Crockford's Clerical Directory 1949–1950 – Digital Download or CD

The essential post-war directory of Anglican clergy 

Product Overview

Crockford's Clerical Directory 1949–1950 is one of the most valuable genealogical sources for anyone with Anglican clergy among their ancestors. Published in the aftermath of the Second World War, this substantial double-columned volume records every clergyman of the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and British clergy serving in colonial and overseas dioceses around the world — from curates to archbishops, all in a single alphabetical sequence.

You receive high-resolution scanned images of the original book pages (not a re-typed transcript), so you see the directory exactly as it was printed in 1949.

Why This Edition Matters: The Census Gap

For family historians, this directory fills a critical hole in the records:

• The 1931 census of England & Wales was destroyed by fire in 1942 and no longer exists
• No census was taken in 1941 due to the Second World War
• The 1921 census (released 2022) and the 1951 census therefore stand 30 years apart

Crockford's 1949–1950 edition sits near the end of that 30-year gap, making it an outstanding census substitute for clergy families. It's equally useful for Irish research, where the 1921 census was never taken, pre-1901 censuses were largely destroyed in 1922, and the 1926 census of the Irish Free State is only now nearing release.

What you can discover:

• Where your ancestor was serving between 1921 and 1951 — vital, as clergy moved frequently
• Exact dates of ordination as deacon and priest (with diocese), helping you order certificates and trace earlier records
• Schools, universities and colleges attended
• Every curacy, incumbency and preferment, with dates
• Birthplaces, degrees, honours, and sometimes publications
• Wartime service — many entries record Second World War chaplaincy service

What's Inside the Directory

• The Clergy List — the great alphabetical biographical directory of all serving and retired clergy, plus missionaries and chaplains overseas
• Diocesan Directory — every diocese, archdeaconry and rural deanery, with a parish-by-parish gazetteer of all benefices showing incumbents, patrons, populations and livings
• Cathedral Establishments — deans, residentiary canons, minor canons and staff of every cathedral, plus royal peculiars such as Westminster Abbey and St George's Chapel, Windsor
• Chaplains — the Royal Household, Royal Navy, Army and RAF chaplains, prison, hospital and industrial chaplaincies, school and college chaplains, and missions to seafarers
• Universities & Theological Colleges — clerical heads of houses, fellows, professors and principals
• Religious Communities — Anglican men's orders (Cowley Fathers, Community of the Resurrection, Kelham, etc.) and sisterhoods
• Overseas & Missionary Dioceses — CMS, SPG and other society personnel, from Accra to Zanzibar
• Church Administration — the Church Assembly, the newly formed Church Commissioners (1948), ecclesiastical courts and statistical tables

Famous Names Within Its Pages

• Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury — officiated at Princess Elizabeth's wedding (1947) and her Coronation (1953)
• Cyril Garbett, Archbishop of York
• George Bell, Bishop of Chichester — the wartime conscience of the Church
• William Wand, Bishop of London
• Hewlett Johnson, the "Red Dean" of Canterbury
• Alan Don, Dean of Westminster — royal weddings and funerals
• R. S. Thomas — the celebrated Welsh poet, then a country priest in Montgomeryshire
• Trevor Huddleston CR — serving in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, before his anti-apartheid fame
• A. M. Ramsey — then a Durham professor; later Archbishop of Canterbury
• Chad Varah — newly ordained here; founded The Samaritans in 1953
• John Stott — young curate at All Souls, Langham Place
• Christopher Chavasse, Bishop of Rochester — Olympic silver medallist
• William Ralph Inge, the "Gloomy Dean", listed in retirement

Format, Navigation & Accessibility

Choice of formats: Instant digital download or CD posted to you.

Effortless navigation: Because the directory is arranged alphabetically like a telephone book, finding an ancestor is simple — PDF bookmarks let you jump straight to the letter you need, then browse page by page.

Smart reader features: These are scanned page images, but modern PDF readers (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Adobe Acrobat Reader) perform OCR on the fly — so you can highlight, copy and search the text as you go. In Google Chrome, built-in Google Lens can select and translate entries into other languages, and desktop text-to-speech can read entries aloud. (Please note: these smart features are available on desktop PCs only; on tablets and phones you can still view and zoom the original page images.)

Requirements: Any Windows PC or Mac with a free PDF reader. The CD works in any standard disc drive; an internet connection is required for the translation and read-aloud features.