The main meeting of each year is the Day Conference with AGM. This year the conference date is Saturday, 22 October 2011 and the venue is the City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann Street, London SW1P 2DE. This year as speakers we have:

Hon Georgina Stonor - ‘The Stonor family and their Catholic connections’

Fr David Lannon, Salford Diocesan Archivist - ‘"Don't upset Father"  family history research and access to parish and diocesan archive access’

Tickets are available from Ms V Barlow, 14 Sompting Avenue, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 8HN. Please enclose a cheque for the number of tickets required together with a stamped self-addressed envelope. The cost of the ticket for the day is #15, to include morning coffee and afternoon tea.

Meetings at two-monthly intervals, usually on Saturday.
All meetings start at 2.00pm. Tea and biscuits provided. Visitors welcome. Maps and travelling directions available from the Meetings Organiser. Please phone or write enclosing an sae to Maureen Fitzgibbon, Pinewood, Hawley Lane, Halebarns, Altrincham, Cheshire WA15 0DY. Tel: 0161 903 9567.

Meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7.15pm at the Roman Catholic Church Hall, Snows Green Road, Shotley Bridge, Co. Durham.

JOURNAL CONTENTS can be found here.

Back issues of journals and Occasional Publications are available from -

Mrs Skelton
22 Cawston Way,
Bilton,
Rugby,
Warwickshire,
CV22 7NR

Please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope (A5 size).
Back numbers of the journal are priced at £2.00 each inc p+p.

Please make cheques payable to Catholic Family History Society.
Non-UK:  Please send equivalent sum in own currency if more convenient.

All of our CD-ROMs and printed publications can be ordered on-line by using a credit card  here.

Manchester, St Anne - Baptisms 1848 - 1874
St Anne, Junction St, Ancoats, was founded in 1848. Approximately 9,000 entries with about 40,000 names in all, including godparents. Contains both a transcript and scanned copies of the original baptism register All names in the register are fully indexed.

Manchester, St Patrick's - Baptisms 1832-1860.
Founded in 1832 to cater for the huge intake of Irish people into Manchester St Patrick's Livesey Street quickly became Manchester's largest RC parish numerically with more than 1,000 baptisms in some years. This CD-ROM contains scanned copies of the original baptism register for the period 2 Mar 1832 to 30 Dec 1960. The index contains 26,093 entries in the form; child's surname, child's Christian name, mother's maiden surname, date of baptism, register page number,and image number.

Lancashire Catholic Wills 1492 - 1894
This is a valuable finding aid for those researchers with Catholic ancestors in Lancashire. It contains names which appear in the wills of persons reputed to be Catholics. Over 4,000 wills are included and the Index shows the names of nearly 50,000 testators, beneficiaries, family members and witnesses. In addition, wherever possible, the reputed Roman Catholic status of the testators and others has been confirmed by reference to other sources such as parish registers and Returns of Papists, which are also noted in the Index.

Lancashire Registers Volume 1 (CD-ROM)

The Roman Catholic Register of Wrightington Hall (later St Joseph's) and The Registers of Standish Hall (later St Marie's). Wrightington and Standish are two Lancashire villages about 2 miles apart, in a county which was perhaps the centre of English Catholicism following the Reformation and in which Bishop Leyburn confirmed 8,900 Catholics in 1687. Originally farming communities, they became more industrial during the development of the Lancashire coalfield. Wrightington Hall was the seat of the Dicconson family from the middle of the 17th century; it inherited the manor by marrying into the Wrightington family. Despite being predominantly Catholic the family managed to maintain its estates from the penal laws. As was often the case with Catholic gentry the hall chapel served the local Catholic community. The chapel continued in use until succeeded by St Joseph's in 1894. In a similar fashion Standish Hall became a centre for its local Catholic community. The original hall was probably built in the late 16th century but was rebuilt with a larger chapel in the mid 18th century, which continued in public use until 1884. The mission was succeeded by the church of St Marie of the Annunciation.

Manchester St. Patrick's, Livesey Street - Baptism Register 1832-1860 (CD-ROM)

St. Patrick's was founded in 1832 to cater for the huge intake of Irish people into Manchester. It quickly became Manchester's largest Roman Catholic parish numerically with more than 1,000 baptisms in some years.The CD-ROM contains scanned copies of the original baptism register for the period 2 Mar 1832 to 30 Dec 1860. The index contains over 26,000 entries in the form child's surname, Christian name, mother's maiden surname, date of baptism, register page number, and image number.

Manchester St. Mary's, Mulberry Street - Baptism Register 1820-1831 (CD-ROM)

St. Mary's is the oldest existing Catholic Church in Manchester and Salford. The Manchester Mission began in 1773, firstly in a room in Roman Entry (off High St.) and then from 1776 in St. Chad's Chapel, Rook St. (off Market St.) Opened in 1794 it has remained on the same site, as a functioning parish church to the present day. Baptismal Registers began in 1794. This CD-ROM contains scanned images of the second register and an index together with a short history of the parish and a catalogue extract giving references for the parish registers which are kept at Lancashire Records Office.

Manchester St. Patrick's, Livesey Street - Burial Register 1832 - 1858 (CD-ROM)

The plot on which St. Patrick's chapel was established in 1832 was big enough to include a sizeable graveyard. It soon became the focal point for the burial of Catholics over much of North Manchester, even as far afield as Openshaw. The period covered in this Index is from May 1832 to June 1858, when burials ceased. The entries total 27,094. As well as the name of the deceased and the date of burial, the cause of death and address are given in many entries. A considerable number of the deceased do not appear in the GRO Death Indexes, even as late as 1857.

The Registers of the Sardinian Embassy Chapel, London 1772 - 1841 (CD-ROM)

This CD-ROM contains transcriptions with indexes of 12 baptismal registers from the Sardinian Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields from 1772 to 1841. This mission has been rightly termed 'the Mother Church of the Catholic faith in the Archdiocese of Westminster'. In total the indexes contain over 60,000 names.

Miscellaneous London District Transcriptions - Volume 1 (CD-ROM)

This CD-ROM contains scans of 27 indexed transcriptions of Catholic parish registers from churches, chapels and missions in the County of Middlesex. All were located in the ecclesiastical division known as the London District until 1850, and thereafter that part of the London District which fell within the Archdiocese of Westminster following the reorganisation of 1850.

Miscellaneous London District Transcriptions - Volume 2 (CD-ROM)

This CD complements Volume 1 with scans of a further 23 indexed transcriptions of Catholic parish registers from churches, chapels and missions in the ecclesiastical division known as the London District until 1850. The registers on this CD cover:

• French Chapel Royal: Baptisms 1842-1911 and Marriages 1846-1910
• Kentish Town, St Alexis: Baptisms 1849-1854
• Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa and St Stanislaus Kostka Chapels, Central London: Baptisms 1863-1877
• Soho St Patrick: Baptisms 1779-1851, Index to Baptisms 1793-1937, Confirmations 1818-1854 and Marriages 1809-1856
• Southwark St George's Fields Chapel: Baptisms 1788-1823 and Marriages 1823-1837
• St James, Spanish Place, Westminster: Baptisms 1732-1848 and Marriages 1732-1845
• Standon, Old Hall Green, Herts.: Baptisms 1811-1831, Confirmations 1814-1849 and Marriages 1812-1848
• Virginia Street Chapel, Wapping: Baptisms 1832-1840

Catholic Missions and Registers to 1880

Bibliographies for Catholic Family History;

Kelly's English Catholic Missions

The above basic works are available from Michael Gandy, but please note that these are not CFHS publications.

Michael Gandy
140 Hampden Way
Southgate
London   N14 5AX

Please send s.a.e. for details.

The Catholic Familiy History Society has deposited many transcripts of Mission Registers there. These are on open access at the Catholic National Library at Farnborough Abbey. The library and our collection are free, but we would appreciate a donation to Catholic National Library for giving us this help. The library has most of the other classic works for post-Reformation Catholic history in England, Scotland and Wales. The list of registers is available here.

The Society has bought the microfiches for all counties in England and Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. We are happy to search for any member's ancestors, Catholic or not. Please send details such as full name, age in 1881, occupation and the counties you want searched. Write the details for each search at the top of a separate sheet of paper, which will be used for the reply, and send with sae and a cheque for £5.00 per surname, made payable to

Catholic FHS
Margaret Butler
6 Wynderoft Close
Enfield
Middlesex EN2 7BJ
England

This is an index of approximately 14,000 nuns who were in the English Province of their Order. It is arranged alphabetically by the surname of each nun and usually gives date of birth, names of parents, religious name, dates of profession, date and place of death and name of Order. Request as for the census index above; there is no charge for this.

The committee has resolved to update the electronic records to incorporate all additions since 1996 and any new information which can now be made available, with a view to eventual publication of the updated index. An Excel (97-2002) spreadsheet template for contributor's use is available here and instructions for its population are available here.