Benwell St James, Northumberland Genealogy

Guide to Benwell St James, Northumberland ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
BENWELL, a district chapelry comprising the township of Benwell and part of that of Elswick, in the parish of St. John, Newcastle, union of Newcastle, W. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland 2½ miles (W.) from Newcastle. The chapel, dedicated to St. James, stands conspicuously on an eminence near the centre of the district, and was erected in 1832. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists.

Benwell St James Northumberland, created in 1843 from chapelry in Newcastle upon Tyne St Nicolas, Northumberland Ancient Parish.

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
Church of England parish registers begin in 1843. Church of England Bishops' transcripts exist from 1838.

 parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Register of graves 1865-1957 online at FamilySearch - free.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/24 1838-1875 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records; however images for this parish have not yet been loaded and await future engineering.

The dates of the post-1760 transcripts have been noted in detail and sometimes only cover years. For most parishes in the collection there are gaps in the sequence of transcripts. It is advisable to consult the original parish registers for these years and events.

Benwell, St James: Records of baptisms 1832-1981, marriages 1844-1989 and burials 1833-1966 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Baptisms 1832-1958, marriages 1844-1958 and burials 1833-1966 can also be seen at Tyne and Wear Archives Service. For earlier records see Newcastle, St John

FamilySearch Historical Records includes England, Durham Diocese, Marriage Bonds and Allegations (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Non Conformist Records

 * 1613-1920 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions
Newcastle Upon Tyne Poor Law Union, Northumberland

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