St Anne
Commercial Rd
Baptisms 1730-1955
Marriages 1730-1968
Burials 1730-1897: LMA
Baptisms 1955- date
Marriages 1968- date: Not deposited
St Andrew's Mission
Baptisms 1864-1876
St Peter, Garford St
Baptisms 1866-1968,
Marriages 1888-1967: LMA
Our Lady Immaculate
(Roman Catholic)
Commercial Rd
Formed 1881
Brunswick Chapel
(Wesleyan Methodist)
Three Colt St
Baptisms & Burials 1831-1837: PRO
Baptisms 1909-1963
Marriages 1900-1954
Burials 1831-1853: LMA
It owes its importance however to the links with the sea and growth of London as a commercial centre. In Elizabethan times many famous seaman lived in Limehouse including Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the explorer, and William Borough and Sir Henry Palmer, both Controllers of the Navy.
In the early 17th century about half the population of over 2,000 were mariners and a hundred years later when the population had increased to 7,000 Limehouse was considered to be the easternmost part of London.
By the 19th century the growth in housing and population and the diminishing importance of the riverside had caused the independent maritime character of Limehouse to disappear.
A colony of between 300 and 400 Chinese settled around Pennyfields and Limehouse Causeway about 1890.
They were originally seamen from the Blue Funnel Line and the activities of a few opium dealers and gamblers brought some notoriety to the area, although it was much exaggerated.
Nine hamlets (whence the name of the modern London Borough, Tower Hamlets) are listed in Hatton's New View of London (1708) - Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Mile End New Town, Mile End Old Town, Stratford-le-Bow, Ratcliff, Limehouse, Poplar, & Blackwall.
For an excellent description of the convoluted history of Stepney Parish, see Parishregister.com here
St Anne's Limehouse
© Kathleen Harrison