Leeds, Yorkshire Genealogy

See the Leeds St Peter, Yorkshire Genealogy for a complete listing of information and more about this large city and ancient parish boundary comprised of numerous churches and chapelries.

Parish History
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in Yorkshire's West Riding, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century when the name referred to a wooded area of the Kingdom of Elmet. The name has been applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the appellation of a small manorial borough in the 13th century, through several incarnations, to being the name attached to the present metropolitan borough. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a major center for the production and trading of wool.

Leeds is located in the valley of the River Aire in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is 190 miles (310 km) north-northwest of central London. The city center is less than twenty miles (32 km) from the Yorkshire Dales National Park which has some of the most spectacular scenery and countryside in the UK. Inner and southern areas of Leeds lie on a layer of coal measure sandstones forming the Yorkshire Coalfield. To the north parts are built on older sandstone and gritstones and to the east it extends into the magnesian limestone belt.

During the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a major mill town; wool was the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing, and other industries were important.[6] From being a compact market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban center by the mid-20th century. The main built-up area sub-division has a population of 474,632 (2011) and the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, of which it is a part, has a population of around 757,700 (2011) making it the third largest city in the United Kingdom.

Today, Leeds has the most diverse economy of all the UK's main employment centers and has seen the fastest rate of private sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities. The city has the third largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is also ranked as a gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network;[9] and is considered the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Leeds is served by four universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and has the country's fourth largest urban economy.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Below are websites that may contain cemetery records for non-parish churches in Bath. Cemetery Cottage, York Rd, Leeds, LS14 6AB Killingbeck Cemetery Lawnswood Cemetery Offices, Otley Road, Adel, Leeds, LS16 6AH Monday to Friday 08:00am to 4:45pm Closed Saturday, Sunday Leeds Corporation Cemetery and Crematorium, Cottingley Hall, Ring Rd, Leeds, LS11 0EU Rawdon Crematorium, Leeds Rd, Leeds, LS19 6JP Leeds City Council The council maintains three crematoria and 22 cemeteries in Leeds. Main offices where registers are held:- Cemeteries Armley Hill Top, (opened 1892) Greenhill Road, Leeds, LS12 3PZ Beckett Street, (opened 1845) Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7AA Beeston, (opened 1859) Beeston Road, Leeds, LS11 8PZ Cottingley Hall, (opened 1938) Elland Road, Leeds, LS11 0EU Garforth, (opened 1911) Ninelands Lane, Garforth, Leeds, LS25 1NX Gildersome, (opened 1865)  Street Lane, Leeds, LS27 7HR Guiseley, (opened 1922) Netherfield Road, Leeds, LS20 9HL Harehills, (opened 1908) Kimberley Road, Leeds, LS9 6LZ Holbeck, (opened 1857) Fairfax Road, Leeds, LS11 8SY Horsforth, (opened 1881) Calverley Lane, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4DZ Hunslet, (opened 1845) Middleton Road, Leeds, LS10 3BN Lawnswood, (opened 1876) Otley Road, Adel, Leeds, LS16 6AH Lofthouse, (opened 1932) Jumbles Lane, Lofthouse, Wakefield, WF3 3RU Morley, (opened 1884) Bruntcliffe Lane, Morley, Leeds, LS27 0LZ New Farnley, (opened 1860) Tong Road, Leeds, LS12 5PU New Wortley, (opened 1863) Grasmere Road, Leeds, LS12 4EX Otley, (opened 1862)  Pool Road, Otley, Leeds, LS21 1HE Pudsey, (opened 1875) Cemetery Road, Pudsey, Leeds, LS28 7HH Rothwell, (opened 1918) Haigh Road, Rothwell, Leeds, LS26 0TD Upper and  Lower Wortley, (opened 1865) Oldfield Lane, Leeds, LS12 4EX Whitkirk, (opened 1881)  Selby Road, Leeds, LS15 0AA Yeadon, (opened 1875) Cemetery Road, Yeadon, Leeds, LS19 7UR Grounds opening hours  Weekdays:   Summer   08:30am - 7:00pm                     Winter    08:30am - 4:00pm Weekends:   Summer   10:00am -  6:00pm                    Winter     10:00am -  4:00pm

They also maintain the grounds of 22 closed churchyards. The registers for closed churchyards should be available by contacting the minister of the church concerned or if church is closed you can find the information on the West Yorkshire Archive Service website.

Leeds Central Library, Calverley Street Leeds A recent acquisition is the microfilmed burial registers from Lawnswood Cemetery. These registers are of the records in all 22 Leeds municipal cemeteries, and cover both burials and cremations.

Church records
Available now at Ancestry.co.uk are two databases to records containing information on West Yorkshire poor:


 * 1) Removal orders and (parish) settlement records for the poor who resided in West Yorkshire for the boroughs of Bradford, Calderdale (Pickering, ), Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield.
 * 2) Miscellaneous Select Poor Law and Township Records, 1663-1914 of West Yorkshire.
 * 3) West Yorkshire, England, Select Rate Books, Accounts and Censuses, 1705–1893

See the Wiki page on Leeds St Peter, Yorkshire Genealogy for a more complete listing of links to churches and chapelries christenings, marriages and burials online.

Parishes
Leeds city proper falls under the Anglican Diocese of Leeds:

Anglican Diocese of Leeds Church House 17-19 York Pl Leeds LS1 2EX Website

Some specific Anglican churches follow:

Leeds Minster 8 St Peters House Kirkgate Leeds LS2 7DJ Email: contact@leedsminster.org


 * Leeds Minster

St Georges Great George Street Leeds,LS1 3BR

Parish Church of St. Mary's Dewsbury Rd Dewsbury, Leeds WF12 7JL

St. Mary's Church, Whitkirk Selby Rd Leeds LS15 0AA

St. Mary's Parish Church, Beeston Town Street Leeds LS11 8PN

St Mary the Virgin, Hunslet Church Street Hunslet, West Yorkshire, LS10 2QY

'''St Mary the Virgin, Beeston Town Street Beeston, West Yorkshire, LS11 8RD

St Luke's Church Stanks Ln N Swarcliffe LS14 5AS

St John the Evangelist 23 New Briggate Leeds LS2 8JD

Non Conformists
There are many other christian denominations represented in Leeds. A list of the major denominations follows:


 * Abundant Life Church
 * Baptists
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Chinese Christian Church
 * City Evangelical Church
 * Greek Orthodox
 * Jehovah's Witnesses
 * Methodist
 * Russian Orthodox
 * Seventh Day Adventist
 * Sheffield Jesus Centre

Non Christian communities include:


 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Jain
 * Jewish
 * Muslim
 * Shinto
 * Sikh
 * Taoist

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The following article civil registration tells more about these records.

The address and website for the Leeds Office for Civil Registration follow:


 * Leeds Register Office Leeds Town Hall The Headrow Leeds LS1 3AD
 * Leeds Register Office
 * UK BMD Yorkshire
 * Forebears UK Yorkshire

Local Histories

 * wikipedia History of Leeds
 * History of Leeds
 * A History of Leeds by W R Burt
 * The Illustrated History of Leeds by Kevin Grady and Steven Burt

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * Old Maps of Leeds
 * Map of Leeds
 * 1850 gazetteer for Leeds and Bradford
 * genuki Leeds gazetteer
 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Newspapers

 * The Yorkshire Evening Post
 * Leeds University Newspaper; the Gryphon
 * The Guardian

Occupations
Leeds has the most diverse economy of the all the UK's main employment centers and has seen the fastest rate of private sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities. The city has the third largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015.

Of the almost 500,000 persons in employment, 24.7% were in public administration, education and health, 23.9% were in banking, finance and insurance and 21.4% were in distribution, hotels and restaurants. It is in the banking, finance and insurance sectors that Leeds differs most from the financial structure of the region and the nation. In 2011, the financial and services industry in Leeds was worth £2.1 billion, the 5th largest in the UK, behind London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham.

The city is also an important center for equity, venture and risk finance. Founded in Leeds, the venture capital provider, YFM Equity Partners, is now the UK's largest provider of risk capital to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Leeds also has a large and growing population in the legal profession. There are around 150 law firms operating in Leeds, employing over 6,700 people.

Leeds is the UK's third largest manufacturing center and 50% of the UK's manufacturing base is within a two-hour drive of Leeds. With around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology.

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.

Societies

 * UK Federation of Family History Societies; Yorkshire
 * The Yorkshire Group UK

Archives

 * National Archives, Leeds
 * Leeds University Archives
 * Newspapers Archive: Leeds

Websites

 * Leeds City Council
 * wikipedia; Leeds
 * [http://www.leeds.anglican.org/ Anglican Diocese of Leeds