Walthamstow St James, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Walthamstow St James is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Essex, created in 1844 from Walthamstow, Essex Ancient Parish

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

Walthamstow is recorded circa 1075 as Wilcumestowe ("The Place of Welcome") and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wilcumestou. King John visited Shern Hall (Shernhall Street), in 1213; the building survived until 1896. At one point Walthamstow was just a culmination of five small villages, and affairs were discussed at Vestry House, acting as the first town hall. In 1870 it had grown to the size of a small suburb and a town hall was built in Orford Road from which affairs of the village were run ( which now takes place in Forest Road - since 1941). Until the 19th century it was largely rural, with a small village centre and a number of large estates. The main route through the district, was the aforementioned Hoe Street. Additionally, there were various smaller lanes, crossing the town. The road now known as Forest Road was originally named Clay Street. Further south, the High Street was named Marsh Street, and led from the original settlement out to the marshes. Shernhall Street is an ancient route, as is Wood Street, to the east.

With the advent of the railways and the ensuing suburbanisation in the late 19th century, Walthamstow experienced a large growth in population and speculative building. From 1894 Walthamstow was an urban district and from 1926 a municipal borough in Essex. In 1931 the population of the borough, covering an area of 4,342 acres (17.57 km2), peaked at 132,972.In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area merged with that of the Municipal Borough of Chingford and the Municipal Borough of Leyton to form the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London. Other places in east London formerly of the county of Essex, such as Ilford and Romford were placed into London Boroughs along with Walthamstow. The postal codes for those districts failed to change, however.

Here is an 1848 historical perspective on this parish by the topographer, Samuel Lewis:

"WALTHAMSTOW (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Ham, hundred of Becontree, S. division of Essex, 6 miles (N. E. by N.) from London; containing 4873 inhabitants. This manor, according to the Norman survey, wherein it is called Welannestun, was in the possession of Judith, niece to the Conqueror; and having subsequently belonged to the earls of Warwick, on the attainder and execution of Earl Thomas, in 1396, it lapsed to the crown. The name appears to be of Saxon origin, from weald, "a wood," and ham, "a dwelling;" the adjunct stowe, "a place," distinguishing it from other Walthams in the county; and the entire name being accurately descriptive. The village consists of numerous detached dwelling-houses and mansions, encompassed with trees and woodland, and pleasantly situated on the borders of Epping Forest, through which a new road has been cut to Woodford, in order to form a nearer communication with the great road from London to Newmarket. The parish comprises 4436 acres, of which 501 are common or waste. It is separated from the county of Middlesex by the navigable river Lea, over which is a bridge, and on the banks of which are extensive copper and flour mills, and an oil-mill. The Eastern Counties line of railway passes through the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8.; net income, £772; patron and incumbent, the Rev. W. Wilson, B.D.; impropriator, R. Orlebar, Esq. The church is situated on an eminence, and is a neat structure, originally of flint and stone, with a tower at the west end, which was partly rebuilt by Sir George Monox, who also erected a chapel at the end of the north aisle, in 1535. It was enlarged, repaired, and beautified in 1817, at an expense of about £2000; and in the chancel is a circular window of stained glass, divided into compartments, representing a Gloria presented by Miss Russell. Among the various sepulchral memorials are those of Sir G. Monox, lord mayor of London in 1514, and his lady; a splendid monument of white marble, with figures of full size, to Sigismond Trafford, his wife, and their infant daughter; and another in memory of Lady Lucy Stanley, erected by her husband, Sir Edward Stanley. In the burial-ground is a white marble tomb, by Chantrey, in memory of Jesse Russell, Esq. At Chapel-End, a district church dedicated to St. John was erected in 1829, at an expense of £1800; it is a plain building in the Grecian style. A church dedicated to St. Peter, in the Norman style, was built at Forest-End in 1840; and another, dedicated to St. James, also Norman, was erected in the parish in 1841. All the three livings are in the Vicar's gift. There are places of worship for Independents and Unitarians. The almshouses and free school on the north side of the churchyard were founded in 1542, by Sir G. Monox, and endowed with a rent-charge of £42. 17. 4., which has been augmented, by benefactions, to an annual income of about £155; the almshouses are occupied by eight men and five single women, and the schoolmaster's emoluments are about £85 per annum. Almshouses for six widows were built by Mrs. Mary Squires, in 1795, and endowed with stock producing an annual dividend of £87. Henry Maynard, in 1686, bequeathed for various charitable purposes property now producing a net income of about £200. The churchwardens and other members of the vestry have under their control a sum of £273 per annum, chiefly distributed in coal; and a fund of £61. 10. a year, left by James Holbrook (in 1805) and others, is appropriated towards supplying bread to the poor. George Gascoigne, a poet of considerable repute, and author of several dramatic pieces, who died in 1578, was a native of Walthamstow. William Piers, D. D., Bishop of Bath and Wells, who died at the advanced age of 94, and was at the time the oldest bishop in Christendom, both with respect to years and to date of consecration, lies interred in the chancel of the church; and Edward Rowe Mores, an eminent scholar, and one of the principal agents in forming the Equitable Assurance Society, was buried here in 1778. Thomas Cartwright, afterwards Bishop of Chester, and Edmund Chishall, a learned antiquary and divine, were respectively vicars of the parish.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 449-453. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51373 Date accessed: 13 April 2011.

Local engineer, Frederick Bremer, built the first motor car in London between 1892 and 1894. This car is one of the claimants to being the first British built petrol driven car and in 1912 the "Motor" Magazine, after much debate, recognised the Bremer Car as the first British built petrol driven car (now on display in the Vestry House Museum).

The Lighthouse Methodist Church which dates from 1893 which is situated on Markhouse Road, on the corner of Downsfield Road. There is a lantern at the top of the tower, which also contains a spiral staircase. The church was erected because of the generosity of Captain David King of the shipbuilding firm of Bullard King &amp; Co which also ran the Natal Direct Shipping Line, which ran ships direct from London to Durban without stopping at the Cape.

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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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

Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office St James the Greater

Census records
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Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
West Ham Poor Law Union, Essex

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