St George Hanover Square Middlesex Family History Guide

St George Hanover Square is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Middlesex, created in 1724 from St Martin in the Fields Ancient Parish; located on George Street.

Other places in the parish include: Belgrave, Buckingham Palace, Belgravia, May Fair, Mayfair, St George Hanover Square St Peter, Palace Street, St George Hanover Square Easton Chapel, and St George Hanover Square, Eaton Chapel.

Alternative names:

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

St George Hanover Square

Parish registers: 1725
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1800

St George Hanover Square Eaton Chapel

Parish registers: 1836

Mayfair

Parish registers: 1735

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic (Austrian), Roman Catholic (French Embassy), Roman Catholic (Neapolitan Embassy), and Roman Catholic (Portuguese Embassy).

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

GEORGE (St.) HANOVER-SQUARE, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Westminster, Middlesex.

The parish is the largest in Westminster; forms the most brilliant portion of the metropolis; extends from Regent-street westward to Kensington gardens, and from Oxford-street and Uxbridge-road southward to the Thames and Brompton; includes May-Fair, Hyde-Park, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, and Pimlico; contains Buckingham Palace, Hanover-square, Grosvenor-square, Berkeley-square, Belgrave-square, three other squares, and a great number of fashionable crescents, streets, and places; lies in the postal districts of London W and London SW, the head-office of the latter being in Buckingham-Gate, Pimlico; and has ready access to the metropolitan termini of all the railway communication of the kingdom. Acres, 1, 161; of which 55 are water. Real property in 1860, £1, 175, 628; of which £1, 236 were in canals, and £13, 919 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 73, 230; in 1861, 87, 771. Houses, 10, 437.

The parish was originally part of St. Martins. Hanover-square, from which it takes the latter part of its name, is situated near its NE extremity; was built in 1720-30; occupies an area of 2 acres; and has public rooms, the Oriental club, the Earl of Lucan’s seat, and a bronze statue of William Pitt by Chantrey, set up in 1831.

The public rooms here include a principal one, called the Queen’s Concert Room, 90 feet long and 35 feet wide, capable of accommodating 800 persons; and are the scene of the Philharmonic Society’s concerts.

The parish church was built in 1724, after designs by John James; has a lofty portico, 59 feet wide; contains three painted windows of about the year 1520, brought from Mechlin, and representing a Jesse tree; and is the most fashionable church in the metropolis for marriages.

St. George’s hospital, at Hyde Park Corner, occupies the site of Lanesborough House; has 27 wards, with accommodation for 330 patients; gives medical treatment to about 14,000 persons in a year; and was the place in which John Hunter the physician died.

The burial ground belonging to the parish, on the road to Bayswater, contains the grave of Laurence Sterne, the author of “Tristram Shandy;” and here also lay the remains of General Sir Thomas Picton, till they were removed in 1859 to St. Paul’s cathedral.

The other chief objects in the parish, squares, public buildings, institutions. will be found noticed in the articles Westminster, May-Fair, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Pimlico, and others.

The parish is in the diocese of London; and includes a rectory or head benefice, seven chapelries with defined limits, and ten other chapelries. Value of the rectory, not reported. Patron, the Bishop of London.

The seven chapelries with defined limits are Hanover chapel, Regent-street, pop., 5, 923; St. Mark’s, North Audley-street, pop., 4, 972; St. Michael’s, Chester-square, pop., 10, 371; St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, with St. Barnabas, Pimlico, pop., 14, 501; St. Peter’s, Pimlico, pop., 14, 328; St. Gabriel’s, Pimlico, pop., 7, 658; and St. Saviour’s, Pimlico, pop., 8, 000. The last was constituted in 1864. Value of Hanover chapel, St. Mark’s, St. Michael’s, and St. Peter’s, each £700; of St. Paul’s-with-St. Barnabas, £1, 000; of St. Gabriel’s and St. Saviour’s, not reported. Patron of Hanover chapel and St. Mark’s, the Rector; of St. Michael’s, St. Gabriel’s, and St. Saviour’s, the Marquis of Westminster; of St. Paul’s-with-St. Barnabas, and of St. Peter’s, the Bishop of London.

The other chapelries are Grosvenor chapel, South Audley-street; St. George’s, Albemarle-street; Trinity, Conduit-street; Berkeley chapel, May-Fair; Curzon chapel, May-Fair; St. Mary’s, Park-street; Belgrave chapel, Belgravia; Trinity, Knightsbridge; Eaton chapel, Eaton-square; and St. Paul’s, Charlotte-street, Pimlico. Value of Grosvenor chapel, £700; of Curzon chapel, £400; of St. Mary’s, £380; of the others, not reported. Patron of Grosvenor chapel, the Rector; of St. George’s, Albemarle-street, the Rev. W. W. Ellis; of Trinity, Conduit-street, the Rev. J. P. Waldo; of Berkeley-chapel, the Rev. H. Webbe; of Curzon chapel, Earl Howe; of St. Mary’s, the Marquis of Westminster; of Trinity, Knightsbridge, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster; of Eaton chapel, the Rev. J. Rashdall; of St. Paul’s, Charlotte-street, P. R. Hoare, Esq.; of Belgrave chapel, the Rev. Dr. Thorpe.

The places of worship, in 1851, were 17 of the Church of England, with 19, 590 sittings; 1 of the Church of Scotland, with 280 s.; 2 of Independents, with 1, 730 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 590 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 138 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 240 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 500 s. The schools were 15 public day schools, with 3, 281 scholars; 62 private day schools, with 1, 629 s.; and 12 Sunday schools, with 1, 708 s.

The sub-district is bounded, on the E by Regent-street and Swallow-passage; on the N by Oxford-street and Uxbridge-road, but includes St. George’s-place and the burial-ground N of that road; on the W by Kensington-gardens; and on the S by a line through Hyde Park, and by Mount-street, Bruton-street, and Conduit-street. Acres, 445. Pop., 19, 773. Houses, 2, 156.

The district contains also the sub-districts of May-Fair and Belgrave, and is aggregately conterminate with the parish. Poor-rates in 1862, £66, 184. Marriages in 1860, 1, 018; births, 2, 215, of which 94 were illegitimate; deaths, 1, 767; of which 578 were at ages under 5 years, and 24 at ages above 85. Marriages in the 10 years 1851-60, 9, 276; births, 20, 763; deaths, 16, 788. The administration of the poors’ affairs is under a local act. The workhouse is in Mount-street.

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