England Nonconformists Presbyterians, Unitarians (National Institute)

History and Beliefs
The Baptists, Independents and Presbyterians formed the original Three Denominations of Nonconformists, which together with the Quakers are known as the Old Dissent. The Presbyterians were Calvinists and differed from the other groups in their church government structure rather than their beliefs. They had a nationally organized church controlled jointly by the clergy and lay persons, and were popular amongst 17th century middle classes, even becoming the Established Church in England and Wales during the Commonwealth (1647-1660). In 1660 about 2,000 church ministers were ejected, most being strong Presbyterians, as the Anglicans returned as the Established Church at the Restoration. In 1691 they united with the Independents, forming the United Brethren, and also united with the Baptists in 1702, however this union broke up in 1719 when many Presbyterians dabbled in Unitarianism (ceasing to believe in the Trinity— a capital offence in the 16th and 17th centuries!) Unitarians were also known as Arians, and Socinians, and sometimes as Rational or Radical Dissenters.

In 1700 it is estimated that there were about 179,000 Presbyterians and this number declined during the next century, especially with the drift to Unitarianism, so they had almost died out by 1800. The increase in numbers of Presbyterian members and churches in the 19th century was almost entirely due to immigrants from Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the churches are sometimes called Scotch Churches. They took over as the Presbyterian Church of England in 1836. Note that Presbyterianism was the Established Church in Scotland except for a short time in the late 17th century, so it is not regarded as Nonconformist in that country.

Unitarianism gained popularity during the 18th century with groups being called academies, meetings and especially societies, in order to circumvent the law. The most important, the Unitarian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was founded in 1791. From 1789 they chose to support the ideals of the French Revolution and they were deemed dangerous revolutionaries when it became extreme. There was not much hope of challenging the illegality of Unitarianism then, and congregations could not be called Unitarians until after the Trinity Act of 1813 which revoked the illegality of denial of the existence of the Trinity. Even then numbers remained small and many Presbyterians returned to the Anglican church. In 1972 English Presbyterians united with the Congregationalists.

Presbyterian and Unitarian Records
The Presbyterian registers at the PRO are on the IGI but it always pays to view the originals as they contain so much more detail. This is even more true with dissenting denominations than for the Anglican church, and particularly so for Presbyterians as they were so autonomous. Each chose its own system of recording, which frequently included much more detail than the rather prosaic parish registers of a similar period. It can be discouraging to find out that so many Presbyterian chapels ceased to exist in the 18th century and many of their registers were lost with them. However, a large number are safely preserved in various archives and there are several alternative sources.

Ruston (My Ancestors were English Presbyterians/ Unitarians. How Can I Find out More about Them. Society of Genealogists, 1993) points out that since the doctrinal boundaries between Presbyterians and Independents were negligible before 1720, and compared to early Baptists were rather fluid prior to 1825, the researcher can expect to look at a wide range of denominational names of chapel and related records. A great number of Presbyterian congregations evolved into Unitarians thus these records are considered together.

Presbyterian and Unitarian Archives
The PRO has the few deposited registers, and county archives have collections of local materials. There should be a current list of deposited registers available from each archive, sometimes on their website. Where congregations still hold their registers contact should be made with the Church Secretary whose address can be found in the Annual Directory of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches available through public libraries. In addition, these private, specialist libraries have holdings for specific purposes.

Westminster College, Cambridge has the records of the Presbyterian Church of England (P.C.E.).


 * Dr. Williams’ Library contains the Surman Index to large numbers of Presbyterian biographies as well as chapel histories, denominational journals, and biographical material including books and funeral sermons on leading figures.


 * John Rylands Library holds 40,000 books and manuscripts relating to Unitarian and Presbyterian churches as well as denominational journals and information on leading figures in the movement.


 * Manchester College Library at Oxford holds the Johnston Index of 25,000 obituaries from Unitarian and related journals, the Martineau and other archives as well as general nonconformist publications.


 * United Reformed Church Historical Society Library holds 20 registers for some London, Cumberland, Lancashire and Northumberland churches, as well as minutes and histories of individual congregations.


 * The Unitarian Library and the Unitarian Historical Society also have useful collections. Very few English Presbyterian books of discipline have survived.

The FHL tries to microfilm the most useful material from county, specialist and other archives, so the FamilySearch Catalog lists many hundreds of Presbyterian and Unitarian records.

Presbyterian and Unitarian Registers
Ruston has provided a comprehensive list of English Presbyterian/General Baptists/Unitarian congregations in Great Britain which gives their dates and a brief idea of what registers exist. The absence of registers for many congregations is most keenly felt by the genealogist for baptisms since these were done either at home or at the chapel and would only be recorded by the Presbyterians, if at all. By law, at least between 1754 and 1837, marriages of Presbyterians were supposed to take place in the parish church, and since most Presbyterian chapels did not have their own burial grounds, most burials were in the parish churchyard.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Non-Anglican Church Records offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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