Bray is an Ancient Parish in the county of Berkshire.
Other places in the parish include: Holyport
Parish church: St. Michael
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1652
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1607
Nonconformists include:
- Countess of Huntingdon Methodist
- Independent/Congregational
- Primitive Methodist
- Wesleyan Methodist
Parishes adjacent to Bray
- Dorney, Buckinghamshire
- Clewer
- Cookham Dean
- Cranbourne
- Taplow, Buckinghamshire
- White Waltham with Shottesbrooke
- New Windsor Holy Trinity
- Boveney, Buckinghamshire
- Maidenhead
- Warfield
Historical Descriptions
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851
Bray, a parish, in itself a hund., union of Cookham, county of Berks; 2 miles south by east of Maidenhead, on the southern bank of the river Thames, and intersected by the Great Western railway. It comprises the divisions of Bray, Touchen, Mater-Oakley, and part of Maidenhead. Living, a vicarage, formerly in the archd. of Berks and dio. of Salisbury, now in the dio. of Oxford; valued at £25 4s. 4½d.; gross income £520; in the patronage of the bishop of Oxford. The vicarial tithes, the property of the vicar, were commuted in 1814. There are three daily schools, one of which is endowed with £21 per annum, three Sunday schools and a day and Sunday school, in this parish. Here are eighteen free tenements, given for the use of the poor by Sir John Norris. In 1627, William Goddard, Esq., founded and endowed here an hospital, called Jesus hospital, and placed it under the direction of the Fishmongers’ company in London. The inmates are 40 in number, 6 of whom must be free of the Fishmongers’ company. One poor person of this parish is entitled to a place in Lucas’s hospital. Other charities connected with this parish produce about £250 per annum. Bray was famous for a time-serving vicar, who, during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, changed his religion so as to retain his charge, being twice a protestant, and twice a papist. This unprincipled conduct having attracted notice, he is said to have defended himself on the ground that his ruling principle was “to live and die vicar of Bray.” About three quarters of a mile from this place stands Monkey island, a picturesque spot in the river Thames, fancifully decorated by the third duke of Marlborough for the accommodation of angling parties. Pop., in 1801, 2,403; in 1831, 3,480. Houses 703. Acres 8,900. A.P. £17,950. Poor rates, in 1837, £1,102.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Bray, 1m. S. Maidenhead. P. 3722.
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Hawkins John, Holyport, Berkshire, late Maidenhead, farmer, July 8, 1842.
Parish Records
Berkshire Archives & Family History Groups
Berkshire Family History Society
Berkshire
England, Berkshire, Reading, Cemetery Records, 1843-1959
Wellington College Register 1859-1905
Abingdon Union Workhouse Census 1881
Bradfield Union Workhouse 1881
Easthampstead Union Workhouse 1881
Great Faringdon Union Workhouse 1881
Hungerford Union Workhouse 1881
Wallingford Union Workhouse 1881
Records for England
Births and Baptism Records
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Great Britain, Births and Baptisms, 1571-1977
England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
Marriage Records
Great Britain Marriages, 1797-1988
England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
Death Records
England Death Records, 1998-2015
England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991
Great Britain Deaths and Burials, 1778-1988
England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957
England and Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1640-1660
Non-Conformist Records
England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977
Census
England and Wales Census, 1841
England and Wales Census, 1851
England and Wales Census, 1861
England and Wales Census, 1871
England and Wales Census, 1881
England and Wales Census, 1891
England and Wales Census, 1901
England and Wales Census, 1911
Occupations
United Kingdom, Merchant Navy Seamen Records, 1835-1941
War and Conflict
Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935
United Kingdom, Chelsea Pensioners’ Service Records, 1760-1913
United Kingdom, Royal Hospital Chelsea: Discharge Documents of Pensioners 1760-1887 (WO 122)
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
United Kingdom, Militia Service Records, 1806-1915
United Kingdom, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920
United Kingdom, World War I Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920
Newspaper Archives
British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices
British Newspaper Archives, Obituaries
Administration
- County: Berkshire
- Civil Registration District: Cookham
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Berkshire
- Diocese: Pre-1836 – Salisbury, Post-1835 – Oxford
- Rural Deanery: Reading
- Poor Law Union: Cookham
- Hundred: Bray
- Province: Canterbury