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Heneage Street Baptist Chapel

A

angela d cross

New Member
Hi i am secretary of grenfell baptist church in birmingham. The church was built in 1954 in memory of George Grenfell a missionary in the congo in the 19th century. George Grenfell was baptised at Heneage Street Chapel in the 19th century and due to redevelopment of the area in the 1950's it was moved to Bankdale road where grenfell baptist church is now.

My question is ' Does anyone have any photos I could copy of the chapel in Heneage Street?'

Thank you in anticipation

Angela Cross
 
hello angela photos of heneage st have so far been difficult to find we do however have a few on the heneage st thread but none of the chapel...if mike spots this post maybe he could give us a map showing where in the street it was...i am hoping to go to the library this week if so i will see if they have any

lyn
 
On the c1950 map below the chapel is shown in red

map_c_1950_showing_heneage_st_chapel.jpg
 
that is excellent thank you. its nice to see where the missionary george grenfell was baptised. Grenfell Baptist Church where i am the secretary was named after this missionary and was built when heneage street was demolished.

thank you for these photos as i am now building up a file of the history of grenfell baptist church for future generations.

angela
 
Hi Mike, I just posted an item relating to 181 Heneage St and am interested where you obtained the map with the named details on. I've seen the OS Map (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/os-1-to-2500/birmingham/014/01) which is great to focus in on roads but the added detail in yours is what i'm looking for if at all possible. I'm just looking for the next level of detail.

Also a tricky question that you may have some experience or expertise on; Violet Chester was born at 180 Heneage Street in 1907 to my Great grandparents, Herbert Chester and Amy Elizabeth but after an incident with a boyfriend and a knife, an apparent violent nature and the fact my grandfather was scared of her when he was 35 years old and perhaps partly due to him just having a child, the mother Amy and son Horace had her picked up by the asylum - literally men turned up in white coats and carted her away in a straightjacket! The problem list, i can't find any public records on what happened to her or where she stayed, was let out etc apart from family story that my grandmother (Horace wife Nellie) used to secretly visit her. Horace's son (my father) only found out about her existence when she died in a carehome in Bromsgrove and needed to be identified in 1984. My grandfather tried to suggest he didn't know who it was but eventually came clean. Any ideas where i can attempt to find Birmingham records of her whereabouts between 1935 to 1984? I'm really struggling with this one as there is another family secret hidden behind this too but can't identify it yet. Any help is much appreciated, regards Steve
 
Steve
The c 1950 map is from the oldmaps website. https://www.old-maps.co.uk/ You can view it at low magnification for free or pay a subscription (or buy an actual map). It is only the ones around 1950 tht have numbering, but be careful if going back from those a long way , as numbering in some streets changed in the period 1880-1900.
As to the asylum records, I would think the Main birmingham library, but there are people on th eforum much more knowledgeable than me on that sort of subject
 
Even if you find the records you might have to prove relationship as, I would think, the records are closed under the 100 year rule. Hollymoor and Rubery Hill records seem to be at Birmingham Central Library but are "partially closed". As she was later at Bromsgrove it is most likely she was at Rubery but I can't be sure.

Janice
 
Hi there!
I don't know if anyone here can help me, or if this forum thread is still active, but I'm looking for some information concerning the old Heneage Street Baptist Chapel. I'm an undergraduate history student at the University of Gloucestershire and I'm doing some research for my dissertation next year. My dissertation is going to focus on the life of George Grenfell, who was an ancestor of mine, and I'd like to gather as much information as I can about his life for when I eventually get down to writing my dissertation later this year. I'm hoping to visit the Grenfell Baptist Church at some point (once this lockdown is over!) to add to my pool of information as it were, but if anyone here could give me any further information it would be extremely welcome! Thank you!
 
Welcome Josh. Well it was dozing, but you have awoken the thread. :D
There are one or two posts here that should interest you but I believe the one by Angela Cross (post 7#) is the most enlightening. Angela has not been here since 2015 but a Private Message to her, via this Forum's System, might get a result. Failing that the link to the Grenfell Baptist Church:- http://www.grenfellbaptist.co.uk/ may be of help, especially if Angela is still compiling her history.
 
Would you refer to the Rev George Grenfell, who went to "Congoland" ? If so he could he could be a very interesting study.
 
Yeah that's the one! He was my great great great great uncle so I thought it would be interesting to write my dissertation on him to learn something of my family history
 
October 1891...An African boy whom Mr Grenfell had brought over with him spoke a few words, and implored his white friends to send more missionaries to Congoland.

Very interesting!
 
I see he had an interview with King Leopold. The problem here is that any discussion on this may be too political for this Forum.
 
George Grenfell would be considered as a Brummie, as although he was born in Cornwall, he moved to Birmingham when he was 3 years old, around 1852. He was educated at King Edwards, Gem St. For his exploits he could have a
thread of his own?
 
angela d cross said:
Hi i am secretary of grenfell baptist church in birmingham. The church was built in 1954 in memory of George Grenfell a missionary in the congo in the 19th century. George Grenfell was baptised at Heneage Street Chapel in the 19th century and due to redevelopment of the area in the 1950's it was moved to Bankdale road where grenfell baptist church is now.

My question is ' Does anyone have any photos I could copy of the chapel in Heneage Street?'

Thank you in anticipation

Angela Cross
Click to expand...

It looks like George Grenfell was Baptised in Cornwall, he moved to Birmingham at the age of 3 years...

2998139F-41E2-4218-A0E3-0AEC0237BB1E.jpeg
 
JoshOliver98 said:
Yeah that's the one! He was my great great great great uncle so I thought it would be interesting to write my dissertation on him to learn something of my family history
Click to expand...
.

Certainly much to write and discover about George Grenfell, a few discoveries...
Born 1849 and baptised in Cornwall and came to Birmingham at the age of 3

Educated at King Edwards, Gem St. Died 1906 of blackwater fever.

Joined Scholefield and Goodman and obtained rapid promotion, and at 15 became Sunday school teacher at Heneage Street, and played part in establishing Birmingham Young Men's Missionary Soc....1873 at 24 accepted by Baptist Missionary Society.

Assisted in the foundation of the Congo Mission 1871? Discoverer of the Mobangi River, for which he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Was the first European to visit Edra Falls, Cameroons in 1876....1884-86 with the missionary steamer Peace, explored the Mobangi, Lozaka, Loika, and Maringá rivers for at least 1,500 miles...Dispute with Stanley....seizure of the Peace, the Mission steamer

Had interview with King Leopold, became Chevalier of the Order of Leopold.

“He had to tread his cautious way among a degraded and savage society.” (Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Graphic)
It would be interesting to know just how much the Baptists new about Leopold’s treatment of these degraded people.
 
The link to the images
angela d cross said:
Thank you for that Janice. I have had a look, and probably being daft, but cant access the second page.
Is there anyway you can put a direct link on to the interior

Many thanks
Angela
Click to expand...
I was unable to open any of the links to images of the Chapel. Please will someone post an up-to-date link. (PS. I am in the USA so I am not sure if the link is just blocked.)
 
Does the Heneage Street Chapel keep the historic marriage records?

My great-great-grandpa George Wilkinson (born: April 13, 1819) and his wife Harriet Butterworth (born: February 15, 1825) were married at Heneage St. Chapel, Birmingham March 31, 1847. They had three of their children in the UK, Jessie, Sidney, and Walter. They moved to the USA (which is where I live) where they had nine more kids. (William, Arthur, John, Amy, Harriet, Esther, Ruth, Robert, and George (who died at 4 years-old.)

My grandmother knew George Wilkinson's parents names were "George Wilkinson and Ann Taylor Wilkinson". Did English Baptist churches keep books with the marriages? (The Episcopal church here in the USA turned their records over to ancestry.com.)

George&Ann are as far back in England my grandma took the Wilkinson lineage. Yet in her writings, she mentions they go back to Yorkshire, England in the 1600s. I am not sure how she got to that conclusion? Her significantly older half-brother helped with her research of the geology, way back before computers.

My maternal side are Taylors from England and every stinking male in our lineage was named the same name, James O. Taylor. Without the wife's name it was daunting. I am just wondering if it is worth pursuing the Wilkinson side in England? Will it be George Wilkinson's all the way back?
 
Aldyth said:
The link to the images

I was unable to open any of the links to images of the Chapel. Please will someone post an up-to-date link. (PS. I am in the USA so I am not sure if the link is just blocked.)
Click to expand...
The link was to Birmingham library site and for some reason the photos are no longer visible (it just shows an error where the photo used to be).. Apologies but I do not know why.

I also cannot find where the records of the chapel went when it was demolished in the 1950s
 
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There are some baptism records for Baptist churches on Ancestry but I can't find marriages.
I did find a baptism (at Lombard Street Chapel), which you might have already, of George born 13 April 1819. Yes - his Father was also George.
1628601635790.png
 
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Also Harriet's baptism (at Cow Lane Chapel Coventry) - although year of birth is 1826 not 1825 but the date matches. Baptised on same date as sisters Emma, Eliza and Mary plus brothers Thomas and Joseph.

I am only posting Harriet's record plus Emma's which names the parents. If you haven't got the rest then post here and I will copy them for you,
1628602132861.png
1628602152962.png
 
pjmburns said:
The link was to Birmingham library site and for some reason the photos are no longer visible (it just shows an error where the photo used to be).. Apologies but I do not know why.

I also cannot find where the records of the chapel went when it was demolished in the 1950s
Click to expand...
Would this be anything to do with the library shopping paying for the shoothill site?
 
Thanks Lyn but it did not come up with any registers for Heneage Street Chapel when I tried. Also link to photos showed error when displaying photo.
 
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