Place:Frimley, Surrey, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

York-Town Yorktown

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Frimley is a small English town situated 2 miles (3 km) south of Camberley, in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire, and also close to the border with Berkshire. It is about 31 miles (50 km) west southwest of central London. The town is connected to the M3 motorway by the A331 Blackwater Valley Road. The parish contains the similarly named Frimley Green (redirected here), and other settlements named Mytchett and York-Town or Yorktown.

Frimley which before 1866 was just a chapelry of the ecclesiastical parish of Ash (to the south of Frimley), expanded sufficiently to become an urban district in 1894. In 1929 it was merged with Camberley and became Frimley and Camberley Urban District. Since 1974 it has been part of the Borough of Surrey Heath. The population of Frimley and Camberley (taken together) increased from 8,409 in 1901 to 28,552 in 1961. (Source: "A Vision of Britain through Time".

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Frimley from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"FRIMLEY, a village, a chapelry, a township, and a sub-district in Farnham [registration] district, Surrey. The village stands on the river Blackwater, near the Southwestern railway, under the Chobham ridges, 1¾ mile NNW of Farnborough [railway] station, and 4 SW by S of Bagshot; presents a somewhat picturesque appearance; and has a bridge over the Blackwater, and a post office under Farnborough Station. The chapelry includes the village, and about one-half of the township. Population: 1,276. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £70. Patron: the Rector of Ash. The church is modern; and there are a Baptist chapel, and a national school. The township includes also York-Town chapelry; and is in the parish of Ash. Acres: 7,505. Real property: £7,389. Population in 1851: 1,792; in 1861: 2,683. Houses: 470. The property is much subdivided. Frimley Park is the seat of John Tekell, Esq. The increase of population arose partly from the proximity of Aldershot [Army] camp, and partly from the erection of the neighbouring structures of Wellington college, Royal Staff college, and Broadmoor asylum.

"The [registration] sub-district includes also Aldershot parish and camp, politically in Hants. Acres: 11,649. Population: 19,403; of whom 8,965 were military. Houses, 1,233."

The above description links Frimley's past to its present. Aldershot Garrison, Wellington College (an independent school) and Broadmoor Asylum still exist, although the last two are described as located in Crowthorne, Berkshire instead of in Frimley. Crowthorne and Frimley are about 6 miles apart. The Royal Staff College is now the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Sandhurst is even closer to Frimley than Crowthorne. All four insitutions bring in people from other parts of the United Kingdom and from abroad.

Surrey Research Tips

Government

Administrative boundaries of the county of Surrey (Surrey History Centre. The centre has a website with a number of useful indexes--titheholders in various parishes, deaths at the county gaol, etc.)

• In 1889 the County of London was created, and the areas of the modern London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth were removed from Surrey. The records of these areas are held either by the London Metropolitan Archives or by the local boroughs, but the Surrey History Centre holds pre-1889 Quarter Sessions records for this area.
• Also in 1889, Croydon was made into a county borough exempt from county administration. Croydon became a London borough in 1965, and most Croydon records are held by the Croydon Local Studies Library and Archives.
• In 1965 more of Surrey was lost to London, with the creation of the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and an expanded Croydon. For these areas, records are held by the local boroughs (either in their archives or local studies libraries) or the Surrey History Centre. The London Metropolitan Archives may also have some material.
• In 1965 Staines and Sunbury were transferred from Middlesex to Surrey. In 1974 these areas became the new District of Spelthorne. Most records relating to the former Middlesex area are held by the London Metropolitan Archives.
• In February 2020 FindMyPast announced it had added a substantial number of baptisms, marriages and burials to its database for Surrey. FindMyPast is a pay website.

Registration Districts

• Registration Districts in Surrey from their introduction in 1837 to the present. By drilling down through the links you can follow any parish through the registration districts to which it was attached.

GENUKI provisions

The website GENUKI provides a very comprehensive list of reference sources for the County of Surrey. It includes:

• Archives and Libraries
• Church record availability for both Surrey and the former Surrey part of Greater London
• 19th century descriptions of the ecclesiastical parishes
• Lists of cemeteries
• Local family history societies
• A list of historic maps online

History

• The Victoria History of the County of Surrey is a series of three volumes available online through British History Online. The volumes were written over the past hundred or so years by a number of authors and cover various sections of Surrey. A list of the volumes and what each contains can be found under the source Victoria History of the County of Surrey. Both volumes 3 and 4 contain areas which are part of Greater London and parts of modern Surrey.

Maps

• The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.
• Victoria County History chapter on Ash (which included Frimley before 1866 and explains the Camberley Frimley merger).