Great Malvern Worcestershire Family History Guide

Great Malvern is an Ancient Parish in the county of Worcestershire.

Alternative names: Malvern

Other places in the parish include: Barnards Green.

Guarlford, formerly a chapelry to Great Malvern, is an ecclesiastical parish formed out of the parishes of Madresfield and Great Malvern in 1866.

Parish Church: St. Mary

Parish registers begin: 1556

Nonconformists in Great Malvern include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Countess of Huntingdon Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Malvern church street — Malvern from Belle Vue Terrace

Great Malvern Parish Registers

Search online registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials including digitised images of original records and registers and indexed transcriptions.

Baptism, Marriage and Burial Records

These records include images of Church of England parish registers of baptism, marriage, and burial records.

Great Malvern, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812

Great Malvern, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1812-1922

Holy Trinity North Malvern, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1869-1878

Great Malvern St Marys Chapel Barnards Green, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1812-1922

Marriage and Banns Records

These records include images of Church of England parish registers of marriages and banns records.

Great Malvern, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1947

Death and Burial Records

These records include images of Church of England parish registers of deaths and burial records.

Great Malvern, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1997

Holy Trinity North Malvern, Church of England Deaths and Burials

Great Malvern St Marys Chapel Barnards Green, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1997

Marriage Licences

The records listed below have been extracted from the book London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869.

Trovell, Peter, of St. Augustine, London, goldsmith, and Jane Grene, of St. Sepulchre, said city, spinster, daughter of John Grene, of Malvern, co. Worcester, yeoman, gen. lic., 10 April, 1594. B.

Parish Records

An index of parish records of people from Great Malvern Worcestershire. The index includes information from Calendar of the Quarter Sessions papers Worcestershire v1 and London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887.

School Records

The National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870–1914 collection offers a rare glimpse into the educational journeys of children across England and Wales during a transformative era. These records often capture names, dates of birth, parental occupations, and school attendance patterns – making them invaluable for family historians, local researchers, and anyone tracing Victorian or Edwardian ancestry. You can view them free with a Findmypast Trial.

North Malvern Boys Church Of England School 1913-1914 Admissions

North Malvern Girls Church Of England School 1898-1914 Admissions

North Malvern Infants’ School 1876-1914 Admissions

Wyche Church Of England Primary School 1874-1914 Admissions

Quarter Session Records

Great Malvern Quarter Session Records

Bankruptcy

The records listed below have been extracted from the book The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.

New Moses, Crown Inn, Gt. Malvern, Worcestersh., innkeeper, May 20, 1842

Morison Andrew, Gt. Malvern, Worcestersh., lodging-house keeper, Oct. 8, 1841.

M‘Cann Thomas, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, builder, Aug. 8, 1837.

Griffiths William, Great Malvern, draper and grocer, Dec. 5, 1837.

Dawes Hen., Gt. Malvern, Worcestersh., maltster & corn factor, Aug. 15, 1837.

Dawes Henry, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, maltster, May 18, 1827.

Dolby Richard, Great Malvern and Kidderminster, miller, Oct. 11, 1839.

Clarke Charles, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, innkeeper, Feb. 18, 1840.

Bowers Hen., Great Malvern, Worcestersh., lodging-housekeeper, Nov. 24, 1835

Great Malvern Historical Directories

Great Malvern Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820

Malvern Great, 7 miles from Worcester, containing 163 houses, and 819 inhabitants, well known for its delightful prospects, and the salubrity and pureness of the air. There are several hotels for the accommodation of visitors, it being frequented by the most polite circles in the country. The church which formerly belonged to a magnificent monastery, was purchased by the inhabitants at the dissolution, and for its beauty of antiquity is not to be equalled in this part of the country.

The admirable pile of Malvern Hills, which give name to this village is situated in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, and from the survey made by order of the Board of Ordnance some time since, it appears that the extreme height was 1444 feet above the level of the sea.

The views from them extend over 10 counties, and are beautiful beyond description; from these hills issue several springs, one called Holy Well, about half way up the summit, and about 2 miles from Great Malvern, is accounted very salutary, and has long been used in all cases where chalybeate waters are given, with considerable success.
Malvern Little and Newland are hamlets to this parish.

Baker Mrs. C
Ballard Phillip, attorney
Banford Thomas, farmer
Bannister James, carrier
Barber Richard, smith
Barber John, hallier
Baylis Thomas, farmer
Beale Henry, surgeon
Beard J., Belle Vue Hotel
Bellers John, farmer
Bellers John, jun., farmer
Blake John, farmer
Bosworth Joseph, farmer
Brown Mrs. gent.
Bullock, Moses, farmer
Bullock William, farmer
Bullock John, farmer

Campbell G. C. gent.
Cann Thos., bricklayer
Card Rev. Henry
Caulfield E. T. gent.
Cope Sir Jonathan, Bart.

Dandridge Mary, gent.
De Bourville Madam
Deykes Samuel gent.
Downes Joseph, Foley Arms Hotel

Ell George, farmer

Fowler William, dealer

George Thomas, smith
Goodman B., schoolmaster
Greenaway Rich., farmer
Griffiths W., shopkeeper

Hall Francis, farmer
Harrison Wm., innkeeper
Hartwright James, gent.
Hartwright J. jun., farmer
Holl C. A. gent.

Jones Edw., shoemaker
Jones Thos., shoemaker

Kerby Joseph, butcher
Key James, shopkeeper

Lane George, farmer
Lashford J., shoemaker
Lucas Thomas, grocer
Lyttleton Lady

Marsden James, gent.
Mason Ann, gentlewoman
Matthews John, farmer
Matthews Samuel, farmer
Matthews Wm., carrier

Nash Samuel, farmer
Need George, farmer

Philpotts T., carpenter
Plumer Mrs. gent.
Probert John, victualler
Probert Vaughan, gent.

Rance Thomas, farmer
Richards John, gent.
Roberts Isaac, farmer
Roe Samuel, vict.

Silvester Miss, gent.
Simmonds – , glazier
Solloway John, gent.
Southall John, musician and librarian
Stephens Williams, farmer
Stillingfleet Mrs. gent.
Stokes T., shopkeeper

Thomas William, farmer
Tilt Rev. William

Wadley Edward, farmer
Waldron – , surgeon
Wall William, esq.
Weaver Charles, farmer
West Thomas, esq.
Wheeler Allen, gent.
Wilks Wm., hair dresser
Wilson Captain, Edward
Wilson John, farmer

Yeend Laringe, farmer
Young Edward, farmer

Source: S Lewis Worcestershire General and Commercial Directory for 1820.

Parish History

Great Malvern A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

Great Malvern The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

MALVERN (GREAT), a town and a parish in Upton-on-Severn district, Worcester. The town stands on an eastern slope of the Malvern hills, at the junction of the Worcester and Hereford railway with the Tewkesbury and Malvern railway, 1½ mile NNE of the boundary with Herefordshire, and 8½ SW by S of Worcester. It was, till recently, a mere village; yet it dates from considerably ancient times.

A hermitage, or house of seculars, was founded at it in the time of Edward the Confessor; and was converted by Alwin, with the aid of Bishop a Wulstan of Worcester, into a Benedictine priory. The priory became subject, in the time of Henry I., to the jurisdiction of Westminster; had a cell at Avercole, notable for a tragic occurrence in the time of the crusades; figured, for a long period, as a place of much ecclesiastical grandeur and influence; and, at the dissolution of monasteries, was purchased by the inhabitants to be used as a parish church. A song composed in the time of James I., says, –

Great Malvern, on a rock, thou dwellest surely,
Do not thyself forget, living securely;
Thou hast a famous church, and rarely builded
No country town hath such, most men have yielded,
For pillars stout and strong, and windows large and long;
Remember, in thy song, to praise the Lord.

The ancient town, or village, is irregular, and consists chiefly of scattered houses. The modern town is well built; contains numerous terrace lines of good houses; makes an imposing display of hotels, boarding-houses, and public buildings; and has, in its centre, spacious promenade gardens. Its environs are highly picturesque; its climate, though subject to piercing east winds in spring and to great midday heat in summer, is highly salubrious; and its bathing and medicinal waters, aided by hydropathic establishments, have acquired eminent repute.

The town owes its modern growth mainly to the resort of invalids, who appreciate excellent appliances for health, without caring much for accompaniments of gaiety and amusement; and it promises to acquire further and rapid growth, both from increasing force of the same cause, and as a place of education. The railway station is a handsome structure, and was opened in 1859.

A very large hotel stands adjacent to the station; was erected in 1862 by a public company, at a cost of more than £25,000; presents a highly ornate appearance, similar to that of the Great Western hotel at Paddington; and has very high roofs. Other hotels and boarding-houses are as numerous as in many a city. A club-house, in the Palladian-Italian style, with adjoining masonic hall, was projected in 1869.

The proprietary college stands on a beautiful spot commanding an extensive view of the valley of the Severn; was built in 1865, after designs by F. Hansom; is in the decorated English style, on a ground plan in the form of an E; measures 210 feel along the W front; has there a central turretted tower 100 feet high, a two-storied centre extending from the tower, the ends of two wings in the form of two church-like gables with seven-light windows, and a detached ornate chapel with slender spire; comprises a classic school and a modern school, in two large wing-buildings, whose W ends form the gables of the W front; includes an open quadrangle in the rear, between these two buildings; has two principal schoolrooms, each 97 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 57 feet high, affords accommodation for 600 boys; and conducts its course of instruction on the system of the great public schools.

There are a national school, an endowed school, an industrial school, a public library, and a workingmen s literary institute. The public library is kept in a building of the Doric style. A suitable edifice for the literary institute was proposed, in 1866, to be erected at a cost of about £750.

The parish church, or church of the quondam priory, is partly early Norman, chiefly later English; comprises nave, aisles, transepts, and chancel, with central embattled tower 124 feet high; measures 177 feet in length, 63 feet in width, and 63 feet in height; had formerly a Lady chapel, 50 feet in length; underwent restoration in 1860-4, at a cost of about £12,420; has a fine memorial window to the late Prince Consort, put up in 1862; and contains stalls, sedilia, four interesting ancient monuments, a beautiful recent monument to Mrs. S. Thompson, and the graves of Bishop Bathurst of Norwich and Bishop Jenkinson of St. David’s. The gateway of the ancient priory still stands, and is a beautiful specimen of later English.

St. Mary’s church, at Barnards-Green, was erected in 1844, at a cost of about £2,000. Trinity church is at North Malvern.

There are chapels for Independents, Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, Quakers, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics, in the town; and a chapel for Independents, at Malvern-Chase.

The Wesleyan chapel was built in 1866, at a cost of £3,000; is in the early decorated English style; comprises nave, transept, and apse, with a pinnacled tower 104 feet high; contains about 500 sittings; and stands over cryptic schoolrooms, capable of accommodating 500 children.

The Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1863; is in the pointed style; consists of a nave of 80 feet by 30, with three side chapels; and was designed to be extended, at some convenient period, by the addition of chancel.

The public. cemetery occupies a space of about 3 acres, and was opened in 1861.

A suite of alms houses, in result of a munificent bequest of £60,000 by the Earl of Beauchamp, was founded in Oct. 1862. Other endowed charities connected with the town amount yearly to about £20. The town has a head post office, a telegraph-station, and two banking offices; is a seat of petty sessions; and publishes two weekly newspapers. Pop. in 1861, 4,484. Houses, .709.

The waters of Malvern, which so greatly attract invalids, are remarkably limpid, and owe their reputed virtues probably quite as much to extreme purity as to any positive medicinal qualities; and they are used for bathing as well as for drinking, and prove eminently suitable to the hydropathic establishments. Two springs are mainly in request; the one called St. Anne’s, in the E part of the town, near the parish church; the other called Holywell, about 2 miles to the S.

The water of St. Anne’s contains, per gallon, 3.45 grains of carbonate of soda, 1.48 of sulphate of soda, .955 of muriate of soda, .352 of carbonate of lime, .328 of carbonate of iron, and .47 of residum; and that of the Holywell contains 5.33 of carbonate of soda, 2.896 of sulphate of soda, 1.553 of muriate of soda, 16 of carbonate of lime, .625 of carbonate of iron, and 1687 of residuum.

St. Anne’s well is very picturesquely situated; and every desirable accommodation exists for drinking the waters, and for hot and cold bathing. A weekly lecture on water, health, and kindred topics is delivered in an apartment, used as a reading-room, in Townsend House; an annual temperance fête is held in the beautiful grounds connected with that edifice; and an annual ball, and a few indoor recreations, are the only other local amusements. But very ample and very inspiriting means exist for pedestrian rambles, mounted or carriage excursions, picnic parties, angling, botanizing, and geological exploration.

The parish contains also the hamlet of Barnards-Green and the chapelry of Newland. Acres, 5,021. Real property, exclusive of Newland, £35,142; of which £20 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 3,771; in 1861, 6,054. Houses, 992. Real property, inclusive of Newland, £36,854. Pop. in 1851, 3,911; in 1861, 6,245. Houses, 1,026. The property, in all parts, is much subdivided.

The manor belongs to Lady Emily Foley. Malvern Chase, once a forest, but now enclosed, included most of the parish, and extended beyond it; and it belonged, for some time, to the Clares.

The parish is ecclesiastically cut into the sections of Great Malvern or Prior church, Guarlford, and North Malvern. The living of the first is a vicarage, of the second a rectory, of the third a p. curacy, in the diocese of Worcester. Valne of the first, £350; of the second, £337. Patron of the first, Lady Emily Foley; of the second, Earl Beauchamp; of the third, the Vicar of Great Malvern.

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

Great Malvern Worcestershire Delineated C. And J. Greenwood 1822

Malvern (Great) – a parish in the hundred of Pershore, lower division, 8 miles S.W. from Worcester, 6 from Upton, and 116 from London; containing 293 inhabited houses.

Here was formerly a magnificent monastery, the church of which still remains, having been purchased by the inhabitants, and made parochial at the dissolution. It is built in the form of a cross, 171 feet long, and 63 broad. A handsome embattled tower, containing six bells and a set of chimes, rises from its centre. It has lately been repaired and beautified at a very considerable expense. The arms of those who have contributed towards this object are painted on one of the windows.

There are several hotels and boarding houses, with every convenience for those who resort here for the benefit of the waters. A public library has lately been erected on a scale commensurate with the increased prosperity of the place. The church is a vicarage; Rev. Henry Card, incumbent; instituted 1815; patron Lord Foley. Population, 1801, 819 – 1811, 1205 – 1821, 1568.

Source: Worcestershire Delineated: Being a Topographical Description of Each Parish, Chapelry, Hamlet, &c. In the County; with the distances and bearings from their respective market towns, &c. By C. and J. Greenwood. Printed by T. Bensley, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, 1822.

Great Malvern Universal British Directory 1791

Great Malvern is seven miles from Worcester, a village so eminently known for its beautiful prospects deserves admiration and attention, having good inns and a hotel for the accommodation of visitors. The principal inhabitants are Mr. John Ballard, Attorney; and Mr. William Osbaldeston, Surgeon and Apothecary.

Source: Universal British Directory 1791