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What are Parish Magazines?
 In the 1860s bishops started to promote the idea amongst their clergy that using magazine to communicate with their parishioners would help them to maintain regular contact. Gradually this idea was implemented - more successfully in some parishes than others - and today it is the norm for parishes to regularly publish magazines. In the Victoria era though, a lot of initial attempts at publishing parish magazines faltered for economic reasons. Generally, parishioners were charged about a penny for each monthly copy, but this often wasn't enough to cover the costs of production.
A number of centrally produced publications started to appear - e.g., Home Words, Church Monthly, Parish Magazine - and these were often used as the main content of the local magazines, with the parish just producing a single sheet "wrapper" for the magazine, with this containing all of the local church news.
The number of magazines produced in each parish varies greatly - some large parishes produced thousands of copies each month, whereas some small parishes only produced 50 copies per month. Consequently, survival rates of these old magazines are very variable.
How can old Parish Magazines help with my research?
Old Parish Magazines can provide family history and local history researchers with a unique insight into the lives of their ancestors, sometimes providing information about individuals which cannot easily be found anywhere else.
All magazines are different, and their style and content varied greatly, depending on the whim of the vicar or (more usually) the curate who edited them. So some of them are more helpful than others for researchers.
First and foremost, even if your ancestors aren't specifically named in the magazines for a parish in which they lived, the magazines can still give you a flavour of what their lives were like. But if your ancestors were active within the parish, then the magazines could contain a treasure trove of information. Once you've traced the basic details of your family history, references to them in parish magazines might give you more of an idea of what your ancestors were up to in between those precious census snapshots and birth, marriage and death registrations that are often all we know of them.
What information do old Parish Magazines contain?
 Typically, old parish magazines contain a selection of the following types of information of research interest: ...
Church services, clergy and church officers :
As you'd expect, parish magazines contain a lot of detail about church services, and the activities of the Vicar and the Churchwardens. So if you have an ancestor who was one of those, they can be an absolute goldmine.
Parish register extracts :
Details of baptisms, marriages, and burials. Sometimes only names are given, but frequently the baptism references also include names of parents and addresses, and burial details usually include age. For residents heavily involved with the church, there would sometimes be a detailed obituary included in the magazines.
Parish events :
Before the advent of television, parish life included many organised entertainments and group outings. The descriptions of some of the entertainments can be very enlightening if you are lucky enough to find an ancestor mentioned. The descriptions of what they sang, played, or recited can sometimes be very illuminating! Some magazines describe parish cricket matches in great detail, others describe in detail the work done by various church helpers such as running stalls at bazaars or decorating the church for the Christmas services. There are also descriptions of meetings held by various groups such as Mothers Meetings, Band of Hope, chess clubs, debating societies, Bible Classes, Girls Friendly Society, and various others.
Donations :
The Victorians were great at cataloguing things, and they often excelled themselves in their parish magazines by listing all of the donations made by their parishioners to the various church funds and appeals. Obviously, these lists usually only include people who were able to afford to give money to the church, but if your ancestors are listed, together with the sums they gave, this can give you an insight into their wealth and social standing.
Prizes :
Many parishes named in their magazines the children at Sunday School who won prizes for attendance or examinations. The day schools were also managed by the church, and had regular inspections where the children were tested on their religious knowledge, and again the prize winners were often named in the parish magazines. It was also not unusual for parish magazines to publish details of winners in the local flower shows etc., and winners of other types of award are also sometimes included - for example, the Highgate parish magazines contained great detail about the competitions held by the local Rifle Volunteers.
Local data :
Some old parish magazines contained railway timetables, postal service timetables, and weather reports, providing a valuable archive of this type of material. Many of them also published a series of articles about the history of the parish.
In summary :
Each parish's magazine had a different style, and some contain much more information of interest to a researcher than others. But all of them give those researching their family history or local history a unique insight into the parish life of a bygone age. Here are three totally different examples .....
One character who I am particularly fond of was a chap called George Baxter, who features in a Kilburn parish magazine from 1896. George didn't perform any heroic deeds, and died in a very tragic way. But the way in which the clergy described him in his obituary in the magazine creates the impression "reading between the lines" that he must have been quite a character! Read this and see what you think .....
"Death has been busy in our congregation during the past month.
On Saturday, the 12th, it pleased God to take unto himself the soul of our brother, George Baxter. Not twelve months ago he was well known amongst working-men as an Infidel, having for more than twenty years used his influence against the Lord Jesus.
It was during the months of October and November last that God wakened him to a deep disquietude of soul. He sought the Lord and he found Him, and ever since he has distinctly and definitely identified himself with Christ and His cause in Kilburn. He manfully testified amongst his friends for the Lord Jesus, and for the last nine months was seldom absent from any of the Services in our Church.
On Friday, 11th, he was run over by a brewer’s dray on the Kilburn High Road, and received such severe injuries that he died a few hours after his admission into St. Mary’s Hospital. We saw him in the hospital in the evening. He was quite conscious. He knew he was dying. We questioned him about his hope in Christ, and his last words to us were a distinct declaration of unswerving confidence in his God and Saviour. On Saturday, 19th, the Phoenix Lodge men, with whom he had been associated all his life, brought his remains to St. John’s Church, which was well filled by working people, who joined most reverently in our solemn Burial Service. The remains were then brought to Willesden Cemetery."
If you're related to George in some way, do please let us know! |
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There are often discussions on genealogy message boards about misunderstandings occurring between householders and census enumerators when census forms were completed, especially due to problems with literacy. In a parish magazine from 1881 for Burwash in Sussex, there is an interesting article about the 1881 census results, which includes the following ....
"In1871 .... 490 schedules were used, and of these the enumerators had to fill up 132, the persons with whom they were left not feeling competent to fill them up themselves. Among the younger part of our population however, a great improvement since 1871 is reported in the number of scheduled filled up by the householders personally."
I'm not sure how literacy levels in Burwash compared to elsewhere, but this statistic gives an interesting insight into the possible reason for the strange things we sometimes find on the census pages! |
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We often think of people in the 19th century moving from Ireland to England to find work. However, as this item published in the Blandford Parish Magazine in 1884 shows, it wasn't all one-way traffic....
"The Rector has received the following letter from Ireland and thinks it may be of service to many who may be desirous of bettering their condition.
Land Corporation of Ireland, Limited
12, Molesworth Street,
KILLCHARA, THURLES,
May 4th, 1884
THE RECTOR OF BLANDFORD.
Rev Sir,
In addressing you I must ask your pardon for troubling you. But I am an assistant Manager to the above Company who are principally engaged in working farms which tenants have been evicted from for non-payments of rent, and which would lie idle here if not for this company, as the veto of the Land League prevents Local men who have not the courage of their opinions taking them. We employ a large number of labourers on them, but we have to obtain them from a distance, and I am given to understand that in your district Agricultural Labour is plentiful and not too well paid. Perhaps you may desire to benefit some of your parishioners by informing them that we can give constant employment all the year round, and that our rate of wages varies from 15/- to 10/- a week, with a House and Garden free and an allowance of fuel, with permission to keep a cow on the farm, or if the family cannot buy a cow the Corporation lend one. On our part we require steady active men accustomed to all ordinary farm labour and able to read and write, we pay the expenses of all the working members of the family's over to Ireland and the man's wife if married. But at the same time it is only right to remark, that the occupation is not a popular one in this Country though no danger to life or limb is to be apprehended to men who keep sober, yet their social life would be rather dull till they had made their way. If you would be kind enough to inform your parishioners of this letter and its contents, I would feel much obliged." |
Where can I find old Parish Magazines?
Many County Record offices hold collections of parish magazines. Their catalogues of holdings are increasingly being made available online at www.a2a.org.uk, although you will generally need to visit the appropriate Record Office to access the magazines.
There are also some copies of parish magazines at the British Library, and a few in the National Archives reference library at Kew.
Yesterdays Names publishes CDs containing name indexes and scanned page images from parish magazines. See the web site www.yesterdaysnames.co.uk for further details.
A number of organisations and individuals have put free parish magazine extracts and indexes on the internet....
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