Bromley Saint Luke Baptisms 1887-1906

I have previously described the history of Saint Lukes in my blog.
        Image courtesy of Bromley Historic Collections.

The front page of the earliest baptismal register denotes the church correctly as Saint Luke's Shooting Common as at the time this was the postal address. It also reflects the history of Shooting Common as the piece of commons land which had been used for archery practice and the area for billeting and training soldiers.Later the church was described as Bromley Common although it had its parish boundary at the Crown.
As explained in that blog the core membership of the church was an Evangelical group who had lost their place of worship when the contentious issue of patronage had arisen and the metal Bromley Christ Church had been removed.
With the resolution of the patronage issue the congregation of Saint Luke's remained very distinct in preaching and teaching the gospel.
In transcribing the first 2400 baptismal entries (three of which are deleted due to errors) there is immediate evidence that many people outside the parish boundary from the town itself and from village parishes in the district chose to have baptisms at Saint Luke. I believe they were attracted by the style of worship and teaching there and absent in other Church of England congegations locally.
The other evident observation from entries is the curate's unfamiliarity with the spelling of local street names and the wide variety of parental occupations. Two neighbours who were lamplighters had their children baptised- they worked adusk and dawn lighting and dimming the gas street lamps of Bromley.
There are a considerable population of the parish employed on the railway and the railway was the means of travel for many businessman in the City of London whose children are included.
There is one Park Fencer with several children baptised and it is interestion to question whether he worked locally or throughout Bromley. There are some Gypsy baptisms included and the register records those children baptised elsewhere in Kent whilst parents were involved in seasonal harvesting.
One road with a large number of businesses is the extended Chatterton Road and families are baptised at Saint Luke's.
The church with no churchyard had a very efficient Burial Board and the chidren of the Saint Luke Cemetery superintendent are included.
The transcript of Baptisms 1887-1906 is available  at Kent Online Parish Clerks Bromley page  or by this link.

© Henry Mantell Downe and Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2013-2019