Source Information
Manchester Nonconformist Records [various]. Images may be used only for the purposes of the family history research in accordance with Ancestry’s website terms of use. These records are from:
- Greater Manchester County Record Office / Manchester Archives and Local Studies
- Tameside Local Studies and Archives
- Oldham Archives and Local Studies
- Wigan Archives Services
- Bury Archives Service
- Stockport Archive Service
In association with Greater Manchester Archives and Local Studies Partnership. Images produced by permission of the record holder. Images to be used only for the purposes of the family history research in accordance with Ancestry’s website terms of use.
About Manchester, England, Non-Conformist Births and Baptisms, 1758-1912
This database contains birth records from Nonconformist congregations in the Manchester area. These include Methodist, Quaker, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, URC, Congregationalist, Baptist, Unitarian, and Jewish congregations. Some records start in the mid-eighteenth century, but most come from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Records end at 1912 for privacy reasons.
What You Can Find in the Records
Baptismal records vary over time and by denomination or congregation, but they may provide some of the following details:
- name
- baptismal date
- birth date
- gender
- parents’ names
- trade or profession (typically father’s)
- abode
- parish
These records may be particularly useful for researchers who can’t find their relatives among Church of England records. Also, note that these records do not necessarily represent a comprehensive collection of Non-conformist records for Manchester. For example, some registers may have been sent to The National Archives in accordance with an 1837 request, while others remained with the church or congregation.
Historical Background
Henry VIII established himself as head of the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy in 1534. While the Church of England became the state church, the law did not require all citizens of England to be adherents, and in time, members of churches that did not conform with the doctrine of the Church of England were labeled “Nonconformists.” Included among Nonconformists were members of Methodist, Baptist, Society of Friends (Quaker), Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and other congregations.
