Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1921

This collection contains indexes of Church of England baptism registers from Essex, England.

Both the British state 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. In 1812, George Rose’s Act called for preprinted registers to be used for separate baptism and burial registers as a way of standardizing records (marriages had been recorded separately since 1754.

About Baptisms
Children were usually baptised within a few days or weeks of birth. The records generally include when the baptism took place and in what parish, child's Christian name, parents’ given names and the family surname, residence, father’s occupation, and who performed the ceremony. Sometimes you'll find additional details such as date of birth. Early records may contain less detail.