PayPal and The Securitas Group, as well as head office to a number of national, regional and local businesses. The London Evening Standard has described Richmond as "the beating heart of London's growing technology industry".

The town of Richmond has the largest commercial center in the borough and is classified a major center according to the London Plan. It is an established up-market shopping destination. ] Its compact center has approximately 50,000m2 of retail floor-space that is largely focused on George Street, The Quadrant and Hill Street. It comprises almost exclusively high street chains, the largest of which are House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer, Boots, Tesco Metro and Waitrose. A Whole Foods Market with 20,000 ft2 of floor space within a new development opened in 2013.[30] The remaining town center stores are largely single units.

The above indicates that the Borough offers occupational choices in a wide field, ranging from banking, to Internet Commerce, to office management and Realty Companies, to commercial shopping centers, and to education. Three Tube lines run through the Borough, offering rapid and easy transportation to London City for a multitude of opportunities in the Stock Market, Banking, Government support, and international trading.

Societies

 * Richmond local history society


 * Borough of Twickenham local history society


 * East Surrey Family History Society


 * London Westminster and Middlesex FHS

Archives

 * The National Archives: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames


 * Richmond Borough: Archives


 * The National Archives: Twickenham Borough


 * Surrey County Council: Archives


 * london archives searches: Middlesex

Web Sites

 * Borough of Richmond upon Thames Council


 * wikipedia: Borough of Richmond upon Thames


 * wikipedia: Richmond, London


 * wikipedia: Twickenham


 * wikipedia: Barnes


 * Surrey County Council


 * wikipedia: Middlesex