The Roman Catholic hierarchy in England And Wales wasn't re-established after the reformation until 1850 so administrative boundaries -- dioceses - didn't exist. The church was "governed" (not the right word) by Vicars Apostolic. One of the most useful backgrounds is at : http://www.stgite.org.uk/media/romancatholics.html It seems that the Virginia Street Chapel mentioned on the stgite site was replaced by the Church of St Mary and St Michael on Commercial Road. around 1856/57 http://parish.rcdow.org.uk/commercialroad/ The articles suggest that registers were extant so it might be worth contacting St Mary and St Michael to see if they know what happened to them. An alternative would be the Archdiocese of Wesminster http://rcdow.org.uk There used to be a contact for an archivist but I cannot find one now. You could try emailing the admin office at Vaughan House [email protected] The Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978 applies only to the Church of England , nevertheless it might also be worth while emailing the London metropolitan Archive to see if they have anything [email protected] or you try searching their online catalogue. Stepney is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets so again it might be worth contact their archive dept. [email protected] Someone mentioned the church in Poplar, I worked in the school next door about 40 years ago once or twice I remember walking to Stepney so it was certainly "do able" in the 1850s. http://parish.rcdow.org.uk/poplar/about-the-parish/ There is also St Anne's http://parish.rcdow.org.uk/underwoodroad/about-the-parish/ which was also built around the same time. Good Luck !! Tony Kelly 01483 720680 07 515 666 159 > On 27 Feb 2015, at 05:23, Clare Dubay via <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello List > > > > I have a Roman Catholic family of Irish origin who lived in London for only > a few years: arriving after 1854 and leaving before 1863. The parents were > James and Esther Lawler. > > > > Twins Thomas and Joseph were born in 1856, but Joseph died the following > year. The youngest son, James was born in 1860. All of these birth and > death records give the registration district as Stepney. > > I do have an 1860 address that places the family in Pearl St, St Georges > East. > > > > Can anyone please help me with the RC parish to which this family would have > belonged, as I am hoping to locate baptism records for these children. I > cannot seem to find a local church that was extant in 1860. > > > > TIA > > Clare in Australia > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Please use PLAIN TEXT only when replying to the list, and trim away any excess. > > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message