Halesowen Which Parish Which Registration District

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From the Middle Ages until 1844 the parish of Halesowen was partly in
Shropshire and partly in Worcestershire. It was mainly a detached piece of
Shropshire, but had seventeen separate enclaves within it which were part of
Worcestershire. Even more complicated, there were three detached bits of
Shropshire within a couple of the Worcestershire pieces! These strange
boundaries were all in the north-east part of the parish, around Oldbury and
Warley. From 1844 onwards everything was tidied up and all of Halesowen
parish was then in Worcestershire.

Births, Deaths and Marriages from 1837 were by Registration Districts, which
were groupings of parishes. They often ignored county boundaries,
particularly in this area. Halesowen parish (Shropshire/Worcestershire) was
part of Stourbridge registration district, which also included the parishes
of Oldswinford (Worcs) and Kingswinford (Staffs). The nearby registration
district of Dudley comprised the parishes of Dudley (Worcs), Tipton
(Staffs), Rowley Regis (Staffs) and Sedgley (Staffs).

The 1841 census was carried out and reported strictly by counties. The
parish of Halesowen therefore appears mainly under Shropshire, but with the
seventeen small bits shown under Worcestershire. Registration districts
played no part in this census.

The 1851 and later censuses were carried out and reported by registration
districts. Halesowen was therefore reported under Stourbridge registration
district.

However a problem arose when the GRO wanted to summarise census results by
county. What they did was to show cross-border registration districts under
the county where the town that gave its name to the Registration District
lay.

For example, Stourbridge registration district is named after Stourbridge
which is in Worcestershire so the results for this Registration District are
listed under Worcestershire - even though they include Kingswinford which is
in Staffordshire.

The same applies to Dudley Registration District, which is listed under
Worcestershire because Dudley parish is in Worcestershire, even though most
of the parishes making up Dudley Registration District are in
Staffordshire. Sometimes online references try to "correct" these
anomalies, which can give rise to strange locations such as Dudley, Staffs.

Thanks to Paul Prescott