Bromley

England Middlesex  Bromley by Bow

A guide to genealogy in Bromley by Bow, with information on where to find birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records; census records; wills; cemeteries; maps; etc.

Bromley by Bow is a parish in the East End of London.

Parish History
In 1848: BROMLEY ST. LEONARD'S (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Poplar, Tower division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex, ½ a mile (S.) from Bow, and 3½ miles (E.) from Cornhill, London; containing 6154 inhabitants. The name appears to have been derived from Brom, broom, and Ley, a field, indicating that a great quantity of broom anciently grew in the vicinity. The village is lighted with gas, and supplied with water by the works of the East London Water Company: there is a distillery on a large scale, near the western entrance into it. A communication with the Regent's canal has been formed by a cut from the river Lea, made by Sir Charles Duckett. Two headboroughs and a constable are annually appointed at the manorial court; and the parochial affairs are under the superintendence of a select vestry. The living is a donative; net income, £190; patron, John Walter, Esq.; impropriators, the Mann family. The church, a small plain structure comprising only a nave and chancel, is surrounded by a high wall, and exhibits some remains of Norman architecture, containing also, in the southern wall of the chancel, some stone seats. It is part of a larger edifice, the conventual church of a Benedictine nunnery founded soon after the Conquest, by William, Bishop of London, and dedicated to St. Leonard: the society consisted of a prioress and nine nuns, whose revenue, in the 26th of Henry VIII., was rated at £121. 16.

At New Town is a second church, the living of which is a perpetual curacy; net income, £100; patron, the Incumbent of Bromley. The Bow Wesleyan meeting-house stands in the parish. National and infants' schools are supported by subscription, and a Sunday school is endowed with £1400 three per cents., from the interest of which the minister is paid £20 per annum, to catechise the children once a month, and for an annual examination. Seventeen children of the parish are entitled to receive education at Sir John Jolles's school at Stratford: Sir John also founded eight almshouses for the poor at Stratford and Bromley, opposite to which are almshouses established for the benefit of decayed sail-makers, by John Edmonson; at the upper extremity, between the two rows of almshouses, is a neat chapel.

(From: 'Bromeswell - Bromsgrove', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 395-400. Their site is here.)

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 neighbouring 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. Here is a list of church records on microfilm at theFamily History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

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