St Giles in the Fields Middlesex Family History Guide
St Giles in the Fields is an Ancient Parish in the county of Middlesex.
Other places in the parish include: St Giles in the Fields North and St Giles in the Fields South.
Alternative names:
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
St Giles in the Fields
- Parish registers: 1561
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1800
St Giles in the Fields British Lying-in Hospital
- Parish registers: 1749
- Bishop’s Transcripts: None
Nonconformists include: Countess of Huntingdon Methodist, French Protestant, General Baptist, Particular Baptist, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic (Sardinian Embassy), Swedenborgian/New Jerusalem/New Church, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- St Anne Soho
- St Martin in the Fields
- Bloomsbury St George
- Endell Street
- St Marylebone St Andrew
- St Pancras
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
GILES (St.)-IN-THE-FIELDS, a parish in St. Giles’ district, Middlesex; in Finsbury borough, 1½ mile WNW of St. Paul’s.
It includes Bedford-square, Lincolns-Inn-Fields, Gower-street, Great Queen-street, and part of New-Oxford-street; but in general, consists of crowded thoroughfares, and is one of the most wretched parts of the metropolis. Acres, 123. Real property, with St-George-Bloomsbury, £299, 540. Rated property of St. G. alone, £132,836. Pop. in 1851, 37,407; in 1861, 36,684. Houses, 2,700.
A lepers’ hospital was founded here in 1101, by Queen Matilda; formed the nucleus of the parish; and was given to the Dudleys. The parish church was rebuilt, on the site of the hospital chapel, in 1730-4, after designs by Flitcroft, at a cost of £10,000; has a steeple 165 feet high, and a lichgate, with a sculpture from the previous chapel; and contains an effigies of Duchess Dudley, and the remains of A. Marvel, R. L’Estrange, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Chapman, the translator of Homer, and Pendrell, who aided the escape of Charles II.
Holy Trinity church, in Little Queen-street, was built in 1830-1, after designs by Bedford, at a cost of £8, 600; and is in the pointed style. Another church, Christ church, is in Endell-street; and another is in West-street. Lincolns-Inn-Fields has, on its N side, the Soane museum, on its S side, the Royal College of Surgeons; occupies 13⅓ acres, around the spot where Lord Russell and Algernon Sydney were beheaded in 1683; and was begun to be formed, by Inigo Jones, in 1615, and enclosed with rail in 1735.
The Soane museum was founded by Sir John Soane, in his own house, in 1812; occupies upwards of twenty-four rooms; comprises Belzoni’s Egyptian sarcophagus, a library, and a large collection of marbles, gems, pictures, and curiosities; and was left by the founder, to the public, in 1833.
The Royal College of Surgeons was built, in 1835, after designs by Sir Charles Barry, at a cost of £40,000; and includes a museum, containing upwards of 23,000 specimens, and originating in the purchase, by parliament, of the Hunterian collection for £15,000.
The Freemasons’ Hall, built in 1775-6, is in Great Queen-street; the Insolvent Debtors’ Court, built in 1814, is in Portugal-street; the British Lying-in Hospital is in Endell-street; and the Boys’ Refuge is in Great Queen-street. A parochial school has £65 from endowment; Shelton’s school has £167; Earl Southampton’s almshouses have £381; and other charities have £235.
Lady Fanshawe, Lord Somers, Lord Kenyon, Lord Erskine, the Duke of Newcastle, and Spencer Perceval lived at Lincolns-Inn-Fields; Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Lord Chancellor Finch, Sir T. Fairfax, Kneller, and Strange lived in Great Queen-street; Ronquillo, the Spanish ambassador in the time of James II., lived in Wild-street; Serjeant Maynard and Wilmot Lord Rochester lived in Portugal-row; Benjamin Franklin lived in Duke-street; and Brunel, while inventing his block-machinery, was in Bedford-street. M. Folkes, the antiquary, and Jortin, the theological writer, were natives.
A detached portion of the parish, with a pop. in 1861 of 88, is engirt by the Camden Town sub-district of St. Pancras. The parochial living is a rectory, and the livings of Holy Trinity, Christ church, and West-street are p. curacies in the diocese of London. Value of the rectory, £450; of the p. curacies, not reported. Patron of the rectory, the Lord Chancellor; of Holy Trinity and Christ church, the Rector; of West-street, not reported.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Registers
Marriages Out of Parish
Below is a list of people who were from St. Giles’ in the Fields but who were married in another parish.
James Whale, of St. Giles’ in the Fields, Middlesex, b., & Elizabeth Gould, s., lic. … … … 15 July 1769 at North & Middle Littleton, Worcestershire.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Middlesex
- Civil Registration District: St Giles
- Probate Court: Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)
- Diocese: London
- Rural Deanery: Not created until 1858
- Poor Law Union: St Giles in the Fields, St George Bloomsbury
- Hundred: Ossulstone (Holborn Division)
- Province: Canterbury