Jersey, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915

This collection contains images of Church of England registers of baptism from the parishes in Jersey.

Both the British government and the church had an interest in record keeping, and a 1538 Act of Parliament required ministers in the Church of England to record baptisms, marriages, and burials. Jersey’s earliest registers date from this period with the church records of the parish St Saviour starting in 1540. There is no standard format to the early registers and preprinted registers were first used in Jersey in 1822. However some parishes did not begin using the standardised registers until civil registration was introduced in 1842. The records are predominantly written in French.

See the browse on the right to determine which parishes are included in this collection and the date coverage for each parish.

About Baptisms

Children were usually baptized within a few days or weeks of birth. Records pre civil registration in 1842 typically record the date of baptism, the child’s Christian name, the name of the mother and father, with the mother’s maiden name generally given and the godparents. Some parishes do include the date of birth and the name of the officiating minister.

After 1842 all records are recorded in preprinted books and the birth and baptism dates are listed, along with the additional information of the occupation of the father.

Please note that names may appear in the records in their abbreviated forms. Please see below for a key to commonly abbreviated names found within the registers.

• Charles – Ch, Chs
• Clement – Clem
• Daniel – Dan
• Elizabeth - Eliz
• Esther - Est
• Francois - Frcs, Frs
• Francoise - Frcse, Frse
• George - Geo
• Jean - Jn
• Jeanne - Jne
• Marguerite (Margueritte) – Margte, Mgte, Marg, Margtte, Mgtte
• Matthew, Mathieu - Mat, Matth, Math
• Nicolas – Nic
• Philippe – Ph, Phle
• Pierre – Pe
• Susanne - Sus
• Thomas – Th, Tho
• William - Wm