Clapham Bedfordshire Family History Guide

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CLAPHAM is a village and parish, on the north bank of the river Ouse, 2 miles north west from Bedford, on the road to Higham Ferrers, in the hundred of Stodden, union and county court district of Bedford, rural deanery of Clapham, archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Ely1.

Clapham was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Oakley.

Parish church: St. Thomas à Becket

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1696; see also Oakley
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1603

Nonconformists include:

Adjacent Parishes

Clapham High Street Bedfordshire
CLAPHAM Bedfordshire Horse and Groom Inn 1951

Clapham Parish Registers

Search online registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials including digitised images of original records and registers and indexed transcriptions.

Baptism Records

These records include indexed transcriptions of parish register baptisms.

Clapham, Bedfordshire Baptisms, 1560-1916

Marriage and Banns Records

These records include indexed transcriptions of parish register marriages and banns.

Clapham, Bedfordshire Marriages, 1603-1895

Clapham Parish Registers 1603–1812

The Clapham Parish Registers 1603–1812 are available free to read online, with options to download the pdf for personal research

Clapham Parish Registers 1603–1812 Bedfordshire Parish Registers Edited by F. G. Emmison, Clerk of Records, Bedfordshire. Published under the auspices of the County Records Committee of the Bedfordshire County Council, and of the Ven. the Archdeacon of Bedford. Volume XVI. Bedford: County Record Office, Shire Hall. 1937.

Bedfordshire parish registers v16 1

Clapham Parish Registers 1603–1812 Bedfordshire Parish Registers Edited by F. G. Emmison, Clerk of Records, Bedfordshire.

Free to Read Online or Download

Marriage Licences and Allegations

London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869

The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.

Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.

Gery, William, of Bushmeade, Beds, esq., widower, about 32, and Mrs. Catherine Taylor, of Clapham, said county, widow, about 30 — in parish church or chapel of Bushmeade aforesaid. 3 Aug. 1675. V. 

Sackford, Henry, the younger, of the Charterhouse, gent., 27, father dead, and Sara Howe, of St. John, in St. John’s Street, co. Middlesex, maiden, daughter of John Rowe, of Clapham, Beds, esq., deceased about nine years since, about 20, her mother is living, and married unto Mr. Henry Sackford, the elder, esq., living in St. John’s House aforesaid — at Clerkenwell, being the next church to the partie. 8 June, 1601. B.

Taylor, Richard, esq., of Clapham, Beds, bachelor, above 28, and Catherine Bosdon, spinster, about 16, consent of her father, Edmund Bosdon, esq., of the Middle Temple — at St. Peter, Paul’s Wharf, or St. Bartholomew-the-Less. 17 May, 1648. B

Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887

Quarter Sessions Rolls

The following have been extracted from the Notes & Extracts from the Bedfordshire County Records comprised in the Quarter Sessions Rolls from 1714 to 1832 compiled by Messrs. Hardy & Page, Record Agents

1724 9th December. Information by Alexander Perring of Clapham, in the County of Bedford, that on or about the 4th December last, he being one of the field drivers of the said parish, and sworn into that office at a court baron held by order of the lord of the manor of the said parish, saw one William Geery, Samuel Jackson, and James Pain driving a cart laden with stubble straw over the cow commons belonging to the said parish, contrary to the by-laws of the said manor, which by-laws the informant was sworn to do his best to see put in execution, and in order thereto, he rode up to the said cart and ordered the said Samuel Jackson to drive the horses and cart into the road and not over the cow commons, which he refused to do, and then William Geery came up and said that the said Jackson should drive the cart over the common, which the informant tried to prevent, whereupon he was beaten and wounded by the said Jackson and Geery.

Historical Directory Transcriptions

Clapham The Post Office Directory of Bedfordshire 1869

CLAPHAM is a village and parish, on the north bank of the river Ouse, 2 miles north west from Bedford, on the road to Higham Ferrers, in the hundred of Stodden, union and county court district of Bedford, rural deanery of Clapham, archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Ely.

The Wesleyans have a small chapel here. There is a daily school for children of both sexes, supported by the Vicar and the Rev John Frederick Dawson.

The chief crops are wheat barley peas beans and oats. Lime burning is carried on and pillow lace is made here. The population in 1861 was 502; the area is 1,948 acres

Parish Clerk Thomas Maddams

Post OFFICE – Thomas Matthews, receiver. Letters through Bedford, delivered at 7 am; dispatched at 5.35 pm. The nearest money order office is at Bedford.

School Annis Peck, mistress

Hinton Alexander esq
Shillito W. esq. Woodlands

COMMERCIAL

Ballingall George farmer
Bandy John farmer
Butt Aaron lime burner

Corby Joseph gardener
Cowley Robert carpenter & rate collector

Dawson George bricklayer

Farrer Daniel baker & shopkeeper

Grant Thomas farmer Church farm

Henman Walter James, manager of Messrs J & F Howard’s Britannia farms
Hilton Samuel carpenter

Jordan Ebenezer blacksmith

Maddams Thomas carpenter & parish clerk
Manton Henry Swan
Matthews Thomas shoe maker & post office

Parrett Eli bricklayer
Pheasey Edwin beer retailer
Poole Benjamin farmer

Ross Alfred, Horse & Groom, & butcher
Ross Robert farmer

Smith Henry shoe maker
Smith Thomas beer retailer
Smith William beer retailer
Stevenson Charles shoe maker & tollgate collector
Stevenson Susan Mrs milliner

Source: The Post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire By Kelly’s directories, ltd 1869

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

CLAPHAM, a parish in the district and county of Bedford; on the river Ouse, and on the Hitchin and Leicester railway, near Oakley r. station, 2¼ miles NNW of Bedford. It has a post office under Bedford. Acres. 1,982. Real property, £3,358. Pop., 502. Houses, 129. The property is much subdivided. Clapham Park is the seat of Earl Ashburnham; and was the place of Dr. Hammond’s imprisonment in 1648. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £270. Patron, Lord John Thynne. The church has an early Norman tower, and was mainly rebuilt in 1861. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and charities £50.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Administration

  • County: Bedfordshire
  • Civil Registration District: Bedford
  • Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Bedford
  • Diocese: Pre-1837 – Lincoln, Post-1836 – Ely
  • Rural Deanery: Clapham
  • Poor Law Union: Bedford
  • Hundred: Stodden
  • Province: Canterbury
  1. The Post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire By Kelly’s directories, ltd 1869 ↩︎