Kent Records


County Flag of Kent


Boundary Changes and Registration Districts

Throughout the years there have been a number of boundary changes to Kent and the other counties surrounding London (Middlesex and Surrey). Prior to 1889, London consisted essentially of the City of London (the small area within the old city wall). Other parishes were either in Middlesex (north of the Thames) or Surrey or Kent (south of the Thames). However, for census purposes, from 1871 onwards the Registrar-General grouped together the census returns from those parts of Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey which formed the "metropolitan" area commonly called London as a separate "census county", which later became the County of London when it in turn was created in 1889. As far as Kent is concerned, these changes concerned the Registration Districts (RDs) of Greenwich, Lewisham and Woolwich. For further details of the boundary changes see the note on Boundary Changes for London and Surrounding Counties. In view of these boundary changes, readers are advised to consult the pages for London if the Kent records do not include the information sought.

The parishes included in the Parish Records below for Kent are those corresponding to the old (pre-1889) county boundaries. The Census Records are grouped according to the pre-1889 definitions for the census years 1841-1861, and according to the the new boundaries for 1871 - 1911; thus for 1871 - 1911 census records for Greenwich, Lewisham and Woolwich RDs will be found in the London collections.

Kent - Parish Registers

Kent - Census Records

        Lovelock and Loveluck extracts from the 1921 Census