30 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in CD's, Church Records, Publications, Uncategorized
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The early baptism registers of St Cuthbert, Withington, Manchester in the Diocese of Salford have been released on CD by the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society.
The CD can be purchased from their online bookshop
30 Wednesday Sep 2015
Posted in Books, General Information, Uncategorized
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We are pleased to announce the publication of the much anticipated biography of the Reverend Rowland Broomhead, one of the key figures in the Catholic revival in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The book is the result of many years of work by Mr Peter Lupton, of Norden near Rochdale, an old boy of St Bede’s College, Manchester, and is a ‘must-buy’ for anybody interested in the restoration of the English Catholic church.
The book has been published by Gracewing and is available from their website and from all good online booksellers at the price of £20.
04 Friday Sep 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
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The Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society are delighted to announce the completion of the CD of baptisms for St Chad’s RC Church, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, covering the period 1772-1893.
St Chad’s is the Catholic mother church of Manchester with its origins in the mid 18th century, and spawned the daughter parishes of St Mary’s, Mulberry Street (The Hidden Gem), and St Augustine’s before relocating to its present site on Cheetham Hill.
The new CD contains transcripts, indexes and original scans of the first twelve volumes of baptism registers and will be an invaluable resource for anybody researching their early Catholic ancestors in Manchester.
The CD can be purchased from the MLFHS Bookshop.
17 Friday Jul 2015
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Two upcoming events that may be of interest.
Saturday August 1st 2015 – Visit to Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 9BZ
Guided Tour of the College & Library commencing at 2pm. Lunch available from 12.30 pm at the Bayley Arms (optional). Transport from Sale & Preston Station can be arranged. Pre-booking is essential. £6.00 for College Tour.
Saturday September 12th 2015 – Guided Tour of Italian Manchester commencing at 1.30 pm
A sequel to the talk given by Pauline Lloyd in March.
Full information for both events is available from Mrs D. Henaghan dmhenaghan@gmail.com or 0161 483 7372
17 Saturday Jan 2015
Posted in Church Records, Publications
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St.Mary’s RC Church, Mulberry Street, Manchester. Full transcriptions with register images.
St.Mary’s is the oldest existing Catholic Church in Manchester and Salford. The Manchester Mission first began in 1773, in a room in Roman Entry (off High St.). In 1776, it moved to Rook Street Chapel (off Market St.). The Mission finally moved, in 1794, to Mulberry Street and remained on the same site, as a functioning parish church, to the present day. The Registers have been fully transcribed and, with the exception of the Marriages, are presented in Surname sorted order in searchable PDF format.
Baptisms are contiguous from 1794 to 1850. The Burial ground is under the floor of the church (now sealed). The Registers have a seven year gap, with a further 18-month break within the second register. Legal marriages were not permitted here until 1837, but the Register records the Sacrament of Marriage for a five year period. In the absence of a full Marriage Register, there is a list of Parents, extracted from the five Baptism Registers and presented as two (father & mother) surname sorted tables with the child’s Baptism date to help fix a time frame. Also the parents list is supplied as an unformatted (CSV) text file, which may be copied into a spreadsheet for personal analysis. The Clergy are listed, with the date of their first appearance in a register.
These records are presented in DVD format and the publication can be ordered on our GENfair site.
31 Sunday Aug 2014
Posted in Church Records, General Information, History, Notes and Queries
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This blog post is a response by Jim Lancaster to someone who was enquiring about the availability of Catholic record online. It contains a lot of useful information and I have reproduced it verbatim.
The period between the reign of Elizabeth and about 1791 is often referred to as the Penal Times and it was a period when it was dangerous to be a Catholic priest in England and therefore dangerous to keep records.Any Catholic records generated could have been used against individual Catholics, or the Catholic community. The main records of Catholics in this period are ‘hostile’ records, records made by the state or its agents the Anglican clergy. It is only from about 1791 that Catholic clergy felt sufficiently confident about civil legislation that mission registers could be maintained. If you are seeking information from these registers, the best place to start is a set of books by Michael Gandy published originally in 1993 that list all the known surviving registers for Catholic missions in the UK for the period 1700 to 1880. Some of these volumes have been revised as old registers have surfaced and more parish registers have been deposited in places of safety..
In the late Victorian time, there were groups in most counties who were transcribing Anglican parish registers, one example being the Lancashire Parish Register Society that is still operating today. There was a move among Catholics to do the same for Catholic registers and this resulted in the formation of the Catholic Record Society. This initially was concerned with the preservation and transcription of Catholic records and among its early volumes are Catholic registers from across England and Wales. Many of these are now out of copyright, particularly outside the UK, and have been made available on the internet.
There is a guide to Catholic Records on a site “GenGuide” ( http://www.genguide.co.uk/source/roman-catholic-registers-and-records/30/ ) and this has lists of books, CDs, internet sites. and on-line databases. Some may lead to pay-to-view sites. This site is as good a collection of basic information as I have been able to find
This site is comprehensive but not complete, and you will find that different parts of the country have different densities of Catholics and hence more or less interest in the Catholic community. Different counties may have different facilities. Lancashire is particularly well served. I have mentioned the Lancashire Parish Register Society that has transcribed most of the early Anglican registers. This are the major records of Catholic marriages between 1756 and 1837, though Catholic marriages may not be clearly identified. There is the Lancashire On-Line Parish Clerk Project (http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/ ) which is transcribing parish registers and making them available on the internet. Again it is mainly Anglican church registers that have been transcribed but there are increasing numbers of non-Anglican registers including Catholic ones. For post-1837 births marriages and deaths there is the LancashireBMD site (http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/ ). This site is transcribing the Local Registrar’s Indexes and where possible upgrading them. Again it is useful for marriages, though non-Anglican marriages appear as Registrar marriages until an Authorised Person was appointed by the church to act for the Registrar. This became possible in 1898 but was not taken up by many Catholic parishes until 1960+.
The Manchester & Lancashire FHS has developed an index of Manchester Catholics from material that it had produced and from transcripts made available to it (www.mlfhs.org.uk/data/catholic_search.php ). There is a similar site for Liverpool – Liverpool History Projects (http://www.liverpoolhistoryprojects.co.uk/ ) but for some items there may be a charge. For the more northern parts of Lancashire, around Preston, Blackburn and Burnley, the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society have published a large number of fiche of Catholic registers. In recent years, the Catholic Family history Society has published a number of CDs and details are to be found at http://www.genfair.co.uk/supplier.php?sid=227
30 Monday Jun 2014
Posted in Events, General Information, Libraries
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Guided tour of the Refurbished Manchester Central Library (opened March 2014)
11 am Meet in Foyer of the Manchester Central Library,
St Peter’s Square, Manchester, M2 5PD
Tour of the Archives led by Bob Haynes ( Manchester
& Lancashire FHS) and a member of the Library staff.
12.30 pm Chat in the Library coffee lounge or have lunch in the
neighbourhoood (large choice of eating-places and
hostelries)
1.30 pm Reassemble in Library foyer
Guided Tour to places of Catholic interest in Central
Manchester led by Pauline Lloyd, Manchester Green Badge Guide.
Cost £5.00 p.p. (pay on the day)
Please book a place with either
Jean Smith jeansmith1934@talktalk.nnet 0161 4839 199 or
Maureen Fitzgibbon maureen.fitzgibbon94@gmail.com 0161 903 9567
27 Tuesday May 2014
Posted in Conference, Events, FFHS, General Information
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We are very pleased to announce that the FFHS has awarded us a grant as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations. We will be using the money towards funding our 2014 Day Conference and AGM. 
25 Tuesday Mar 2014
Posted in General Information, History
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The Salford Diocesan Archives are delighted to announce the publication of the first volume of the History of St Bede’s College, Manchester.
This first volume covers the period of the rise and fall of the Commercial Business School 1876-1891, with the first chapter detailing the background of Catholic Secondary Education in Manchester & Salford 1850-1876.
The book can be purchased for £10 from the website shop
12 Wednesday Feb 2014
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The library reopens on 22 March. The building’s historic features have been sensitively and carefully restored, bringing the building up to the twenty-first century standards fit for a world class city. This major work will ensure the long-term survival of one of our most iconic and much loved buildings.
Of particular interest to family historians is Archives+ which will offer a showcase and repository for archives and family history. This purpose-built centre will help to satisfy a growing demand for accessible community history and personal heritage.
