Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1921

This data collection consists of baptism records from Church of England parish registers deposited at Surrey History Centre.

About this Collection:

Records are typically arranged in chronological order and contain the following information:

• Parish
• County
• Name of child
• Baptism or birth date
• Mother’s name
• Father’s name

Additional details such as the child’s gender, residence, and whether legitimate may also be available on the original record.

Parish Records:

Parish records--primarily christenings, marriages, and burials--are the best source of vital record information before the nineteenth century. Before Civil Registration began in 1837, key events in a person’s life were typically recorded by the Church rather than the State. Starting in the sixteenth century, parish records are some of the longest running records available.

Beginning in 1598, clergy were required to send copies of their parish registers to the bishop of their diocese. These copies are known as Bishop’s Transcripts. Bishop’s Transcripts are useful in cases where originals are unreadable or no longer exist.

In 1812, George Rose’s Act called for pre-printed registers to be used for separate baptism, marriage, and burial registers as a way of standardizing records. These standardized registers are included in this collection. For earlier registers, please see the link provided below in the Related Data Collections section.

Updates:

October 2019: Added additional parish registers comprising over 29,000 new images and over 105,000 new indexes.