St. Luke, Finsbury & my gg-grandfather
According to two Church of England records found on Ancestry, my great-great-grandfather, George Henry Langston Cowling, and his younger brother, John Robert Cowling, were baptized by their parents, Edward and Sophia Cowling, on 11 Sep 1842. The location given is “St Luke, Finsbury, Islington, England.” I’m in the USA, so am new at interpreting the meaning of the different places in the string of names (other than England, of course). Was this location part of London in 1842? What about now? I assume St. Luke is the name of the church and not part of the name of the place. Is this the St. Luke that is now used as a concert venue by the London Symphony Orchestra? My brother and I will be visiting London later this year (COVID permitting) and was wondering if this was a place we could see. Thanks in advance for any clarifications you can offer.
Answers
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I think all your questions are answered in the Wikipedia article found at
As an aside I see that one of your gg grandfather's middle names was Langston. I am guessing that this was the maiden name of his mother or, perhaps, the name of a grandparent. I have a line of Langstons who originated in Buckinghamshire, not far from London and wondered if we have a connection.
Regards
Graham Buckell
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Excellent link but, in brief, Finsbury was in the county of Middlesex ( not London until 1889).
Very few places can be said to being "in London" before the 1880s and many (although having postal addresses that included "London") were like the place where I was born - remaining administratively as part of surrounding counties (Essex, Surrey, Kent, etc.) until the 1960s.
(Personally, I was convinced of being a "Londoner" - until taking a close look at my birth certificate, which revealed the borough of my birth was - at that time - within the county of Essex!)
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