Whitby, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Whitby



Parish History
Whitby is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Baxtergate, Fylingdales Moor, Hawsker cum Stainsacre, Hawsker with Stainsacre, Newholm cum Dunsley, Newholm with Dunsley, Whitby St Michael, Runswarp with Stakesby, Ruswarp, Sleights Moor, Stakesby, Whitby St John the Evangelist, and Runswarp.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £206;patron, the Archbishop of York. The church, situated near the verge of a lofty cliff, and to which is an ascent of 194 steps, is a cruciform structure of very ancient foundation; some parts of it are apparently of older date than the ruins of the abbey, but it has undergone so many alterations and repairs, that very little of its original character remains. It was thoroughly repaired,and the north transept enlarged, in 1823, and is nowadapted for a congregation of 2000 persons. At Baxtergate is a chapel of ease, erected by subscription in 1778,and containing 800 sittings. At Aislaby, Eskdaleside,and Ugglebarnby are other chapels. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Seceders from the Scottish Church,Unitarians, and Wesleyans; and a Roman Catholic chapel. The Seamen's Hospital, originally established by voluntary contribution, in 1676, affords a comfortable asylum to forty-two, disabled seamen, or seamen's widows. In 1760 it was placed, by act of parliament,under the management of fifteen trustees, annually chosen from the masters and owners of ships, and who are empowered to levy a monthly contribution of two shillings for its support from every master, and of one shilling from every seaman belonging to the port, producing together an income of £800 per annum, from which a monthly allowance is paid to each of the inmates, and to various out-pensioners. There are likewise numerous provident societies, and a savings' bank,in which the amount of deposits exceeds £40,000; and various benefactions have been made for the relief of the poor. The union of Whitby comprises twenty-two parishes or places, containing a population of 20,100.

The remains of the ancient abbey are situated near the parochial church, and, from their exposed situation,have at various times sustained severe injury from storms. The south wall of the nave was blown down in 1763, to the very foundations: in 1830, the remains of the central tower with its massive columns fell; and in 1839, part of the south wall of the choir was levelled with the ground, so that this once majestic structure is now greatly mutilated. The style is chiefly the early and decorated English, of which many elegant details are discernible; and such of the windows of the later English style as are still entire, are enriched with elaborate tracery.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 543-551. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51398 Date accessed: 06 May 2011.

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
To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Whitby Poor Law Union, Yorkshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Yorkshire 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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.