FAMILY HISTORY ENQUIRIES

Did your ancestors come from Smethwick?  We receive many enquiries from people hoping to trace their family tree, or sometimes asking if anyone remembers their relatives.  We are always pleased to encourage people and offer guidance where possible, although you will still have to carry out most of the research yourself.  Fortunately, this task is a lot easier in this electronic age than it used to be and we hope you enjoy finding out more about your family and their life in Smethwick  We do not hold any archive material through which research can be done on individual families, businesses, or particular topics but hope that the notes below will be of help to you.  You may also be able to obtain help from the Smethwick Heritgage Centre at http://www.smethwickheritagecentretrust.org.uk
 

SMETHWICK
Historically a township in the parish of Harborne in Staffordshire.

County:

up to 1966    Staffordshire
1966-1974    Worcestershire
post 1974      West Midlands (for geographical purposes)

Parish:

up to 1842:    St Peter's, Harborne
(A chapel-of-ease was created in 1732:  this is now Smethwick Old Church.
The parish of Holy Trinity in Smethwick was created in 1842).

Poor Law Union:

Kings Norton

Diocese:

Up to 1900    Lichfield
post 1900      Birmingham

Administrative Status:

Manor of Harborne and Smethwick:  pre-Conquest - 1710
Manor of Smethwick:  1710 - 1830
1856:    Local Board of Health
1894:    Urban District
1899:    Borough
1907:    County Borough
1966:    subsumed with Borough of Warley
1974    subsumed within Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell

Locally held records are in the custody of Sandwell Community History and Archives Department.
You can email them at:   archives.service@sandwell.gov.uk      Telephone:  0121 558 2561

or write to them at:

Smethwick Community Library
High Street
Smethwick
B66 1AB

They have a large collection of old photographs of Smethwick.  The majority of them are street scenes, with numbers of them from the 1920s and 1950s.

To find out about individual businesses, we suggest you consult the trade directories for Smethwick, which were published at very frequent intervals from about the 1880s to the 1960s and are usually contained in the same volume as information about Birmingham.

The Local Studies and History Service at the Central Library in Birmingham has a large collection of the local trade directories.  You will find their website at: www.birmingham.gov.uk/centrallibrary.bcc
and you can contact them at:  local.studies.library@birmingham.gov.uk

They have a (fee-payable) family history service (details on the website) which you might find helpful.