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England West Midlands  Wolverhampton

Guide to Wolverhampton history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, the city is named after Wulfrun, who founded the town in 985, from the Anglo-Saxon Wulfrūnehēantūn ("Wulfrūn's high or principal enclosure or farm"). Prior to the Norman Conquest, the area's name appears only as variants of Heantune or Hamtun, the prefix Wulfrun or similar appearing in 1070 and thereafter. Alternatively, the city may have earned its original name from Wulfereēantūn ("Wulfhere's high or principal enclosure or farm") after the Mercian King, who tradition tells us established an abbey in 659, though no evidence of an abbey has been found.

Wolverhampton is recorded as being the site of a decisive battle between the unified Mercian Angles and West Saxons against the raiding Danes in 910, although sources are unclear as to whether the battle itself took place in Wednesfield or Tettenhall. The Mercians and West Saxons claimed a decisive victory, and the field of Woden is recognized by numerous place names in Wednesfield.

Wolverhampton is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as being in the Hundred of Seisdon and the county of Staffordshire. In 1179, there is mention of a market held in the town, and in 1204 it had come to the attention of King John that the town did not possess a Royal Charter for holding a market. This charter for a weekly market held on a Wednesday was eventually granted on 4 February 1258 by Henry III.

It is held that in the 14th and 15th centuries that Wolverhampton was one of the "staple towns" of the woolen trade, which today can be seen by the inclusion of a woolpack on the city's coat of arms, and by the many small streets, especially in the city center, called "Fold" (examples being Blossom's Fold, Farmers Fold, Townwell Fold and Victoria Fold), as well as Woolpack Street and Woolpack Alley.

From the 16th century onward, Wolverhampton became home to a number of metal industries including lock and key making and iron and brass working.

Wolverhampton gained its first parliamentary representation as part of the Reform Act 1832, when it was one of 22 large towns that were allocated two members of parliament. In Victorian times, Wolverhampton grew to be a wealthy town mainly due to the huge amount of industry that occurred as a result of the abundance of coal and iron deposits in the area.

Wolverhampton had a prolific bicycle industry from 1868 to 1975, during which time a total of more than 200 bicycle manufacturing companies existed there, but today none exist at all. These manufacturers included Viking, Marston, Sunbeam, Star, Wulfruna and Rudge. The last volume manufacturers of bicycles left Wolverhampton during the 1960s and 1970s – the largest and best-known of which was Viking Cycles Ltd.

England's first automatic traffic lights could be seen in Princes Square, Wolverhampton in 1927. The modern traffic lights at this location have the traditional striped poles to commemorate this fact. Princes Square was also the location of the United Kingdom's first pedestrian safety barriers, which were erected in 1934.

In 1974, as a result of local government reorganization, Wolverhampton became a metropolitan borough. The United Kingdom government announced on 18 December 2000 that Wolverhampton would be granted city status – an honor that had been unsuccessfully applied for in 1953, 1966, 1977, 1985 and 1992 – making it one of three "Millennium Cities".

Cemeteries (Civil)
Wolverhampton has 4 civil cemeteries. They follow:

Bushbury Cemetery:


 * Address:
 * 86 Underhill Ln
 * Wolverhampton WV10 8NS
 * Phone: +44 1902 556070

Merridale Cemetery:


 * Address:
 * 56 Jeffcock Rd
 * Wolverhampton WV3 7A

Bilston Cemetery:


 * Address:
 * Cemetery St
 * Bilston WV14 6BN
 * Phone: +44 1902 554992

Danescourt Cemetery:

5 Coppice Ln
 * Address:
 * Wolverhampton WV6 9BS

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


 * Address: Church House
 * 17-19 York Pl
 * Leeds LS1 2EX


 * Anglican Diocese of Leeds

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

Address:
 * Dewsbury Rd
 * Dewsbury, Leeds WF12 7JL

St. Mary's Church, Whitkirk


 * Address:
 * Selby Rd
 * Leeds LS15 0AA

St. Mary's Parish Church, Beeston


 * Address:
 * Town Street
 * Leeds LS11 8PN

St Mary the Virgin, Hunslet


 * Address:
 * Church Street
 * Hunslet, West Yorkshire, LS10 2QY

St Mary the Virgin, Beeston


 * Address:
 * Town Street
 * Beeston, West Yorkshire, LS11 8RD

St Luke's Church


 * Address:
 * Stanks Ln N
 * Swarcliffe LS14 5AS

St John the Evangelist


 * Address:
 * 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

 * Old Maps of Leeds


 * Map of Leeds


 * 1850 gazetteer for Leeds and Bradford


 * genuki Leeds gazetteer

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.

Societies

 * UK Federation of Family History Societies; Yorkshire


 * The Yorkshire Group UK

Archives

 * National Archives, Leeds


 * Leeds University Archives


 * Newspapers Archive: Leeds

Web Sites

 * Leeds City Council


 * wikipedia; Leeds


 * [http://www.leeds.anglican.org/ Anglican Diocese of Leeds