SAINT JOHN, SAINT JOHN'S WOOD: LORD'S ROUNDABOUT, WESTMINSTER

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 P89/JN1
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SAINT JOHN, SAINT JOHN'S WOOD: LORD'S ROUNDABOUT, WESTMINSTER
Date(s)	: 1814-2012
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 4 linear metres (226 files and volumes).
Name of creator(s)	: Parish of St John, St John's Wood | Church of England

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Saint John's Wood Church was formerly known as Saint John's Wood Chapel. Saint John's Wood Chapel was built in 1814 as a chapel of ease to Saint Marylebone parish church (P89/MRY1) and to serve the new burial ground adjoining it. In 1898 it became a chapel of ease to Christ Church, Cosway Street (P89/CTC), served by its own minister until the 1920s. In 1932 the Rector of Christ Church moved from Christ Church House into St John's House and St John's appears to have become increasingly the centre of parochial administration to which were added in February 1941 the parishes of Saint Stephen the Martyr, Avenue Road (P81/STE1), and Saint Barnabas, Bell Street (P89/BAN). Consequently the records of Saint John's for these years include many items relating to Christ Church and some to the other two parishes.

The scheme for the parochial reorganisation of St Marylebone published in 1945 proposed that St John's Wood Chapel should be transferred to Saint Stephen's Parish and should replace Saint Stephen's Church as the parish church of the new parish. The Bishop of London closed Saint Stephen's Church from 31 October 1945 and asked Saint Stephen's Parochial Church Council to recognise Saint John's Wood Chapel as their parish church without waiting for a formal legal decision. When the Rector of Christ Church resigned at the end of 1947, he was replaced by two incumbents, the Rector of Saint Stephen with Saint John and the Rector of Christ Church with Saint Barnabas. On 1 January 1948 Christ Church balances were transferred out of the Saint John's ledger. The Saint Stephen's accounts were closed and the money was transferred to Saint John's, thus effectively implementing the reorganisation scheme. On 11 March 1952 an Order in Council was published ratifying the reorganisation scheme, by which Saint John's Wood Chapel was transferred to the parish of Saint Stephen the Martyr, Avenue Road, Portland Town and replaced Saint Stephen's Church as parish church. A further Order in Council on 9 September 1952 changed the name of the parish to St John's Wood.

Although legally Saint John's was only a chapel of ease until 1952, it had become the administrative centre of three parishes. Rather than Saint Stephen's parish taking over Saint John's Wood Church, Saint John's Wood Church appears to have taken over Saint Stephen's parish. Most of the series of the records used for Saint Stephen's were closed and either the Saint John's records were used for the new parish or a new series was started.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the parish of Saint John, Lord's Roundabout, St John's Wood, including registers of burials, baptisms, marriages, banns and church services; papers of the incumbents including licences; papers relating to parochial boundaries; papers relating to the benefice; faculties and citations; financial records; minutes of the Parochial Church Council; records of Christ Church Schools; histories of the church; statistics; parish newsletters and a Nadfas Survey.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

This collection is arranged as follows:
- Registers of burials (files P89/JN1/001-004);
- Burial fee books(files P89/JN1/005-011);
- Register of monuments and graves (files P89/JN1/0012);
- Registers of baptisms (files P89/JN1/013-014);
- Registers of marriages (files P89/JN1/015-019);
- Register of confirmations (files P89/JN1/020);
- Registers of banns of marriage (files P89/JN1/021-022, 158-159);
- Marriage licences (files P89/JN1/023-026);
- Church service registers (files P89/JN1/027-047, 160-169);
- Curates' licences (files P89/JN1/048-056);
- Transfer of St John's Wood Chapel from St Marylebone to Christ Church (files P89/JN1/057-067);
- Licence for solemnisation of marriages (file P89/JN1/068);
- Parochial reorganisation (files P89/JN1/069-072, 204-205);
- Benefice (files P89/JN1/073-080);
- Church fabric (files P89/JN1/081-100);
- Parochial property (files P89/JN1/101-103);
- Financial records (files P89/JN1/104-116);
- Parochial Church Council (files P89/JN1/117-123, 206-211);
- Christ Church School (files P89/JN1/124-150);
- Christ Church charities (files P89/JN1/151-152);
- History of St John's Wood Church (files P89/JN1/153-155);
- Papers of Henry Mills (files P89/JN1/156-157);
- Service sheets (files P89/JN1/170-200);
- Parish statistical returns (files P89/JN1/201-203);
- Index of incumbents (file P89/JN1/212);
- Printed material (files P89/JN1/213-225);
Nadfas Survey (P89/JN1/226).

Conditions governing access:

Open access. Original references (P--) or xerox copy references (R--) have to be ordered. Microfilms (X--) are available in the Reference Room.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Files P89/JN1/001-012 deposited by the Rector of St Marylebone 12 Jun 1959. Files P89/JN1/013-157 were deposited by the Vicar in the Greater London Record Office, 17 November 1978. Files P89/JN1/158-225 were deposited in 2004. File P89/JN1/226 deposited in 2012.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The parish records of St Stephen's dating from before the defacto union of 1948 have been listed separately with the reference P81/STE1 and the records of St John's Wood Chapel have been listed as a continuous series with the records of St John's Wood Parish. For registers of burials in St John's Wood burial ground, see St Marylebone parish church. It would also be advisable to use other records in conjunction with those of St Marylebone Church, since it is not clear how far the two series overlap.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
April to June 2010. Updated in January 2013.