Missing Matthews' baptisms

[Nell]

My great-grandparents Thomas Matthews & Emma Moore married 1865 in St. Mary's Islington.

First son, Thomas Emmetts Matthews,born 19 Apr 1866 baptised St. Mary's Islington, 2nd Sep same year. Family address 13 Ingram Place ( a terrace of houses on Hornsey Road).

2nd son, Henry Matthews born 2 Jul 1868, Ingram Place, died 6 Aug 13 Hornsey Road (same number as Ingram Place) 6 Aug 1868, buried 9 Aug St Mary's Islington Burial Ground, Finchley.

Now, I note there's a few months between TEM's birth and baptism, but I would have thought a seriously ill baby would be baptised? Can't find it.

Nor can I find a baptism for my grandmother, Annie Eliza Matthews, born 9 George's Road, Lower Holloway 7 Dec 1976.

Any ideas?

[Merry]

Various possibilities...... for the baby who died, maybe a home baptism that went unrecorded. Maybe they just weren't as religious as you think? Or perhaps they later used a non-conformist church and the records are not online.

[Nell]

Hmm. I did wonder about their religiousness, or lack of it. Annie doesn't appear to have had any of her children baptised - but she got married in a very high C of E church - which may have been because it was at the end of the road where she lived, convenience rather than conviction.

I am not sure about this though, as most of my rellies of the period were baptised. I also can't find any trace of Thomas having gone to school, though I think he must have.

[kiterunner]

The LMA doesn't hold the parish registers for quite all of the London C of E churches.
I know this because my 2xg-grandparents got married at St Stephen's Church, Hampstead (in 1876) which I originally thought must be St Stephen the Martyr, but it turned out to be St Stephen's, Rosslyn Hill, no longer a church, and the LMA listing shows that they don't hold that church's records. When I contacted the people who run the place now, they said that as far as they knew, the parish registers were passed on to the church which took over from St Stephen's, and I contacted that church (can't find its name in my emails just now) and never heard back from them. I think my great-grandmother must have been baptised at St Stephen's as I have never found her baptism but I have found her elder sister's.

So maybe the baptisms you are looking for are in a similar situation? I can't find the LMA PR holdings list just now to see if it shows which churches aren't included. I think it did, otherwise how would I have found out they didn't hold St Stephen's records?

[Nell]

Thanks, KiteRunner. I remember a while back being at the LMA and going through microfilm (how antiquated does that sound now) looking at churches in Islington, without success.

Thanks for your help.

[kiterunner]

Here is the PDF list of London parishes, including those whose registers are not held by the LMA (marked as "not deposited"):
http://c.mfcreative.com/offer/UK/Search/MoreHelp/LMA-AtoZ-of-London-Parishes.pdf

[Nell]

Thanks, Kite, looks very useful.