Brydges

[mrharchitect]

My great, great grandfather, William Henry Brydges was, according to census returns, born in St Anne's Soho parish, London, Middlesex in 1801.  He moved to Barking, Essex became a fisherman and eventually migrated to Grimsby where he died in 1881.  I have looked at the St Anne's Soho parish records on line but I can find no trace of him spelt as Brydges, Bridges or Bridger.  Does anyone have any information on his birth?

[Sandymc47]

Hi there

I think I might have found your William for you having gone through a history
lesson on churches in the London area laugh.
In 1801 St Anns Church was having restoration done on it as the tower was
falling down and it took 2 years. I looked at the nearest church to St
Anns and just up the road there is St Matthews on Great Peter St.
St Anns is on Horseferry Road.  I would presume they would go to the
nearest one?
There is a christening of a William Bridges on the 22nd May 1801 born 1st May
whose parents are John and Sarah.
This is the only William Bridges I can find near to St Anns in 1801. As William
would have been 2 years old when he went to church again at St Anns
maybe thats why he said he lived in the St Anns area and was born there as
he wouldnt have known about the rebuilding if not told??

Was there a John in the family of children as I cant seem to find them on the
census with kids?
I found his death in 1881 aged 80 so being a fisherman with fresh air did him good!!

regards Sandymc

[mrharchitect]

Your information is very interesting. I can see from the history of St Anne's Soho, on Wardour Street and Shaftesbury Avenue, that they had 44 meetings of the Church Tower Committee before they decided to rebuild.  You refer to St Matthew's, Great Peter Street as a possible place of christening for Williams Brydges in 1801 which actually is about 1.5 miles from St Anne's. The present church of St Matthews appears to have been built in 1849, I think part of the slum clearance of 'The Devil's Acre'. Was there a church on the site previously? I can't see it listed under the list of Westminster Parishes in 1801.