C of E
Handsworth – St Andrew Oxhill Road / Slack Lane (OS GR SP 044908)
Originated as the mission church of the Good Shepherd, opened in a temporary building in 1894 as a mission church of St Mary’s, Handsworth. A permanent church was built in 1908 dedicated to St Andrew in 1910 and consecrated in 1914. A parish was assigned from St Mary’s, Handsworth and St James’s, Handsworth in 1914.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.)
Baptisms 1894-1950
Marriages 1911-1985
Handsworth – St James St James Road / Crocketts Road ( O. S. GR. SP 036898 )
Built 1838 – 1840. A parish was assigned out of St Mary’s, Handsworth in 1854. Parts of the parish were taken to form parts of the parish of St Peter’s, Handsworth 1907, and St Andrew, Handsworth 1914. There were missions licensed for public worship at the Boulton Road Board School 1899-1903, Grove Lane Council School 190 -1906, and the Church Room, Crocketts Road 1908 –38. The Archbishop Benson Church Hall, Austin Road, has been licensed for public worship 1938.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.)
Baptisms 1848-1966
Marriages 1854-1971
Burials 1844-1963
Handsworth – St Mary’s Chapel (was Staffordshire) Hamstead Road (O.S. GR SP 056904 )
Ancient parish
St Mary’s Handsworth was in existence by 1200 when a priest serving the church of Handsworth is mentioned and in 1228 there was a rector. Altogether 11 consecrated churches have been built in the ancient parish of Handsworth in the 19th and 20th centuries. Modern ecclesiastical parishes formed directly out of Handsworth are those of St James, Handsworth 1855 Consecrated 1838-40; St Michael, Handsworth 1855; St John, Perry Barr 1200/1833, and Holy Trinity, Birchfield 1864, and parts of the parishes of St Paul, Hamstead 1894, and St Andrew, Handsworth 1914, St Paul’s, Hamstead consecrated in 1892, originated as a mission church of Handsworth church in 1866, and St Andrew’s, Handsworth consecrated in 1914, originated as the mission church of the Good Shepherd in 1894, St Mary’s Mission in Hutton Road was licensed from1910 until the Second World War , and the Cherry Orchard Church Hall has been licensed as a mission since 1947.
Neighbouring parishes
Great Barr, Sutton Coldfield, Aston, Birmingham, Harborne, West Bromwich
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.)
Baptisms 1558-1975
Marriages 1558-1980
Burials 1558-1938
BMSGH register copies
Fiche – M451 Part 1 Baptisms 1774 – 1830, Burials 1774 – 1837
Fiche – M308 part 2 Baptisms, marriages, burials 1558-1625
Fiche – M463 part 3 Marriages 1754 – 1812
CD ROM – 245 Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1558-1625,
Baptisms 1774-1830
Marriages 1754-1812
Burials 1774-1837
Bishop’s Transcripts at Lichfield
Baptisms 1805 – 1865
Marriages 1813 – 1837
Burials 1805 – 1889
Handsworth – St Michael St Michaels Road ( O. S. GR. SP 052892)
Consecrated in 1855 as a chapel of ease to St Mary’s, Handsworth. A parish was assigned out of St Mary’s in 1861; part of it was taken to form part of the parish of St Peter, Handsworth 1907. St Michaels mission room was licensed for public worship 1888 –93; Church House Soho Road, 1908 -26
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.)
Baptisms 1855-1965
Marriages 1862-1968
Handsworth – St Peter Grove Lane ( O. S. GR. SP 046896 )
Consecrated in 1907. In the same year a parish was assigned to out of St James’s, Handsworth , and St Michael’s, Handsworth.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.)
Baptisms 1907-1974
Marriages 1907-1970
Non Conformist
Apostolic Church – Soho Road Handsworth
Meeting rooms were registered for public worship in 1939.
Baptist – Booth Street Handsworth
Mission hall and rooms were registered for public worship in 1928.
Baptist – Booth Street Handsworth
Mission hall and rooms were registered for public worship in 1928.
Baptist – Hamstead Road Handsworth
Chapel was built in 1883. The church originated at the time of migration of the Mount Zion congregation to Hagley Road Edgbaston in 1882, when a minority number of members formed a new church, which met in temporary premises on Wretham Road Lozells
Baptist – Soho Road Cannon Street Handsworth
Memorial Church was opened in 1930. After the closing of Mount Zion Graham Street Birmingham in 1913 services were held in the neighbourhood of Soho Road Handsworth at first in a “council” house and then in hired premises. In 1921 a church hall was registered for public worship.
Baptist – Victoria Road Handsworth
The Cannon Street Birmingham Church built Six Ways Aston Christ Church mentioned in a trust deed of 1862 in the early 1860’s. The church formed in 1866 by dismissed members from Cannon Street Birmingham. Branch chapels and missions opened in the 19th century were Guldford Street Lozells 1880, Braceridge Hall 1884, Victoria Road Handsworth 1885 and Bevington Road Aston 1886. In 1937 Christ Church began mission work on a new housing estate at Perry Beeches, which resulted in 1946 the opening of a new chapel.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.)
Marriages 1913 – 1983
Congregationalists and Independents – Hamstead Hill Handsworth Wood
Elmwood Chapel a converted house was opened in 1946. After the sale of Soho Hill Hockley chapel in 1941. Congregational services were held for some years at Gibson Road Handsworth Unitarian Chapel.
Congregationalists and Independents – Lodge Road Handsworth
Mission hall and institute was built in 1895.The church originated in work begun by Union Row Handsworth chapel in 1883, and subsequently carried on in Norton Street Hockley Board School by Soho Hill Handsworth.( formerly Lodge Road Institute & Mission Hall )
Congregationalists and Independents – Soho Hill Handsworth
Chapel was built in 1879. The church was a continuation of Graham Street Hockley. The chapel was closed and sold in 1941, the congregation moving to, to a converted house at Hamstead Hill Handsworth.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriage 1923 – 1941
Congregationalists and Independents – Soho Hill Handsworth
Was built in 1897. The church was a continuation of Graham Street Hockley. The chapel was closed and sold in 1941. The congregation moving, eventually to a converted house at Hamstead Hill Handsworth.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriage 1923-1941
Congregationalists and Independents – Union Row Handsworth
Union Chapel was built in 1788 for Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, and was first used by the Congregationalists in 1806.The Union chapel helped with the mission work which resulted in the building of Lodge Road and Winson Green Road chapels.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriage 1926 – 1970
Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches – Sandwell Road Handsworth
Watville Memorial Church was registered for public worship in 1934.
Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion – Union Row Handsworth
Union Chapel, was built in 1788. By 1893 the congregation had ‘much declined in consequence of the misconduct of a minister and the chapel was closed, to be reopened in 1806 as a Congregational chapel.
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) – Sycamore Road Handsworth.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Baptism 1971 – 1985
Methodists – Benson Road Handsworth
Ninevah chapel , was opened in 1822 after two years missionary work by West Bromwich Wesleyans among workmen from the Soho works. The building was closed for worship in 1958.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Baptism 1861 –1958
Marriage 1948
Methodists – Boulton Road
Mission hall was opened in 1908. In 1914 it was conducted by the Handsworth Theological College. The building was sold in 1921.
Methodists – Chapel Street (Lane) Handsworth
Ebeneezer Chapel was opened by the Primitive Methodists in 1866.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Baptism 1913 – 1966
Marriage 1913 -1968
Methodists – Farcroft Avenue Handsworth
Chapel mentioned in a deed of 1900, was registered for public worship by the Bible Christians in 1903 and was sold in 1936. The church united with that of Rookery Road chapel.
Methodists – Handsworth
Providence Chapel, was built in 1847 by the ‘Wesleyan Christian Union’.
Methodists – Holyhead Road Handsworth
Chapel was opened by the Wesleyans in 1873. A few years later it was replaced by the Ashbury Memorial Chapel opened on the same site in 1885.The church originated in meetings begun in 1872 at a house in Boulton Road.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriage 1899 – 1976
Methodists – Rookery Road Handsworth
Chapel was built by the Primitive Methodists in 1917. An earlier mission chapel on the same site was registered for public worship in 1909.
Methodists – Soho Road Handsworth ( formerly factory Road)
Wesleyan chapel appears in the Birmingham directories from 1868 to 1894. It is probably identifiable with the chapel at Gib Heath, Soho, mentioned from 1850 onwards.
Methodists – Somerset Road Handsworth
Chapel was opened by the Wesleyans in 1894. the church originated in meetings begun at Handsworth Theological College in 1885, and continued, in the 1890’s, in Slack Lane Handsworth cottages.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriage 1899 – 1977
Methodists – Villa Road Handsworth
Chapel was opened by the Methodist New Connexion in 1900. The church was founded by mission work from Unett Street.
Other Churches and Missions – Albert Road Handsworth
Calvary Evangelical Church was registered for public worship in 1957.
Other Churches and Missions – Alfred Road Handsworth
Christian Mission Rooms were registered for public worship from 1928 to 1954.
Other Churches and Missions – Finch Road Handsworth
The Gables hall was registered for public worship in 1936.
Other Churches and Missions – Wattville Road Handsworth
Un-denominational chapel was in existence in 1892, when two subsidiary missions were conducted in Booth Street, and in Mornington Street.
Presbyterian Meeting Houses and Unitarian and Free Christian Churches – Gibson Road Handsworth
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriage 1943 -1963
Presbyterians – Heathfield Road Handsworth
St Georges Church was opened in 1896.
Registers at The Library of Birmingham – Woolfson Centre (Archives Dept.) Marriages 1943-1963
Seventh Day Adventists – Ninevah Road Handsworth
Church was registered for public worship in 1942.
Spiritualists – Earlsbury Gardens Handsworth
Church was registered for public worship, by the Forward National Spiritualists Church in 1949. The members had previously met in Villa Road 1929-34 and Soho Hill 1934-1949
Swedenborgians (new Jerusalem Church) – Wretham Road Handsworth
Soho Hill chapel was opened in 1876, to replace Summer Lane Aston.
Roman Catholic
St Mary’s Chapel Hunters Road
See St Francis Handsworth
St Francis, 1840 / St Mary Hunters Road (O.S. GR. SP 0588)
St Mary’s convent founded in 1840 had its own chaplain until 1843 and was the served from the cathedral until 1849. It’s chapel was opened in 1847 and served as the church of the mission until 1894.when the new church of St Francis was opened. The old chapel was afterwards reserved for use of the convent. It was bombed during the Second World War and rebuilt on approximately the same site in the late 1950’s. The present church of St Francis in Hunter Street dating from 1894. St Augustine Handsworth was served from here from 1906 to 1913.
St Augustine (of Canterbury ) Avenue Road ( O S GR SP0288 )
A school chapel in Albert Road was opened in 1905 and served as form St Francis. It was moved to Oxhill Road in 1908. There was a resident priest from 1913. The new church opened in 1939.
Gazetteer / Directory Entries
HANDSWORTH, a parish in the southern division of the hundred of OFFLOW, county of STAFFORD, 2.1 miles (N. W. by N.) from Birmingham, containing, with the hamlets of Perry-Barr and Soho, 3859 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Stafford and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king’s books at £13. 9. 2., and in the patronage of Wyrley Birch, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, has lately received an addition of four hundred and fifty sittings, of which two hundred and fifty are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having granted £500 towards defraying the expense: it contains two elegant marble monuments to the memory of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, the late celebrated proprietors of the extensive manufactory called Soho, at this place, who lived, died, and were buried here; that to the memory of Mr. Watt is placed in a handsome oratory erected purposely for its reception. The river Tame runs through the parish. A school was established in 1812, on the National system, at an expense of nearly £800, defrayed out of the fund of the Bridge trust; and is supported by voluntary contributions. [Lewis 1831]
Handsworth with Soho is an extensive parish, comprising the townships of Handsworth, Perry, Barr, and Birchfield, in the Southern division of the county of Stafford South Offlow hundred, West Bromwich union, Birmingham county court district, and diocese of Lichfield. The parish church of St. Mary is an ancient cruciform stone building, in the Norman style, with tower and 6 bells in it ire buried James Watt and Matthew Boulton, and it contains monuments of the Wyrlevs, Watts, Bourtons, Murdochs, and Whateleys; there are also several other marble tablets, and two ancient monuments with two recumbent figures placed in the north chancel bearing no date or name: the monument of James Watt is a statue in marble, by Sir Francis Chantrey, placed in a chapel; the great engineer is represented seated in a chair, in a contemplative attitude, and in modern costume, with a pair of compasses in his right hand, and a scroll on his knee bearing a sketch of the steam engine; the cost of the statue was 2,000 guineas: adjoining the chapel is a bust in commemoration of William Murdoch, C.E., a pupil at Soho, greatly distinguished as one of the introducers of gas lighting this bust is also by Chantrey, : the monument of Matthew Boulton, formerly a pupil at the Soho manufactory, is by Flaxman. The register dates from the middle of the sixteenth century. The living is a rectory annual value £1,500, with residence, in the gift of the Very Rev. John Peel, D.D., Dean of Worcester, and held by the Rev. Herbert R. Peel, M.A., of Christ Church, Oxford. The district church of St. Michael is a beautiful edifice of red stone, in the Perpendicular style, situated on Soho-hill ; it has nave, side aisles, chancel, and transepts, and a tower and spire 160 feet high. The register dates from 1856, baptisms; 1863, marriages. The living is a perpetual curacy, annual value £320, in the gift of the rector, and held by the Rev. George David Boyle, M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford. The church of St. James was built in the year 1840. The living is a perpetual curacy, annual value £200, in the gift of the rector, and held by the Rev. J. Sheldon: M A., of Trinity College, Oxford. The Bridge Trust school, erected in 1862 at a cost of £2 150, is a handsome Elizabethan building for the education of the middle classes; the Rev. J. M. Guest, M.A., of Pembroke College, Oxford, is head master. A new National school was erected in 1862, in connection with the district of St. Michael’s. There are now three National schools in this parish-via., St. Mary’s, St. Michael’s, and St. James’s There is a chapel for Independents in Union-road. The parish extends over 8,000 acres, and forms a fashionable suburb to the north-west of Birmingham, and contains many handsome mansions and villa residences of the business men of Birmingham The population in 1861 was 11,450.
Soho was formerly the factory of the late eminent engineers, Watt and Boulton, but the works have been taken down, and the business removed to Birmingham. Here are two small breweries, two corn mills, red ad and nail manufactories. Soho Lake, a beautiful sheet of water of 20 acres, situated amidst wooded and fine undulating scenery, is a place of great resort, during the summer mouths, to the lovers of rowing ; pleasure Late of every description are kept by the proprietor, Mr. John Knibb. [Post Office Directory 1861]
