Amersham, Buckinghamshire Family History Guide

Amersham is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Buckinghamshire.

Other places in the parish include: Coleshill and Coles Hill.

Alternative names: Amersham with Coleshill, Agmondesham

Status: Ancient Parish

Parish church: St. Mary

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1561
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1600

Nonconformists include: Baptist, General Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Amersham Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

AMERSHAM, a town a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in Bucks. The town was formerly called Agmondesham. It stands in a pleasant valley near the Misbourne tributary of the river Colne, surrounded by wood-crowned hills, 7½ miles ENE of Wycombe r. station, and 8½ SSW of Berkhampstead. It consists chiefly of a long street crossed by a shorter one. The town house was erected, in 1682, by Sir William Drake; and is a substantial brick edifice, with arched and pillared basement, used as a market-place, and a surmounting clock lantern.

The parish church is a Gothic edifice of brick coated with stucco; has a fine east window, filled with ancient stained glass; and contains monu ments of the Drakes, the Dents, and the Curwens. There are four dissenting chapels, a free grammar school, founded in 1620, with endowed income of £86, and three exhibitions at Oxford; endowed writing-school, Sunday school, alms-houses, and other charities with aggregately £342; and a workhouse.

A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and fairs, on Whit-Monday and 19 Sept. Manufactures of straw-plait, black lace, silk crape, and wooden chairs are carried on. The town has a head post office and two hotels, and publishes a bi-weekly newspaper. It was a borough, from the time of Edward I., sending two members to parliament; but was disfranchised by the act of 1832. The Drakes represented it for upwards of two centuries; the poet Waller, in the reign of Charles I.; and Algernon Sydney, in 1679.

Several of its inhabitants were burnt at the stake, as martyrs, in the times of Henry I. and of Mary; and John Knox preached in its church. Pop., 3,019. Houses, 578. The parish includes also part of the hamlet of Coles hill. Acres, 10,544. Real-property, £6,677. Pop., 3,550. Houses, 698. The property is not much divided. The manor belonged to the Nevilles, to Warwick the king-maker, and to the Tothills; and passed to the Drakes. Shardeloes, the manor-house, stands about a mile NW of the town, and is a fine edifice designed by Adams. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £1,331. Patron, T. T. Drake, Esq.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1840

Amersham, or Acmondesham, an ancient borough, market-town, and parish, in the archd, of Burnham, union of Amersham, Buckinghamshire; 27 miles south-east from Buckingham; 3 miles south-west from Chesham; 5 north-east from Beaconsfield, and 20 north-west from London; on the road from Wendover to Uxbridge. It stands in a pleasant valley near the Misbourn, a tributary of the river Colne, surrounded by wood-crowned hills; and consists of a long street crossed by a shortar one.

The streets are well-paved but not lighted, and the supply of water is plentiful. The town-house was erected by Sir William Drake, in 1682. It is a handsome brick edifice resting on pillars, and surmounted by a lanthern and clock. The lower part is used for the market; in the upper, public business is managed.

Living, a rectory in the archd. of Buckingham and dio. of Lincoln; rated at £48 16s. 1 ½ d; gross income, in 1832, £1,331. Patron, in 1835, T. T. Drake, Esq. The church, which stands near the intersection of the two streets, is a Gothic edifice, constructed of brick coated with stucco; the chancel and an adjoining mausoleum contain some monuments to the Bent and Drake families. The Society of Friends have a meeting-house here; and there are also two chapels for the Baptists. — The first Baptist congregation was formed in 1713, the other in 1823.

The free school was founded in 1620, by Hubert Challoner, rector of the parish. Three boys from this school, or from that of Knaresborough or Goldsborough in Yorkshire, are entitled to exhibitions in Corpus Christi college, Oxford, founded in 1620 by Dr. Challoner. The annual income of this charity is £116 10s. 6d., of which about £85 is generally paid to the master, and £10 10s. to the poor of the parish. There is also a school for writing and arithmetic, endowed by Lord Cheyne, Viscount Newhaven, in 1699, with £20 per annum.

There are two Sunday schools endowed by William Drake, jun. Esq.; and an alms-house for six widows, founded in 1667 by Sir William Drake, with an annual income of £149 13s. 4d. The other charities connected with the parish produce upwards of £182 yearly. In 1833 there were 34 daily schools in this parish, attended by 475 scholars.

The town is under the jurisdiction of the county-magistrates; for its internal management, a constable and other officers are elected at the court-leet of the lord of the manor. It formerly sent two members to parliament; but in the reformed state of the representation has ceased to return. The elective franchise, on the old system, belonged to the inhabitants paying scot and lot; but the influence of the lord of the manor was always predominant.

The Amersham poor-law union comprehends a district of 111 square miles, containing a population, returned in 1831, at 15,331. The average annual expenditure for the relief of the poor during the three years preceding the union, was £10,893. Expenditure in 1838, £6,090. The amount of assessed taxes for the town, in 1831, was £429 9s. 4d. The principal manufacture is that of cotton and black lace; many females are employed in plaiting straw; and wooden chairs are made for exportation.

The market is on Tuesday, and is well-attended; fairs for sheep are held on Whitmonday, and the 19th of September. In the reign of Henry V., several of the inhabitants of this town were burnt at the stake, for professing the tenets of the Lollards; and in that of Mary, the same scenes were renewed.

This borough was twice represented by the poet Waller, in Charles I.’s reign; and in 1679, by Algernon Sydney. Coleshill, a manor In this parish, formerly belonged to the family of the Wallers; and here Edward Waller the poet was born, in 1605. Pop., in 1801, 2,130; in 1831, 2,816. Houses 528. Acres 5,420. A. P. £7,305. Poor rates, in 1837, £967. Shardeloes, the seat of the lord of the manor, about a mile north-west of the town, is a fine building designed by Adams.

Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1840.

Parish Registers

Amersham Parish Registers Marriages 1561 to 1812

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Buckinghamshire Parish Registers Marriages V.4

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Bankrupts

Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.

Jacob Henry, Amersham, Bucks, late Northampton, builder, Jan. 18, 1839.