ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, ERITH

PARISH RECORDS - Registers & administrative records

<p>PLEASE NOTE THAT A PLAN OF THE GRAVEYARD IS CONTAINED IN THE LOCAL STUDIES COLLECTION</p>

St John's, Erith is one of the six ancient churches lying within the London Borough of Bexley. Sadly, the records of the Parish are incomplete.

In 1877 during the restoration and extension of St John's Church, services were held in a temporary wooden church in Frank's Park. On Thursday morning, 22 February, this church was burnt down with the loss of most of the parish records. The Rev Hardy salvaged as much as possible. Many of the registers were saved and copied but those of an earlier date were almost entirely destroyed. The original registers have been repaired and rebound (July 1979). In some cases it was necessary to make two new volumes from one original volume. In addition there are some abstracts of entries made for genealogical purposes in 1876. These extracts were therefore printed, being in all probability the only records existing of the early baptisms, marriages and burials of Erith parish.

The growth of the population of the town led to the establishment of five new ecclesiastical Parishes in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Local Government Act 1894 transferred the civil functions of the Parish Vestry to Erith Urban District Council which, in 1937, became Erith Borough Council.