Didsbury, Lancashire Genealogy

England

Lancashire

Lancashire Parishes

Didsbury

Guide to Didsbury, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: chapelry register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Didsbury, Lancashire
Type	Ecclesiastical Parish
Civil Jurisdictions
Hundred	Salford
County	Lancashire
Poor Law Union	Chorlton
Registration District	Chorlton
Records begin
Parish registers: None
Bishop's Transcripts: 1603
Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions
Rural Deanery	Ashton Under Lyne
Diocese	Manchester
Province	York
Legal Jurisdictions
Probate Court	Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
Location of Archive
Lancashire Record Office

Church History

DIDSBURY (St James) a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Manchester ancient parish, union of Chorlton, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 5½ miles (S.) from Manchester. This chapelry, which is separated from Cheshire by the river Mersey, consists of the townships of Didsbury, Heaton-Norris, Burnage, and Withington. The chapel is dedicated to St James. Didsbury had parochial oversight to at least three other chapelries, including at Heaton-Norris St Thomas, (which see), the chapel erected at Withington (which see), to which the townships of Withington and Burnage have been assigned as a district; and another church built at Heaton-Mersey, to which that part of the township of Heaton-Norris has been attached. The Wesleyans have a place of worship at Withington. The Independents built a place of worship at Heaton-Mersey.

During the 1860s and 70s the area between Palatine Road and Burton Road was developed and St. Luke’s Church was built as a chapel-of-ease for Didsbury St James, Lancashire. Plans were in hand for the creation of a new parish and a group of residents obtained an option of a site at the corner of Burton Road and Barlow Moor Road (the site of the Burton Road Mosque). At this point Mr. Roberts offered to build a church and rectory at his own expense but insisted on the present site, the corner of Darley Avenue and Princess Road. In 1881 he was still living on the Chorlton-Didsbury border and would have watched the building of the Church and Rectory,

William Roberts was a brewer in Manchester and owned the Crown Brewery in Hulme in 1851. In the 1870s he employed 62 men and lived at Oaks Farm which occupied the site which is now St. Ambrose's Church.

Resources

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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Church records

Online Records 

• 1538 - 1910 England, Lancashire, Parish Registers 1538-1910 at FamilySearch — index
• 1603 - 1910 England, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Parish Registers, 1603-1910 at FamilySearch — index and images

Online transcriptions exist for Didsbury St James Chapelry, as well as for the ancient parish of Manchester Our Lady, St George, and St Denys--to which it was attached. Links to online baptisms, marriages and burials registers are displayed below located at the web sites indicated; note the ranges of years: 

FS =FamilySearch.org

LOPC = Lancashire Online Parish Clerk

FMP =  FMP = findmypast

LBMD = Lancashire BMD

AC = Ancestry.co.uk

FREG =FreeReg.org.uk

DIDSBURY ST JAMES Chapelry (1561) Indexes
	Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
AC	1561-1812	1561-1812	1561-1812
AC	1813-1892	1838-1881	1813-1873
FS	1561-1874	1561-1881	1603-1684;1721- 1864
LOPC	None	1561-1751	None
GLUK	1561-1757	1561-1757	1561-1757
LBMD	1837-1936	1838-1997	None
FREG	1561-1757	1561-1751	1562-1757
DIDSBURY CHRIST CHURCH Chapelry (1882) Indexes
	Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
AC	1882-1915	1882-1930
FS	1882-1931	1882-1931	None
LOPC	1837-1902	None	None
DIDSBURY EMMANUEL (or BARLOW MOOR) Chapelry (1858) Indexes
	Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
FS	None	None	None
LOPC	None	None	None
LBMD	1837-1936	1861-1963	None
MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL - OUR LADY, ST GEORGE AND ST DENYS (1573) Indexes
	Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
FS	1573-1872	1573-1889	None
LOPC	1573-1616;1777-1837	1573-1616;1782-1836 - part. yrs	1573-1616;1792-1836 - part. yrs
LBMD	1837-1881	1837-1946	1837-1881
AC	1573-1616	1573-1616	1573-1616

To view a full list of all the (over 150) chapelries and district churches in the ancient parish of Manchester and their respective links to online transcriptions of their baptisms, marriages and burials, be sure to visit the MANCHESTER (CATHEDRAL) OUR LADY, ST GEORGE & ST DENYS page.

Original Records

The original parish (chapelry) registers are housed at the Manchester Central Library archives.

FamilySearch has microfilmed these original registers from 1561 to 1911 and these films may be researched at any of its 4,600 FamilySearch Centers worldwide.

Census records

Census records from 1841 to 1911 are available online. For access, see England Census Records and Indexes Online. Census records from 1841 to 1891 are also available on film through a Family History Center or at the Family History Library.

Poor Law Unions

Chorlton Poor Law Union,Lancashire

Probate records

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

FamilySearch