Find your ancestors in Surrey, Southwark Baptisms

What can these records tell me?

Each search result provides a transcription of the original document and a digital image of that document. The exact information contained within any one entry may depend both upon the date and place and upon the customs and beliefs of the denomination registering the event. However, you should be able to find out a combination of the following:

• Name
• Birth and/or baptism date
• Birth and/or baptism place
• Parents’ names
• Address

Discover more about these records

These records are among the first releases from Findmypast’s partnership with Southwark Archives, the archive serving the London Borough of Southwark. This area of London south of the Thames was part of the historical and ceremonial county of Surrey, but its importance to the social and cultural functioning of the City has always been recognised. As it was situated outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, it also enjoyed a reputation for counter-cultural tendencies, such as when, in Shakespeare’s day, playhouses sprang up alongside the many inns, bowling alleys, gambling dens and other venues we are too polite to mention.

The Archives hold an appropriately diverse collection of records. Our first publications relate to registers created by the Non-Conformist, or Dissenting, denominations of Southwark. These mainly cover the C19th and early C20th and are drawn from Baptist, Congregational (Independent) and Methodist chapels across different parts of the borough. Generally, these created baptism registers not too dissimilar from those generated by the Established Anglican Church and its Roman Catholic counterpart. However, the Baptists do not hold with infant or child baptism and there are no surviving birth registers for the various Baptist chapels in Southwark. Notable among the surviving records for other denominations are the registers of the York Street Chapel in Walworth, which was established by the Independents (Congregationalists) at the early date of 1790. The York Street Chapel became Browning Hall, and York Street itself became Browning Street, due to the association with the writer Robert Browning, who was baptised here.