Welcome to Harringay Remembers. This website has been set up by volunteers from St. Paul’s Church in Harringay, North London in order to give access to information about the First World War that is in the parish records, as part of the church’s commemoration of the centenary of the war. It is not intended to glorify the First World War, but the materials presented here should be read in the social context of the period and taking into account the laws imposed at the time about censorship. We would like this project to be a resource for genealogists, local historians and those with a general interest.
Why “Harringay Remembers” and not just St. Paul’s? At the time of the First World War, the parish church played a significant part in community life and it was where a lot of information was recorded. In addition, the parish records make it clear that the recording undertaken about those who served in the war was not just about churchgoers or those who identified themselves as members of the Church of England, but also included people from other Christian denominations and people of other faiths or no faith. Therefore, the information held by the church gives a much broader picture than one might imagine.
St. Paul’s Church is a Church of England parish church in the Edmonton Area of the Diocese of London. The original church building was consecrated in 1891 and served the parish until it was destroyed by fire in 1984. The current church building was dedicated in 1993 and was named the eighth best modern church in the UK by the National Churches Trust in 2013.
We are very fortunate that past parish vicars have deposited parish records from their time in office at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). Much of the material on this website is derived from the records held by LMA, and many of the photographs are of materials in LMA’s catalogue. We would like to thank LMA for their kind assistance with our research.
We are very interested in hearing from other people who have information about, or pictures relating to, the First World War in the parish and beyond (including information about those left behind, about conscientious objectors and about the “home front”), and also about any commemoration events that are taking place in the area. If you have any information you’d like to share or are hosting an event, please Contact Us.
We already have much more information than it is feasible to share in separate pages on the website, so we will be posting regularly on the Blog page with letters written to the parishioners by the vicar of the time, information about who was who in the church community, “In Memoriam” posts about the men who did not make it back from the war and information on upcoming commemoration events, so please check back from time to time as new material will be added – you can sign up to receive notification of new blog posts on the blog page.
Harringay Remembers 