JIWP; A I I g^- REESE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Received <;2J ^;^<^^ , i8fy Accessions No./^A^4^^^ Shelf No : Oh- BIKl;nH'^HH^^Hi$;w<'%wlBHkHB 1 1: JligtstrMiu €(dmu "^mu^mlh. THE HISTORY PARISH REGISTERS IN ENGLAND, THE EEGISTEES OF SCOTLAND, IRELAND, THE EAST AND WEST INDIES, THE DISSENTERS, AND THE EPISCOPAL CHAPELS IN AND ABOUT LONDON. WITH ©iser&attons on JStsIjops* transcripts, PROVISIONS OF THE ACT OF THE 52nd GEORGE III. Cap. 146. " All the property in this country, or a large part of it, depends on Registers, and we must see our way clear before we shake the authenticity of Registers." — Mr. Justice Best. " From what I have had occasion to observe, I conceive there is nothing of more importance than the endeavouring to deposit, in some secure place, the Registers of Births, Baptisms, and Funerals." — Mr. Baeon Gabkow. SECOND EDITION. BY JOHN SOUTHERDEN BURN, Esq. AUTHOK OF "the HISXOKY OF THE FLEET MARRIAGES," "THE HISTORY OF THE FOREIGN PROTESTANT REFUGEES IN ENGLAND," ETC. ETC. LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. M.DCCC.LXII. / ^-3 4 13S LONDON : F. PICKTON, TRINTKB, 89, GREAT PORTLAND STREET, OXFORD STREET. //^^ //^^ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The origin of Parish Registers 1 CHAPTER II. Acts of Parliament, Canons, etc. . 17 CHAPTER III. The State of Preservation of Parish Registers . . 40 CHAPTER IV. The Titles of Parish Registers 65 ' CHAPTER V. Births and Baptisms 72 CHAPTER VI. Burials 97 CHAPTER VII. Marriages. — Sponsalia. — Clandestine Marriages and Lawless Churches 138 CHAPTER VIII. The Miscellaneous Contents of Parish Registers . 170 CHAPTER IX. The Bishops^ Transcripts 199 ' CHAPTER X. »- The Liber Status Ani^iarum 213 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. Registers in Scotland and Ireland 215 CHAPTER XII. Registers of Dissenters, Quakers, Roman Catholics, Jews, Ambassadors. — East and \Yest Indies. — 2XV Marriages Abroad. — The General Register Office T^^ CHAPTER XIII. Fees for Searches and Extracts 244 CHAPTER XIY. The Utility of Parish Registers. — Monumental Inscriptions 248 CHAPTER XV. General Observations and Recommendations as to the Preservation of the Ancient Registers .... 256 APPEN])IX. The Geneva Register, 1556 271 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION IN 1829. The Author's professional pursuits having frequently afforded him the perusal of Parish Registers, he some years since commenced a collection of miscellaneous particulars concerning them. In the course of his searches for the History of these Records, he was led to observe that there was no work exclusively on the subject, ex- cepting Mr. Bigland's Observations on Parish Registers, published so long since as 1 766, and which, although it contains a portion of the history alluded to, appears to have been written to inform the public of the establishment, at the Heralds' College, of a Register of Births ; in addition to this, it is become a scarce Work. He has, therefore, put together the contents of his Portfolio, and endea- voured to arrange them in some degree of order, hoping they will prove useful and amusing, or, at all events, that they will lead the attention of the public to the consideration of a Record in which the interest of every individual is concerned. That a correct Registry of every Birth, Baptism, Marriage, and Burial is of the greatest .national importance, will not admit of VI PREFACE. question, and the subject has already occupied the attention of Government, from time to time, for nearly three centuries past. In 1812, when the last Bill for regulating these Records was passing through Parliament, the subject received great attention " out of the House ; " since the passing of the Act, however, little has been said or done, and the anxiety previously shown, appears to have abated, under the idea that the Act had provided for every thing that was essential to the good keeping and preservation of these Records. It is to be regretted that the Act is defective in at least two material points. The one is, that it does not provide for sufficient particulars in the Entries, in order to prove (or lead to the proof of) identity and descent — The other, that although there is a provision for a Transcript of every Register to be annually deposited in the Bishops' Archives, in order to guard against accidents, and detect forgery or interpolation in the original Register, yet there is no power given to compel such transmission. The perusal of the following pages will show that these defects are not inconsiderable, but are such as require immediate amendment, in order that the Parish Registers of the Country may be made more useful, in affording information of the greatest importance to individuals, and in furnishing Government with the basis of calculations tending to promote the general good. Under the present system. Parish Registers are greatly devoid of PREFACE. VU interest, and contain no more than the bare Record of Baptism, Marriage, and Burial, without note or comment ; but the Registers of an earlier period comprise Memoranda of every description, and it is intended, in the following pages, to give specimens of them, as illustrative of some of the manners and customs of the last three centuries, and of events which occurred at a time when the means of publicity, by provincial papers, &c. were scarcely known : indeed, in many instances, almost the only particulars of Parishes, of its inhabitants, and of its local occurrences, are those recorded in the Parish Registers. In page 61, will be seen a reference to the Registers of Catholics and Protestants, which Cardinal Pole, in 1555, directed to be made. Should one of these happen to be in the possession of any individual perusing this work, the Author would feel obliged by receiving a communication of its contents, or of any other entries or particulars worthy of notice, relating to the subject of Parish Registers generally. 27, Henbietta Steeet, Brunswick Squaee. September 26th, 1829. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION IN 1862. The foregoing Preface, written more than thirty years ago, is inserted in this Edition, in order to notice that the two defects there pointed out remain in full force. It is true that in the interval there has been the establishment of a Civil Registration for England and Scotland, and an Act for the Registration of Marriages in Ireland and in India. The Non-Parochial Registers also of England and Wales, and the Registers of Scotland, have been collected and deposited for safe custody, and the former made legal evidence. But the Parish Registers of England, extending over a period of more than three centuries, and from their age and importance demanding even better care and preservation, remain still subject to the defects pointed out in 1829. There has since been a Parliamentary Return, showing that the transmission of Transcripts is still neglected; that many of the Diocesan Registries are not secure from fire ; that only one of the several Bishops made the Survey Report and Recommendations required by the Act of 1812, with a view to remedy these defects : yet up to the present moment nothing has been done, and the most ancient Registers are yearly disappearing or becoming illegible for want of proper care and preservation. The Grove, Henley-on-Thames, 28^A March, 1862. THE HISTORY OF PARISH REGISTERS. " Deem not devoid of elegance the wight Who wastes o'er toils like these, his tapers light, And distant from the noisy haunts of mirth. Now dries his musty folios on the hearth ; Now turns, with trembling touch, his tatter'd store, And sifts the sand to gain the golden ore j Nor small the joy, with eager eye to catch Some clinching date, or prove some dubious match^ To solve each doubt, make stubborn facts agree ; Untwist the linked bouts of Pedigree, And, on a point where Garter's self might err, Quote — fearless quote — the Paeish Registee." — Sir Cuthhert Sharp. CHAPTER I. 01? THE ORIGIN OF PARISH REGISTERS. fTlHE birth, marriage, and death of persons being occurrences of -■- importance, these events have been recorded from a very remote period. The Bible gives, in the Book of Genesis, the genealogies or pedigrees of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to the Twelve Patriarchs. The fourth book of Moses mentions the numbers of all the males of the children of Israel (except those of the Tribe of Levi), from twenty years old and upwards, to be 603,550; for Moses and Aaron, in the Wilderness of Sinai, ^^ assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers.'^ ^ In the same way Moses afterwards numbered the males of the children of Levi, from a month old and upwards; and also the first-born of the males of the children of Israel from the same age. ^ I^imbers xxvi. 64, 1 A ON THE ORIGIN OP In the plains of Moab, the " Sum of all Israel ^' was again taken by Moses and Eleazar, and it is clear that it was not a mere num- bering of the people, but that the particulars of each individual were ascertained; for it is added, that of the 624,730 men, of whom account was thus taken on the plains of Moab, was not one of those who had been numbered in Sinai. ^ The first book of Chronicles also contains the genealogies of the children of Adam to the Twelve Patriarchs, and mentions that they '^ were written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah/' After the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, Nehemiah obtained leave of Artaxerxes (to whom he was cup-bearer) to go up to Jerusalem, and rebuild the city of the sepulchres of his fathers; after having done this, he relates (Nehemiah vii. 5), " My God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy ; and I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first." And of so great authority was this register, that he goes on to relate that some of the priests whom he found at Jerusalem, " sought their register among those that were reckoned by gene- alogy, but it was not found, therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood." Registers were kept both at Athens and Rome, in which were inserted the names of such children as were to be brought up, as soon as they were born. Marcus Aurelius required all free persons to give in accounts of their children, within thirty days after the birth, to the treasurer of the empire, in order to their being deposited in the Temple of Saturn, where the public acts were kept. Officers were also appointed as public registrars in the pro- vinces, that recourse might be had to their lists of names, for settling disputes, or proving any person's freedom. Servius Tullius instituted the Lustrum, by which all the citizens were to assemble in the Campus Martins in complete armour, and in their respective classes, once in five years, and there to give an exact account of their families and fortune. In order, also, to ascertain the number of births and burials, he directed, that when a child was born, its kindred should bring a piece of money into the jErarium of Juno Lucina ; and when any died, into that of Venus Libitina. ^ This ' Numbers i. 18. 2 Nullum ergo meritum est, ingrate ac perfide, nullum, Quod tibi filiolus, vel filia, nascitur ex me ? PARISH REGISTERS. O custom being afterwards abolished, was revived by Augustus Caesar, at the birth of children ; it was, in fact, a general llegister, which this emperor directed to be made of his whole empire, about the time of our Saviour's birth, and which is called by St. Luke '^ a Taxing.'' In France there appears to have been Registers as early as 1308, but whether they were in the form of public records, or whether they were universally kept in that kingdom, is not clearly ascer- tained. The Memoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, 4to. 1764, has the following observation, relating to a search for the baptism of Laura: — " Vellutello assure qu'il trouva deux ces regitres chez le Cure de Cabrieres, qui commencoient Tan 1308 & finissoient Fan 1 373 (dans quelques editions, 1384) il fit chercher depuis le com- mencement jusqu'en 1320 par mi plusieurs Laures, dont il etoit fait mention dans ces regitres, il y en avoit une, fiUe d' Henri de Chiabau, Seigneur de Cabrieres, qui fut baptisee le 4 Juin 1314.'' In order to remedy the disorders occasioned by the frequency of divorces in Spain, on the ground of spiritual affinity, the great Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, in a Synod held by him in that Diocese in 1497, ordained the keeping of Registers in every parish. Marsolier, in his Histoire du Ministere du Cardinal XimeneSj tom. 1, liv. 2, p. 263, states — *^ II s' etoit glisse en ce tems la un desordre en Espagne, qui etoit suivi de quantite d'abus. Les divorces y etoient fort frequens, at ce qui les rendoit si communs etoit qu' aussitot que deux personnes mariees, pour quelque raison que ce put- etre, avoient envie de se separer, ils n'avoient qu'a supposer qu'ils avoient tenu ensemble un enfant sur les Fonts de Bap- teme, ils ne manquoient jamais de temoins vrais ou supposes pour I'attester, et sur cela les parties se separoient. ^ Cette licence avoit introduit en Espagne une Infinite de marriages Tollis enim, et libris actorum spargere gaudes Argumenta viri. foribus suspende coronas, Jam Pater es. — Juv. Sat. 9, line 82. * This was formerly considered an impediment in this country ; for in 1462, John Howthon, of Tonbridge, was sentenced by the Consistory Court of Eochester to be whipt three times round both market and church for having married Dionysia Thomas, for whom his former wife had beeif godmother. The like spiritual relation occasioned 4 OF THE ORIGIN OF illicites. L^Archeveque se crut oblige de remedier k ce desordre ; & pour en venir a bout & empecher qu'on ne sup- posat faux sur un sujet si important, il fut le premier qui ordonna qu^il y auroit dans toutes les Paroisses un Registre ou Ton ecriroit exactement les noms de ceux qui seroient baptises, de leurs peres, meres, parains, maraines, & des temoins qui avoient assistes au Bapteme, avec Pannee, le mois, et le jour de cette ceremonie. L'on a vu depuis de quelle utilite a ete cette ordonnance dans le promotion aux ordres sacres, dans T entree aux Bene- fices, dans les tutelles, & dans plusieurs autres rencontres; c'est ce qui Pa fait recevoir depuis dans toute FEglise." The late Sir Francis Palgrave, speaking ^ of Hume's inaccuracy in the picture he draws of mediaeval times, says — " Hume tells us, that in the 12th century. Parish Registers were not regularly kept. Not regularly kept ! Parish Registers were never kept in any part of the world until the 16th century. The only mode by which the Piavano of St. Giovanni, the baptistery of Florence, took an account of the infants he bap- tized (and all the infants of the city were brought thither), was by putting beans into a bag — a white bean for a girl, a black bean for a boy, and then casting them up at the end of the year." Perhaps if the writer had said, " until the 14th or 15th century," he would have shown the inaccuracy of the historian, without falling himself into an error in the opposite direction. There seems no reason to doubt that in Spain, at all events. Registers were instituted in the 15th century. There have been various opinions as to the precise period when Parish Registers were first kept in England. Mr. Cole, in his MSS. in the British Museum, mentions having read that '^ the Register (Jan. 7, 1465) a dissolution of the marriage between John Trevennock and Joan Pecjkham ; Letitia, the former wife of the said John having been godmother to a child of the said Joan "quoad Lsetitia prior uxor dicti Joh'-is prolem dictse Johannse de sacro fonte levavit." On Dec. 29, 1472, William Lovelasse, of Kingsdown, was cited to appear before the Official of the then Bishop of Rochester, on a charge of having married his spiritual sister, viz., a woman whom his mother had held at her confirmation " quam mater dicti W"' tenuit ad confirraationem." — Thorpe's Customale. ^ Quarterly Review^ vol. Ixxiii. 561, "Hume and his influence on History." PARISH REGISTERS. O of Hormead Magna begins in 1538, being 37 years after the first institution of Parish Registers, which commenced in 1501, 16 Hen.VIl/^ Nicholls, in;his History of Leicester, when noticing the Register of Cottesbach, which begins in 1558, states it to be "37 years after the first Institution of these Parochial Records by the Lord Cromwell, in the 13th year of Hen. 8th, 1521.'^ But at this time, Cromwell, if in England, was a private individual, and in Cardinal Wolsey's service, and therefore unlikely, except through the Car- dinaPs influence, to institute this practice. Dr. Thorpe, and Jacob (the Author of the Law Dictionary), state them to have been instituted by Lord Cromwell " A.nno 13 Hen. 8. while he was Vicar-General to the King.^' But there is an evident mistake in one of these particulars ; for Cromwell (as will presently be noticed), was not made Vicar-General until 1536, 28 Hen. VIIL, and as an error would be more likely to occur with respect to the particular year of the reign, than with the individual under whose administration the law was made (especially as the office of Vicar- General was one of novel creation, and was first conferred by Hen. the Eighth on Cromwell), it is a fair presumption that Dr. Thorpe was incorrect in stating the first period, namely, that of the 13 Hen. VIII. Whittaker, in his History of Sheffield, states them to have been kept ''in pursuance of CromwelFs injunction in 1534/' and the Annals of Shrewsbury, state their first use in 1499. But Dr. Prideaux, the Bishop of Worcester, in his Directions to Church- wardens, says, " Parish Registers were first ordered by the Lord Vicegerent Cromwell, in the 30th year of King Hen. the Eighth, 1538, and from thence all Parish Registers have their beginning.^' Bishop Burnett, Bishop Kennett, Bishop Nicolson, Stowe, and many other authors, who have treated on this subject, agree with Dr. Prideaux. But in order to assist in forming a correct conclusion on this point, it will be well to observe the dates of Cromwell's political preferment. He was the son of a blacksmith at Putney; when arrived at manhood, he went abroad, and visited several foreign countries, and in 1510 he went to Rome. Upon his return to England (or shortly afterwards), he entered the service of Cardinal Wolsey ; and upon the dissolution of the Carldinal's household in 1529, he was taken into the King's service, and in 1531 knighted. 6 OF THE ORIGIN OF In 1535 he was appointed Visitor- General of Monasteries, and on the 18th of July in the following year, Vicar- General. In the September following, he issued certain Injunctions to the Clergy, which did not contain any mention of Registers ; but in those which issued on the 8th Sept. 1538, was comprised the one which is to be found in a subsequent chapter. It is not at all improbable, that Cromwell conceived the idea of establishing Parish Registers in England from the Institution of Cardinal Ximenes in Spain, which in his travels he no doubt had seen or heard of; but it is not likely that he had an opportunity of enforcing the practice in this country, before the time of his entering into Henry's service in 1529. In pursuance of his Injunction in 1538, a great many Registers were immediately commenced, although from various causes com- paratively few are now in existence. In the Churchwardens' accounts of 1538, for the Parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, is the following item : — '^ Paid for a Book to registre in the names of buryals, weddings, and Christenings 2*^.'' St. Margaret's being a parish in the immediate vicinity of the Court, it is most probable that the practice of Registration was commenced there immediately upon the injunction being made ; and the manner in which the item is worded, tends to confirm the opinion that this was the first book purchased for the purpose.^ In order to strengthen the supposition that the Injunction of 1538 was the first containing any order for Registers, it will be necessary to remove any opinion to the contrary derived from the circum- stance of Nicholls's History of Leicestershire , stating the Register of Kegworth to commence in 1516; or from the belief that the Register of Kirkham, in Lancashire, begins in 1529, and that of Boughton Blean, in Kent, so long back as the 15th century. Some pains have been taken to ascertain the fact of these cases ; and first, with respect to the Register of Kegworth, which Thoresby informs us begins in 1684 (168 years later than the date given by Nicholls) . The Register Books, upon an inspection by the author, in 1828, were found to be kept in the Vestry of the Church. The oldest was in detached parts, but kept together in an old vellum ^ In the Churchwardens Accounts of Thame, Oxon., is the following payment : — " 1539, Itm., Pd for a quere of Pap' for the Registr Boke ijdj." PARISH REGISTERS. / cover. It commenced in 1556 only. The Rector, Dr. Parkinson, Dean of Chester, mentioned his having been Rector in that parish thirty-six years, and had never heard of any earlier Register, and was confident none had been lost during his incumbency. It should also be remarked, that the book alluded to is likely to be the first in that parish, from the circumstance of its commencing in 1556, which was immediately after the order of the National Synod, held by Cardinal Pole, in the reign of Philip and Mary. As to Kirkham — a certificate is now before the author, of the date of 1529, and is to the following purport :— '^ Janie " 1529 Jn** Weton (de Weton) & Eliz Scarisbricke xxvj°'* but upon reference to the Register, it appears to be an original document only so far back as 1618, although the book commences with the year 1529, the former part having been " taken at the commencement of publique authoritie out of ancient Copies and Minutes, and copied out by the aforesaid Thomas Robinson.^' Lastly, of Boughton Blean. From a communication from the Rev. T. W, Wrighte, Vicar of this Parish, it appears that the oldest Church Book^ which contains the Parish Accounts from 1530, has no entry of marriage or burial prior to 1 538, and only one of birth, and this is on the blank part of a leaf, having the date of 1533 at the top of the page, and was made (as will appear upon the face of it), 45 years subsequently ; it stands thus : — " Edward Songer was borne on Witsonday xv^ in anno dni. Millimo. Quinges'"'' Tricessimo quarto and was one hole yere old whan Corps. Chri. play was playd in Boughton Street.^ F me Edwardus Songer 1578." Had there been a Register kept at the time of Edward Songer's birth, 1534, this memorandum by him in 1578 would not have been necessary. Manning's History of the County of Surrey, in noticing the * In this book is a mention made of lotteries : — " 1570 Also they charge themselves w"» the rept of xvis v^. in thands of Ric. " Carl*i. by him rec*^. of Throweley, w^'* came from the lottery" and in 1574 is money received from a lottery for " castyng the bells." See Bet. Review^ N.S. 1, p. 431 bis. " So late as 1750 the old paroclwal custom of acting plays was observed at Tiseington, in Derbyshire. — Rardinge's Foems, p. 185. 8 or THE ORIGIN OF Parish of Elsted, observes, " The Parish Register is of the earliest date, beginning 30th Aug. 1538, the year in which the Act passed for establishing these useful records/^ So far he accords with the generally received opinion, but in another part of the Histonj, he states the Register of West Clandon to commence in 1536, which leads to a consideration of those circumstances which favour the supposition, that some order was made for the keeping Parish Registers before the year 1538. In 1536, a large body of insurgents assembled in Yorkshire, to the number of 40,000, who paraded with several priests at their head, with crosses and banners ; and for the purpose of drawing in the common people, they gave out ^ '^ that the king designed to get all the gold of England into his hands, under colour of recoining it ; that he would seize all unmarked cattle, and all the ornaments of parish churches, and they should be forced to pay for christnings, marriages, and burials (orders having been given for keeping Registers thereof), and for licences to eat white bread/^ ^ The following is a list of the grievances at that time circulated, in order to enlist the lower orders into the rebellion ^ : — '^ 1. The first is that no infant shall receiue the blessed Sacra- ment of Baptisme, bott onlesse an trybett to be payd to the King. " 2. The second is that no manvnder xx* lands shall eyte no brede made of Wheat, ner Capon, Chekyn, Gois, ner Pigge, bott onlesse to pay a trybett to the King. *' 3. The third is that for euery ploghe-land the King will have en trybett, with other diuerse extreme vrgent causes, and hertely fare ye well.'^ ^ Carte' a Mist, of Enff land. ^ When this could not avail, then properly they invented Friers, Pardoners to the people for to prate How burials and marriages they should be presented With churches and christenings to pay a noble rate. Plough nobles, yeerely they were clere determinate, And hen, chicken, goose, capon, pig, and cony ; They should not be eaten but with men of estate, Nor yet no white bread without a summe of money. The fall and euil successe of rebellion from time to time — 1537 — black lettee — By Wiffred Holmes. A rare tract sold at Mr. Bright' s sale, and bought by the British Museum. ^ Speed, Hist, of Great Brit. PARISH REGISTERS. 9 This insurrection occurred at the latter end of the year 1536, at which time it appears by Carte, that orders had been given for keeping Registers. The public alarm extended also to Cornwall and Devonshire, and Sir Piers Edgcumbe, the ancestor of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, wrote the following letter ^ to Cromwell : — " Sir Piers Eggecomb to Crumwell. " Plesse it, ywr goode Lordeshyp to be advertyssed, that the Kyngg's Majesty hath commandyd me, at my beynge in hye gracius presens, that in casse I parceyvyd any grugge, or myscontentacyon amongge hys sojectes, I shulde ther off advertysse ywr Lordeshyp by my wrytynge. Hyt ys now comme to my knolegge, this 20 daye of Apryll by a ryght trew honest man, a servant off myn ; that ther is moche secrett and severall communycacyons amongges the Kyngge's sojettes; and that off them in sundry places with in the Scheres off Cornwall and Devonsher, be in greate feer and mystrust, what the Kyngge^s Hyghnes and hys Conseyll schulde meane, to geve in commaundement to the parsons and vycars off every parisse, that they schulde make a booke, and surely to be kept, wher in to be specyffyyd the namys off as many as be weddyd, and the namys off them that be buryyed, and off all those that be crystyned. Now ye may perceyve the myndes off many, what ys to be don, to avoyde ther unserteyn conjecturyes, and to contynue and stablysse ther hartes in trew naturell loff, accordynge ther dewties I refferre to ywr wyssdom. Ther mystrust ys that somme charges, more than hath byn in tymys past, schall growe to theym by this occacyon off regesstrynge off thes thyngges; wher in, yff hyt schall please the Kyngge^s Majeste to put them yowte off dowte, in my poar mynde schall encresse moche harty loff. And I besseche our Lorde preserve yow euer, to Hys pleasser, 20th daye off Apryll. Scrybelyd in hast. P. Eggecomb. '^ To my Lorde Privy Scale ys goode Lordesshyp, be this gevyn. ^ Cromwell's correspondence \p. the Chapter House, (Bundle E). — Farish Register Abstract^ Vol. I., xxvij. 10 OF THE ORIGIN OF Most of the religious houses, before the Reformation, kept Registers ^ of public as well as private transactions, in books called "The Chartulary,^' "Leiger Book,^^ "Necrology or Obituary," " Register," " Chronicle,^' &c. The Obituary was " a parchment or vellum record of the death of kings, archbishops, bishops, abbots, priests, monks, benefactors, and others, interspersed at times with biographical notes. The Register contained its members, revenues, possessions, patrons, their genealogies, names of persons buried in the precints of the Religious House, and of others married there." ^ After the burial of any brother of a religious order, a Monk was sent with the Breve, or notice of his death to other houses ; and when it was entered in their Obituary, he took a copy of the entry, which was called Titulus, and brought it back with him. It would have excited surprise, that so few, comparatively, of these books are in existence, had not John Ball informed ns that, " the Library Books of Monasteries were reserved by the purchasers of those houses, to serve their jakes, to scour their candlesticks, and to rub their boots ; some were sold to grocers, sopesellers, and some sent ^ Many of the Colleges in Oxford did the same, particularly Merton College, where is a curious account of the sweating- sickness in England, with many other particulars. All churches were formerly privileged with the right of affording " sanctuary," although the smaller ones were not often resorted to. Monasteries had also the same privilege. Kegisters were kept of all persons taking sanctuary, with the nature of the offences, in respect of which they sought to escape the punishment of the law ; great numbers resorted to sanctuary for nonpayment of debts. In the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, No. 4292, is a Eegister of persons who had taken sanctuary for dif- ferent crimes at the Monastery of St. John Beverley, during the latter end of the 15th century. The following is one of the entries : — " Eob'tus Alestre de Notyngham in Com. Ville de Notyngham gentilman t'cio die Maii anno Edw. iv post Conquestu' Anglie xviii venit ad pacem s'ci Joh'ia Beverlaci p'morte John' Hill nuper de villa Westm in com Midd Yoman, p'ipsum interfectum apud Notyngham predictum xvi die Aprilis anno r. sup' d'i sup' d'cto, et accepto sacramento secundem consuetud. idem Eob'tus Alestre admissus est et receptus ad pacem p' d' ctam, &c." — Regist. Bev.y fol. 18. Many families made entries in their Books of Devotion. In a Salisbury Missal is : — "... Apr. — Will'm Eede was maryed w^ Anne his wyffe, also to all their frendes comfort and to their grete hono'r vppon seynt Wylfrydes day that holy confessor." In a Breviary is the following : — " Monday the xxvij day of October in the xxxj yer of the Eayne of Kynge Henry the viij at ix of the cloke at nyte wase Eobrte Harleston borne, the sone of Jhon Harleston, at Sowthe Wokyngdon in Es . . . hys god fathers f Clemont Harleston and bossheyped in the parlamente chamber be the byshope of Yorke." Grimaldi's Origines GenealogiccB. PARISH REGISTERS. 11 over the sea to the book-binders not in small number, but at times whole ships full. A merchant bonght two noble libraries for 40^.^' But Marriages and Burials were recorded in Churches long before the 1 6th century, not indeed in a Register specially provided for the purpose, but in the Missals and Psalters in use in the Church. ^ The injunction of Cromwell was highly necessary upon the disso- lution of Monasteries, for thereupon followed the dispersion of the Monks, who were in those times the principal Registrars, and were, of course, acquainted with the art of writing. A great portion of their time was employed in copying and illuminating the charters, deeds of gifts, &c. affecting the religious houses to which they belonged, many of those which now remain are specimens of cor- rectness, neatness, and patience. The general dissolution of Monasteries took place in the year 1536, and Cromwell being Visitor- General, must have been cog- nisant of the several books ^ kept by these houses, and this will also appear by the articles which he exhibited at his visitations ; it is therefore surprising, that two years should elapse before any order upon the subject of registration was made. In further support of the supposition of an order earlier than 1538, it must be remarked, that there are actually several Registers commencing, or having entries, prior to 1538,^ thus : — * In proofs of age, reference is made to this custom : — " 37 Ed. III. — Roger de Broderegge recollects the day, because Agnes, his wife died on the following Sunday, and the day of her death is enrolled in the Missal at Slinfold ChurchP " Because his brother, William Elcham, married on that day, and is enrolled in the Missal at Clithurst Church^ " Because Joan, his wife, died that day, and the day of her death is enrolled in the Psalter of Midhurst" " 25 Ed. III. — Because Alice his wife, was buried that day in the said Church, and tlie day of her death was enrolled in the Calendar of the Missal." 2 In a Roman ritual, printed in 1617, p. 347, are instructions to the clergy as to the purposes for which Register Books should be kept, and the forms to be used ; it contains the following directions : — Formulae scribendse in libris habendis apud parochos ut infra notatur. Liber Baptizatorum, &c. Liber Confirmatorum habeatur in Ecclesiis in quibus confertur Chrisma. Liber Matrimoniorum. Liber Status Animarum.* Liber Defunctorum, * See the Index for a reference to some of these Books. ' In Taylor's Collections for Hortham'ptonshire^ (he says), " Maidford," " Register, made the 16th day of April A" 1599, from an imperfect Register from 1587, and before that time, from the year 1530."— XawtZ*. MSS., No. 729. 12 OF THE ORIGIN OF Stoke Hamond, Bucks 1534 Good worth Clatford, Hants 1536 Wolverton, Bucks 1536 West Clandon, Surrey 1536 Perlethorpe, Nottingljamshire .... 1528 Elsworth, Cambridgeshire 1528 West Thorney, Sussex 1530 St. James, Garlick Hythe, London . 1535 Stoke Hamondy Bucks, " Qui credideritJetTbaptizatus fuerit, servabitur Qui vero non 'crediderit/ condemnabitur.^' CHRISTENINGS. " John Moulder was bapt : the anno Reg. Henrici 8, Gr. 29, 1537." " Edward Harris was bapti. . . 18 of Mch. anno eod." MARRIAGES. " Thomas Edw. . . and Elizabeth Gall were maryed xxiiij. daye of November, an"* dni 1534.'^ Goodworth Clatford, Southampton. The only entry prior to 1538 is : — '' 1536 Will'"- Bird and Agnes Richards, the 19 day of June." Wolverton is a parish in or near Stoney Stratford, the title of the Register is : — '' Iste Liber pertinet Parochial Wolvertonis, Teste Roberto Reignoid Vicario Ejusdem :" — under which some person has written : — " Of the Tribe of Manasses " Non Estimandus unius Assis." There are 24 entries only prior to Sept. 1538, among which are the following : — Baptisms . . 1537 Jan. 13 Margueret Longueville. 1538 April 8 Mary Longueville. Burials . . . 1536 Oct. 4 Sir Thomas Longueville. 1537 Nov. 12 Joane Longueville. 1537 Nov.22 Sir John Longueville. i * These are all of one family, and probably copied from some Missal or Psalter, PARISH REGISTERS. 13 West Clandon. — The Title of this Register is : — " A Register Book for the Parish of Weste Clandon : " and there are nine entries prior to September 1838, of these the following are the first three : — " Anno Domini 1536, Twenty eighth day of August was buried Thomas Marten." " 12 of September was baptized Lawrence Elliot, Sonne of Richard Elliott and Julian his Wife." " Anno Dm. 1537-9 of May was married W"* Stent and Agnes his WifeJ^ The Register of Perletliorpe (which is a chapelry in the parish of Edwinstowe, in the county of Nottingham), had the following title, although the ravages of time have rendered it now illegible. " The Register of all Suche as have bynne christened, maryed and buryed, in the parish of Parlthorp, and Thow'sbye, sence the yeare of our Lord, 1528." There is just one Entry for each year, from 1528 to 1538, and no day or month mentioned. Moreover, the word " sence " in the Title shows it to have been a compilation and not a contempo- raneous Register. Elsworth, Cambridgeshire. '' Baptizat'" Catalog^ 1528." " Elena Holmes filia Patricii Holmes, baptizata, 6 die Oct : an° S. 1528." '' Mariana Smith filia Joanni Smith, baptizatus, 3 die Nov' : " " Guylielmus Dalton filius Joann : Dalton baptizatus, 1 Die Dec : " " Agnes Comm filia Thomse Comm baptizata, 4 Jan. 1529." " Margaret Papworth filia Joann : Pap worth baptizatus, 12 Jan." " Mariana Hatton Hatton filia Guylielmi Hatton Hatton- Baptiz: 19 Jan:" '' Elicia Barton filia Edwardi Barton, baptizat ; 19 Mar : " There are only about six more Entries prior to 1538. West Thorney, Sussex. " The Register Book - - - West Thorney." " 1530 The 26th of October, was James y« sonne of Richard Hargood and Feby, his Wife, baptized : the godfathers James Prior atid Thomas Figgen." 14 OF THE ORIGIN OF " 1531 The 6th of Januarye, was James the sonne of Richard Hargood buried." *^ 1531 The 19th of Jimej was James the sonne of John Lange baptized : y^ godfathers James Roman and Thomas Roman, the godmother Katherin Roman." " 1531 The 21st of June, was James, the sonne of John Lang buried." There are eight other entries of the year 1531, and eleven of 1533, which completes the first page. The second page begins with 1572, and the second entry on the page is 1575.^ ST. JAMES, GARLICK HYTHE, LONDON. This is a small folio Book of Paper. It is not the original, but a transcript (made probably in 1597), of, apparently, a genuine Register. Its title is — THE BOOKE OF REGISTRE, BELONGING UNTO S. JAMES, BY GARLYCKE HYVE. Anno dni. 1535. Anno dni. 1535. Anno 1535. Manages. The 26 of Januarye, Thomas Manryng and Margrett Jorden. Anno 1536. The 20 daye of Apryll, Francis Brooke and Elyzabeth Bannester. (5 others.) Anno 1537. The 14 of Januarje, Thomas Daught and Anne Browne. Anno 1538. 5 Marriages. Anno 1539. No Marrs. Christenings. The 18 of November, Edward Butler. (7 others.) Anno 1536. The 17 of Maye, EHzabeth Stevens. (4 others.) Anno 1537. The 18 of Julye, Jone Stonnar, (17 others.) Anno 1538. 12 Christenings. Anno 1539. No Xnings. Buryalles. The 7 of Januarye, John Kydwieke. (7 others.) The 14 of Aprill, Sir Roberte Durham, prest. Anno 1536. The xx8 of Aprill, Thomas Hall. (5 others.) Anno 1537. The 1 of Septembre EUyn Moore. (7 others.) Anno 1538. 21 Burials. "The 10 of Octobre Umfreye Keye, Prist." Anno 1539. 17 Burials. " The 25 of Octobre, Adrian, a duche man." * Since the preceding pages have been at press, the present Rector of West Thorney writes, that the first Entry in his Register is 1569 ; and those on the second page are PARISH REGISTERS. 15 No. 2 is a folio of Parchment, being a transcript, made about 1603 or 1653. At the other end of No. 2 is the appointment of Cromwell's Register, and a number of Marriages proclaimed at the market place. Upon consideration of the whole subject, it will be no doubt concluded that there was no order for Registers before 1538, and this conclusion is warranted by the Bill in 1562 (page 20), which provided for the registering of the " former church books, titles, notes, and remembrance of twenty-four yeares continuance alredy passed, or thereabouts." Now if these twenty-four years be de- ducted from 1562, it brings it to 1538, and so proves that within twenty, four years of that date, the framer of that Bill considered that the Register Books began in the year 1538. The 19th Section of the Act of Parliament, passed in 1812, directed Lists of all Registers, then in every parish, together with the periods at which they respectively commenced and terminated, &c. to be transmitted to the Registrar of the respective Dioceses. This was complied with but very partially. In the Diocese of London, only four or five of these lists were transmitted. Soon after the publication of the first edition of this Work, the Government prepared for the population return of 1830. On that occasion, the author's good friend, John Rickman, Esq., Clerk of the House of Commons, discussed with him on the usefulness of a List of all the Register Books in England, with their commence- ment and termination. The value of such a List, it was not doubted, would be very great, if government would sanction the addition of this to the population inquiry This sanction Mr. Rickman obtained, and hence that useful document, ^^ TTie Parish Register Abstract, of 1830.'^ ^ Every return which indicated a Register earlier than 1538 was submitted to the author, and the fact was investigated, and the result and particulars are now, for the first time, given to the public. in 1572 — so that the figure 7 has, no doubt, been taken for a 3— and none of the Entries, therefore, in this Eegister, are earlier than 1570. 1 Many of the original Returns are deposited in the British Museum, intituled, " Parish Registers extant y 1831.* 16 OF THE ORIGIN OF PARISH REGISTERS. By this Parish Register Abstract it appears that there were. Registers beginning in 1538 . . 812 (40 of these contain entries prior to that date.)^ 1538 to 1558 1822 1558 to 1603 . . 2448 1603 to 1650 . . 969 1650 to 1700 . . 2757 1700 to 1750 . . 1476 Since then 600 or 700 10,984 1 Frazer's Magazine for September 1861, gives the names of forty-nine parishes having earlier entries, but it would perhaps be found, on inquiry, that many of the dates have been mistaken, and that none of them can be called Registers. 17 CHAPTER II. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT CANONS — INJUNCTIONS — ORDINANCES, ETC., RELATING TO PARISH REGISTERS. AFTER it had been enacted in the reign of Henry VIII. 1534, that the Church of England should no longer be subject to the Pope, and that the King was the supreme head of it, all Monasteries, not having lands above the value of £200. by the year, were given to the King ; and Cromwell (" who was appointed Vicegerent to the King^s Highness," in ecclesiastical matters,) in the 30th Henry VIII. Sept, 1538, issued an injunction to the following effect : — " In the name of God Amen. By the authority and com- mission of the excellent Prince Henry, by the Grace of God King of England and of France, Defensor of the Faith, Lord of Ireland, and in Earth Supream Head under Christ of the Church of Eng- land. I, Thomas Lord Cromwell, Privy Seal, and Vicegerent to the King's said Highness, for all his jurisdiction ecclesiastical within this realm, do for the advancement of the true honor of Almighty God, increase of vertue, and discharge of the King's Majesty, give and exhibit unto you these Injunctions following, to be kept, observed, and fulfilled, upon the pains hereafter declared : — " First, That you shall truly observe, and keep all and singular the King's Highness Injunctions, given unto you heretofore, in my name," &c. " Item, That you and every parson, vicar, or curate within this Diocese, for every Church keep one Book or Register, wherein he shall write the day and year of every Wedding, Christening, and Burial, made within your parish for your time, and so every man succeeding you likewise, and also there insert every person's name, that shall be so wedded, christened, and buried. And for the safe keeping of the same Book, the parish shall be bound to provide of their common charges one sure coffer, with two locks and keys, whereof the one to remain with you, and the other with the Wardens of every parish wherein the said Book shall be laid up, which Book ye shall every Sunday take forth, and in the presence of the said 2 18 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. Wardens or one of them, write and record in the same, all the Weddings, Christnings, and Burials made the whole week afore, and that done, to lay up the Book in the said coffer as afore ; and for every time that the same shall be omitted, the party that shall be in the fault thereof, shall forfeit to the said Church iij^ iiij**. to be employed on the reparation of the said Church/^ The subject of Parish Registers also formed one of the Injunc- tions given by Edward VI. in 1547,^ "to all and singular his loving subjects, as well of the Clergy as of the Laity,'' and which was almost a literal copy of that issued by Cromwell, except that the penalty was directed '^ to be employed to the poore box of that parishe." Extract from King Edward's Injunctions, " whereof parte were geven unto them heretofore by thautoritie of his mooste deerely beloved father. King Henry the Eight, of mooste famouse memory, and parte are nowe made, and gevyn by his Majestic — " ^ " Also, that the parson, vicar, or curat, and parishioners of evry parishe within this realm, shall, in their churches and chapels, kepe one booke or regester, wherein they shall write the daye and yere of everye wedding, christening, and burial, made in their parishe for their tyme, and so every man suc- ceeding them likewise. And also, therein shall write every parsone's name that shall be so wedded, christned, or buried ; and for the saufe keaping of the same booke, the parrishe shall be bound to provide, of their common charges, one sure coffer, with two locks and keyes, whereof thone to remain with the parson vicar or curate, and thother with the wardeynes of every parrishe churche or chapell wherein the saide booke shall be layde up, whiche booke they shall every Sonday take furthe, and in the presence of the said wardeyns, or one of them, write and recorde in the same, all the weddings, christenyngs, and burialles, made the hole weeke before, and that doon, to lay up the booke in the said cofer as afore, and for every tyme that the same shall be omitted, the partye that shall be in the ^ In this year all Episcopal authority was suspended for a time, while the Eccle- siastical visitors then appointed went through the several dioceses to enforce divers injunctions, and, amongst others, that relating to Parish Registers. '^ Miscel. iii., p. 498, MS. Ben. Colls. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC* faulte thereof, shall forfait to the said Churche 3^' employed to the poore men's box of that parishe/' And in the same year one of the articles to be inquired of in the Visitations to be had within the Diocese of Canterbury was — "Item. — Whether they have one Book or Register safely kept, wherein they write the day of every Wedding, Christning and Burying/' And in the same year 1547, Nov. 15. '^ A Bill for a Treasure- House in every shire, for keeping of the Records," was read the first time in the House of Commons ; it does not however appear to have been further proceeded with.^ A third order may be met with in the Statutes of the National Synod, held by Cardinal Pole, in the reign of Philip and Mary, about 1555, by which it was directed, that with respect to Parish Churches, the following particulars were (amongst others) to be observed by the Bishops in their Visitations. "If the parish priest had a Register with the names of those who were baptized, of the sponsors, of the married, and the dead." And in 1557, among the Cardinal's articles touching the clergy, was one, " Whether they do keep the Book or Register of Christen- ing, Burying, and Marriages, with the name of the Godfather and Godmother.'' In the first year of Queen Elizabeth, anno 1559, an Injunction was issued nearly in the same words, and to the same tenor, as that by Edward VI., except that the penalty is directed to go in moieties to the poor box and the repair of the church. And amongst the Articles to be inquired in the Visitations of the same year, were the following : — " Whether they have one Book or Register kept, wherein they write the day of every Wedding, Christening, and Burying." " Item. How many persons have for religion died by fire, famine, or otherwise, or have been imprisoned for the same.*' " Itern. That you make a true presentment of the number * Journals of H. C, vol. i., p. 1. The Proclamation in 1548, prohibiting preaching without license, was occasioned by certain Popish preachers, endeavouring to make the people believe that the King intended " to demand half-a-crown a piece of every one who should be married, christened ^ or buried. ^^ Might not this Bill of 1547 have given some colour to this Popish «eport P — See Fuller's Church Hist. 388. 20 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. of all persons whicli died within your parishes sithence the Feast of St. John the Baptist, which was in the j^ear of our Lord God 1558, unto the Feast last past, making therein a plain, distinct declaration, how many men, women, and men- children, the same were, and the names of the men/^ It is thought that Elizabeth issued, from time to time, Commis- sions to the Bishops and others, with very great powers, for inquiring into ecclesiastical matters. On GrindalPs death, in 1583, the Queen appointed Whitgift, who urged that all the spiritual authority lodged in the prelates was insignificant without the sanction of the crown, and as there was no Ecclesiastical Com- mission at that time in force, he prevailed on her to issue a new one, with unlimited authority; forty-four Commissioners were accordingly appointed, with jurisdiction over all orders of men.^ On the 9th of March, 1562-3, a Bill was read a first time in the House of Commons,^ intituled — " A Bill to autorize every Archbishop and Bishop to erect one Office of Registership of all the Church Books, to be kept in every Diocese," and was " Written by Thomas Bowesey, and presented to Archbishop Parker, for his approbation,^' — after reciting the order of the 30th Henry VIII., and the good policy of it, — that a great deal of abuse and neglect existed in the practice thereby enjoined, it enacted, that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and all Bishops, should erect within their several dioceses one office of Registership and Register, to " survey, safe kepe, and streightly looke" to the said Church Book, and the same to register in " some decent book of parchment," for a per- ^ Stme, vol. v., p. 263, 1584. In the Eegister Book of Bottesford, in Leicestershire, is an entry which, no doubt, refers to one of these Commissions : — " The 10th day of June in the yere of our Lord 1575, by virtue of a Commis- sion directed from the Queen's Majesty, we were commanded to appear at Leic' Eobert G-ibson Clarke, William Fowler Gard'. Henry Challande, Henry Vincent, and John Sumnier, Jun"". and there we shewed our Register Book, and wanted 23 yeres, and for the same did compound with one William Evanse Clarke, and Brother in Lawe unto Mr. George Fletcher, the head Commissioner, and gave in money 3*. the day and yere above wrytten." In the Churchwardens' accounts of Clerkenwell, is the following payment : — " Paid unto Mr. Dr. Stanhope, for that our Regester Booke was not engrossed on parchment, 2s. Sci." ^Journals, vol. i., p. 68. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 21 petual memory and testimony of the premises. That all Parsons, &c., were to make Entries of all and every their *' church booke, notes, and remembraunce,'* as well theretofore written, by virtue of the '* saide good, laudable ordre," as thereafter to be written, under the penalty of IO5. That the parents of every child christened, having lands to the yearly value of 40^. or goods to the value of £0. should thenceforth pay at the christening of every child Ic?. ; and every person marrying a wife should pay at the marriage 1 d, ; and every man having lands or goods of the value aforesaid, at the burial of his wife, to pay 2d. ; and every woman having lands or goods of the said value, at the burial of her husband Id.; and every such man or woman to pay at the burial of his or their son and daughter, and his or their household servant. Id. to the church- wardens of the parish, to be paid at the end of every year to the said Registers, in consideration that they should at their " great cost and chard ge" within six years register, as well all the '' former church books, titles, notes, and remembraunce of 24 yeeres con- tinuance alredy passed or thereabouts,'^ ^ as also the said church books, &c., yearly thereafter to be registered, as well of all and every persons having, or not having, any lands or goods of the value aforesaid, into " great, deacent books of parchment,^^ and towards their yearly ^'travell and chardge^^ in gathering up the same church books into every one of his or their said office. That every person requesting search to be made in the said books, should pay the sum of 4c?. ; for every certificate written on parchment, under the seal of the office, 12c?. ; and for every seal of office put to any such certificate or record, 4c?. In 1590, another plan was set on foot for a general Registry, and is thus recorded in Strype's Annals, vol. iv., p. 45 : — "An office to be deputed — In a suit to be a general Register of all the christenings, marriages, and burials, within her Majesty^s realm of England and Wales, with the reasons for the same. — To the Lord Treasurer Burghley. " The benefit that will grow to her Majesty and her succes- sors thereby. 1. An annual rent of £100. by year to her Majesty and her Successors for ever. 2. That it will be much profit to her Majesty, for the explaining of the ages of her wards, being now greatly abused by Escheaters and Feodaries, ' See ante p. 15. 22 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. in the benefits and commodities which may thereby grow to her subjects. 3. That it shall tend to the great good of many, which shall have occasion to have certificates, either for lawful copplement in matrimony, or in case of bastardy. 4. That it shall clearly avoid all cozenages made by those under age, either in levying of fines, suffering recoveries, acknowledging statutes or recognizances, or doing any other matter of record. 5. That the entrance of the baptisms, as it shall be provided for, will be a clear deciphering of all half bloods, or contro- versies daily happening under color of half or whole blood. 6. That it will be a curb for those who pretend to be sundry times married. 7. That it shall much tend to the deciding of many controversies, which daily grow, by reason of the life or death of persons. 8. There shall be also yearly delivered unto your honour, and unto every lord treasurer, for the time being, a summary of the whole. Whereby it shall appear unto you and them, how many christenings, weddings, and burials, be every year within England and Wales, and every County particularly by itself, and how many men-children and women-children in either of them, severally set down by themselves.^^ A patent for this was sent from the Lord Treasurer to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, for his judgment, but nothing of importance appears to have been settled until the 39th of Elizabeth's reign, 25th Oct. 1597, when the following Constitution was made by the Archbishop, Bishops, and Clergy of the province of Canterbury, and approved by the Queen, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, and which, it will be seen, notices the exceeding great utility {per- magnus usus) of Parochial Registers, and lays down very minute directions for their proper preservation ; and in addition to this, it appears by entries made in several Parish Registers, that persons were appointed for the purpose of examining these records, and ascertaining if the particulars of the several orders had been complied with ; and if not^ of fining the parochial officers for the neglect. De Registriis in Ecclesiis salvce custodice committendis. "Et quia Registra in Ecclesiis (quorum permagnus usus est) fideliter volumus custodiri : Primum Statuendum putamus ut in singulis Visitationibus admoneantur ministri, et economi , ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 23 ecclesiarum de Injunctionibus regiis ea in re dilligentius observandis. " Deinde ut libri ad hunc usum destinati, quo tutius reser- vari et ad posteritatis memoriam propagari possint, ex pergamen sumptibus parochianorum in posterum conficiantur : lisque non modo ex veteribus libris cartaceis transumpta nomina eorum qui regnante Serenissima Domina nostra, Elizabetha, aut baptismatis aqua abluti, aut i^matrimoniis copulati, aut eccle- siasticae sepulturse beneficio affecti sint, suo ordine sumptibus parochianorum inscribantur sed eorum etiam qui in posterum baptizati, vel matrimonio conjuncti, vel sepulti fuerint. " Ac ne quid vel dolo commissum vel omissum negligentur redarguatur, quae per singulas hebdomadas in hisce libris inscripta nomina fuerint ea singulis diebus Dominicis post preces matutinas aut vespertinas finitas, aperte ac distincte per ministrum legantur, die ac mense quibus singula gestae sunt sigillatira adjectis. " Postquam autem paginam aliquam integram multorum nominum inscriptio compleverit, tum ministri, tum gardianorum ipsius parochsei subscriptionib' volumus cam communiri. " Idemque in transumptis ex veteribus libris cartaceis, pa- ginis singulis fieri, sed diligenti, ac fideli prius habita collatione : neque vero in unius cujusquam custodia librum ilium, sed in cista publica, eaque trifariam obserata reservandum putamus, ita ut neque sine ministro gardiani nee sive utrisque gardianis minister quicquam possit innovare. " Postremum est ut exemplar quotannis cuj usque anni auctae nominum inscriptionis ad Episcopi Diocesani registrum per gardianos infra mensem post Festum Paschatis transmit- tatur, et sine feodo ullo recipiatur, at que in Archivis Episcopi fideliter custodiatur. '' Quocunque vero in premissis eorum ve aliquo deliquerit, is ut delecti qualitas jusque postulaverit puniatur/^ ^ And by another of Elizabeth^s Injunctions, every minister at institution, was amongst other things, to subscribe to this protes- tation, ^^ I shall keep the Register Book according to the Queen's Majesty's Injunctions/' In the first year of the next reign, that of James the First, anno 1603, another Ecclesiastical Mandate provided that ''In omni - — ' — • — ■ ^ Sparrow, p. 257. 24 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. hujus Regni," &c., but the English may be found on record, as follows : — ^ '' In every parish church and chapel within this realm shall be provided ovlq parchment book at the charge of the parish, wherein shall be written the day and year of every christning, wedding, and burial, which have been in that parish since the time that the law was first made in that behalf, so far as the ancient books thereof can be procured,^ but especially since the begin- ning of the reign of the late Queen. And for the safe keeping of the said book, the churchwardens, at the charge of the parish, shall provide one sure coffer with three locks and keys, whereof the one to remain with the minister, and the other two with the churchwardens severally, so that neither the minister without the two churchwardens, nor the church- wardens without the minister, shall at any time take that book out of the said coffer. And henceforth upon every Sab- bath day, immediately after morning or evening prayer, the minister and churchwardens shall take the said^ parchment book out of the said coffer, and the minister, in the presence of the churchwardens, shall write and record in the said book the names of all persons christened, together with the names and surnames of their parents, and also the names of all per- sons married and buried in that parish in the week before, and the day and year of every such christning, marriage, and burial; and that done, they shall lay up that book in the coffer as before. And the minister and churchwardens, unto every page of that book, when it shall be filled with such inscriptions, shall subscribe their names. And the church- wardens shall once every year, within one month after the five and twentieth day of March, transmit unto the Bishop of the diocese, or his Chancellor, a true copy of the names of all ^ Gibson's Codex^ vol. i., p. 229. ' Weston, near Bath. — " In the first yeare of King James, (1603) it :wra8 ordered by a Canon of the Church, that all Registers of Churches should be written over again in parclimenty whereas before, most were written in paper^ and so they should continue for ever ; whereupon Mr. Doct'. Powell, the Archdeacon of Bathe, commanded me to write this Register Booke againe, as now it is, out of the ould Paper Register, truly and word for word, without any addition, as far as it did reach to. The ould Register to this day I keepe, and meane to leave it to posteritie. Thomas Packstone, A^icarius de Weston, juxta Bathon." ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 25 persons christned, married or buried in their parish, in the year before (ended the said five and twentieth day of March), and the certain days and months in which every such christning, marriage, and burial was had, to be subscribed with the hands of the said minister and churchwardens, to the end the same may faithfully be preserved in the Registry of the said Bishop, which certificate shall be received without fee. And if the minister or churchwardens shall be negligent in performance of any thing herein contained, it shall be lawful for the Bishop, or his Chancellor, to convent them, and proceed against every of them as contemners of this our Constitution." During the confusions which existed in the reign of Charles the First, Parish Registers were greatly neglected, but, by the Journals of the House of Commons, in 1644, it appears that the legislature were not unaware of their importance, for we find the subject noticed thus : — " Anno 1644, 6 Dec : Ordered, that it be referred to the Committee for bringing in the ordinance for the establishing the Directory, to bring in a clause in that ordinance for regis- tering the time of baptizing of children, and their parents' names, and for registring of burials.^' — Journals of the House of Commons, vol. iii. p. 715. And in the same year an ordinance was made, that the Book of Common Prayer should not be thenceforth used, but " The Directory of Public Worship." And it was further ordained, '' By the authority aforesaid, that there shall be provided, at the charge of every parish or chapelry in this realm of England and dominion of Wales, a fair Register Book of velim, to be kept by the minister, and other officers of the church, and that the names of all children baptized, and of their parents, and of the time of their birth and baptizing, shall be written and set down by the minister therein, and also the names of all persons married there, and the time of their marriage ; and also the names of all persons buried in that parish, and the time of their death and burial ; and that the said book shall be shewed by such as keep the same, to all persons reasonably desiring to search for the birth, baptizing, marriage, or burial of any person therein registered, and to take a copy, or pro- cure a certificate thereof." 26 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. In the same ordinance, after setting forth the forms of prayer to be used at marriages, it is added, " A Register is to be carefully- kept, wherein the names of the parties so married, with the time of their marriage, are forthwith to be fairly recorded in a book, pro- vided for that purpose, for the perusal of all whom it may concern/^ "When the political affairs of the country became a little more settled, under the administration of the Protector, the Parliament, about the year 1653, directed Registrars to be chosen by every parish, to be approved of and sworn by a Justice of the Peace, for the registering births and burials. ^ The following is an entry in the Parish Register of Shudy Camps, in Cambridgeshire, of the due appointment of one of these Registrars : — " Cambsh. — These are to certifie all whom it may concern y* Jn° Wignald Clerke (being elected Register of y*' Parish of Shudy Camps by y^ Inhabit^*, of y* same Parish as hath appeared unto me by a Certificate under y® hands of y® Inha- bitants thereof) did come before me Tho. Benett Esq"", one of y^ Justices for y^ peace of y*' s*^ Countie and did take his oath for y^ due Execution of his Office acc^ to y^ late Act of Par- liam^ in y* case made and provided. Which s"^ John Wignald I do hereby constitute Register thereof. Accordingly witness my hand and seal this 10 of Jan. 1653. " Tho. Benett.'' As, however, several alterations in the practice of Registry took place, in consequence of this Act, such as the entries of births^ not baptisms, &c., it may elucidate the contents of Parish Registers about that period, if the Act be recited. It was passed on the 24th of August, 1653, ^ and enacts, ''That whosoever should agree to be married within the Commonwealth of England, after the 29th Sept. 1653, should (21 days before such intended marriage) deliver in writing unto the Register (therinafter appointed) for the respective parish, where each party to be married lived, the names, sur- names, additions, and places of abode of the parties so to ^ Wootton, Line. Levellers and phanaticks, by what was above writt, but thro' shame blotted out, blush not at their own rushing into other men's offices, — a bold but witless Justice of y« Peace, makes his neighbouring ministers cyphers, whilst he forceth y^ King's subjects (quite against the graiue) to elect and he to confirm a mere layman in the office of Parish Eegister — Proh pudor fronti enim, nulla fides." 2 Scobell's Acts of Farliament, ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 27 be married, and of their parents, guardians, or overseers, all which, said Register should publish three Lord^s Days then next following, at the close of the morning exercise, in the public meeting-place, commonly called the church or chapel, or (if the parties desired it) in the market-place next to the said church or chapel, on three market-days, in three several weeks next following, between the hours of 1 1 and 2 ; which done, the Registrar should make a certificate thereof, without which the persons thereinafter authorized, should not proceed in such marriage. That such persons intending to be married, should come before some Justice of the Peace of the same county, city, or town, with such certificate, and if no impedi- ment, the marriage was to proceed thus : — " The man to be married, taking the woman to be married by the hand, shall plainly and distinctly pronounce these words : — '' I, A. B., do here, in the presence of God, the searcher of all hearts, take thee, C. D., for my wedded Wife, and do also in the presence of God and before these witnesses, pro- mise to be unto thee a loving and faithful Husband." " And then the woman, taking the man by the hand, shall plainly and distinctly pronounce these words : — " I, C. D. do here, in the presence of God, the searcher of all hearts, take thee A. B. for my wedded Husband, and do also in the presence of God and before these witnesses, pro- mise to be unto thee a loving, faithful, and obedient Wife." " Whereupon the said Justice was to declare them man and wife, and no other marriage was to be valid within the Com- monwealth.i Nevertheless, the Justice, in case of dumb persons, might dispense with pronouncing the words aforesaid : and with joining hands, in case of persons having no hands. " And that a true and just account may be always kept, as well of publications as of all such marriages, and also of the births of children, and deaths of all sorts of persons within this 1 Mr. Stephen Marshall (who was a Zealot and had a chief hand in compiling the Directory), married his daughter by the form prescribed in the Common Prayer, the Statute establishing the Liturgy not being repealed ; and haying so done he paid down £5. to the churchwardens of th* parish as the fine, for using any other form than that in the Directory. — Heylin^s Ex. Hist. 28 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. Commonwealth. Be it further enacted, that a book of good vellum, or parchment, shall be provided by every parish for the registering of all such marriages, and of all births of children and burials of all sorts of persons within every parish, for the safe keeping of which book the inhabitants and householders of every parish, chargeable to the relief of the poor or the greater part of them present, shall, on or before the 22d of Sept., 1653, make choice of some able and honest person (such as shall be sworn and approved by one Justice of the Peace in that parish, division, or countie, and so signified under his hand in the said Register Book), to have the keeping of the said book, who shall therein fairly enter in writing all such publications, marriages, births of children and burials of all sorts of persons, and the names of every of them, and the days of the month and years of publications, marriages, births, and burials, and the parents, guardians, or overseers' names : and the Register in such parish shall attend the said Justice of Peace to subscribe the entry of every such marriage ; and the person so elected, appointed, and sworn, shall be called the Parish Register , and shall continue three years in the said place of Register, and longer, until some other be chosen, unless such Justice of the Peace, or the said parish, with consent of such Justice, shall think fit to remove him sooner — and for such publications and certificate thereof, 12c?. and no more, may be taken ; and for the entry of every marriage, \2d. and no more ; and for every birth of childe, M, and no more ; and for every death, 4c?. and no more ; and for publications, marriages, births, or burials of poor people, who live upon alms, nothing shall be taken. And the said Justices of Peace (if it be desired) shall give unto the parties so married a certificate in parchment, under his hand and seal, of such marriage, and of the day of solemnization thereof, and of two or more of the witnesses then present, and the Justice's clerk for this certificate, may receive 12c?. and no more. And if such certificate shall be produced to the Clerk of the Peace for that county, and request made to him to make an entry thereof, then the said Clerk of the Peace is hereby required to enter the same in a book of parchment, to be provided for that purpose, and kept amongst the Records of the said Sessions, and to return the said certificate ; lor which entry the Clerk of the Peace may receive 4c?. and no ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 29 more/' " And be it enacted, that all Register Books for mar- riages, births, and burials, already past, shall be delivered into the hands of the respective Registrars, appointed by this Act, to be kept as Records/' This Act was confirmed in 1656, except so much as declares " no other marriage to be valid," &c. This regulation was not in force many years ; and at the Restoration, the business devolved to the parochial clergy again, and has continued a part of their duty ever since. Soon after the Restoration, an Act was passed (12th Car. II., cap. 33.), which legalized "Marriages by Justices since the 1st May, 1642, or Marriages performed according to the Direction or true intent of any Act or Ordinance or reputed Act or Ordinance of one or both Houses of Parliament, or of any Convention sitting at Westminster, under the name, style, or title of a Parliament.'' In the same reign, 1679, an Act,^ (30 Car. II., cap. 3.), was passed, intituled "An Act for burying in Woollen," and was intended " for the lessening the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manu- factures of this Kingdom " ^: — An affidavit ^ was to be brought within eight days of the burial, under a penalty of j85., that the deceased was not buried in linen. Sec. 4. — " And it is enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all persons in Holy Orders, Deans, Parsons, Deacons, Yicars, Curates, and their, or any of their Substitutes, do, within their respective parishes, precints, and places, take an exact account, and keep a Register * of all and every person or persons buried in his or their respective parishes or precints, or in such 1 It repealed a previous Act of 18 Car. IT., cap. 4., and was itself repealed by the 54 aeo. III., cap. 108. 2 Wm. Taylor, of Norwich, in the Monthly/ Magazine for Feb., 1800, p. 53, says :— "Another beneficial consequence flows from it (the Act), which is of great import- ance, especially at the present time, when the price of paper and of books is become 80 enormously high. For it appears that by the prohibition to clothe the bodies of the dead in linen, at least 200,0001bs. of rags are annually saved from untimely cor- ruption in the grave, and in due time pass to the hands of the manufacturers of paper." 3 Which by the 32 Car. II., cap. 3., might be sworn before a Parson, Yicar, or Curate. " Parish Registers frequently contain lists of the affidavits brought, in pursuance of this Act, to the Clergyman on the burial of individuals, of their being shrouded in woollen ; these will often afford inftrmation, not to be found in the Registers themselves. 30 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. common burial places, as their respective parishoners are usually buried/^ But no penalty was to be incurred by reason of any persons dying of the plague, although such persons should not be buried according to this Act. Nothing appears to have been done with respect to Parish Regis- ters in the reign of James the Second ; but in that of William the Third, several Acts were passed, and although the motive does not appear to have been so much the desire to enforce the Registry of births, &c. purely on account of its usefulness, but rather as an assistance to the collectors in getting in the duties imposed upon births, marriages, and burials, yet there can be no doubt that they were the means of effecting greater punctuality on the part of the Clergy in making the entries, as they gave the collectors free access to the Parish Registers, and awarded a penalty of jBIOO. on the persons neglecting to make the entries. The first Act alluded to is the 6th and 7th William the Third, cap. 6, 1694, intituled, "An Act for granting to his Majesty certain Rates and Duties upon Marriages, Births, and Burials, and upon Bachelors and Widowers, for the term of five years, for carrying on the War against France with vigour.^^ £. s. d For the Burial of every person : 040 „ of a Duke (above the 4*.) 50 „ of a Marques, &c. &c. in proportion. „ of every person having a real estate of £50. per annum or upwards, or a personal estate of £600,^ or upwards 20 „ of the Wife of such person having such estate ... 10 For and upon the birth of every person and child, except the children of those who receive alms 2 „ of the eldest son of a Duke 30 J, of a Marquess, and so forth. Upon the marriage of every person 026 „ of a Duke 50 „ of a Marquiss . , 40 ), of an Earl 30 and so forth. Bachelors, above 25 years old, yearly 010 Widowers do 10 A Duke being Bachelor or Widower, yearly 12 10 A Marquess „ do 10 ^ Shottesbroke, Berks. — " Eadye, the son of James Finmore, Curate of y^ Parish, and Thomasine, his wife, was born April 14th, 1699, and Baptized April y« 15th Reputed not worth £600." ACTS or PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 81 And the 24th sect, enacts, '' That all persons in Holy Orders deans, parsons, deacons, vicars, curates, and their or any of their substitutes, do, within their respective parishes, precincts, and places, take an exact and true account, and keep a Register in writing of all and every person or persons, married, buried, chris- tened, or born in his or their respective parishes, or precincts, or in such common burying-places, as their respective parishioners are usually buried in, to which Book or Register, the collectors for the respective parishes and places, and all other persons con- cerned, shall have free access to view the same at all seasonable times, without any fee or reward,'' under a penalty, against such persons neglecting or refusing to make such entries, of £100. The 7th and 8th William the Third, cap. 35, 1695, enacts, that " divers Ministers being in prison for debt and otherwise, do marry in the said prisons many persons resorting thither for the purposes aforesaid, and in other places for lucre and gain to themselves,'' and that " divers children who are born within this kingdom are not christened according to the usages and ceremonies of the Church of England, and many are christened in private houses, nor are the parents of such children obliged by the aforesaid Act (6th and 7th William) to give notice to their respective ministers of the births of such children, for want whereof an exact Register of all persons born is not kept, and many persons chargeable with the duties in the said Act mentioned, do thereby escape the pay- ment of the several sums due to His Majesty, and charged upon them by the said Act, by reason of the birth of such children." It then enacts, that the parents of every child thereafter to be born, shall, within five days after the birth give notice to the vicar, &c. of the parish, of the day of the birth of such child, under a penalty of 405. ; which vicar, &c. were under a like penalty to take an exact and true account of, and keep a distinct Register ^ of such so bom, and not christened, for doing which the parents were to pay to the vicar Qd. The 4th Anne, (1706) cap. 12, sec. 10, recites, that many of the clergy not being sufficiently apprized of the full import of the 6th and 7th of Wm. III. (which inflicts a penalty of £\00. for every neglect in making the entries therein directed) had incurred the ^ These Eegisters of Births are occasionally found in the Parish Eegister, but not in a separate Book. • 32 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. penalties thereof, whereby they and their families remained exposed to ruin. The Act therefore directs, that they should be idemnified from the consequences of such omissions, provided the duty for every marriage, birth, or burial should be really answered and paid, or notified, and brought in charge to the collector of the duties. In 1753 a Bill was brought into the Commons by Mr. Potter (son of Archbishop Potter) for keeping an Annual Register of marriages, births, deaths, the individuals who received alms, and the total population — it passed the Commons against much oppo- sition, but was thrown out in the Lords on the second reading. For Mr. Potter's speech on the occasion, and for the arguments in support of the Bill, see Smollet's England, vol. iii. p. 393. In this same year, however, (1753) was passed the famous Mar- riage Act, called Lord Hardwicke's Act (26 George II., cap. 33,) intituled, an Act to prevent Clandestine Marriage — It directs that marriages shall be solemnized in churches or chapels by banns or licence. That the churchwardens of every parish shall provide proper books of vellum, or good and durable paper, in which all marriages and banns of marriage respectively shall be registered, " and all books provided as aforesaid, shall be deemed to belong to every such parish or chapelry respectively, and shall be carefully kept and preserved for public use.'' And by this Act, persons convicted of making a false entry with intent to elude the force of this Act, or of altering any entry, or assisting therein, or publishing as true any such false entry,^ or destroying any Register of Mar- riage, &c. were to be deemed guilty of felony without benefit of clergy.2 ^ See Burn's Eccl. Law^ vol. iii., p. 292. 2 For an account of this Act, see Smollett's History of England^ vol. iii., p. 889 ; Walpole's Correspondence^ vol. i., p. 284 ; Burn's History of Fleet Registers^ second edition, p. 17, in which will be found the Earl of Orford's account of the introduction of the Bill and the discussions which took place in Parliament, extracted from his Memoirs of the last ten years of the Meign of George the Second. 2 vols. 4to. 1822. In consequence of this Act requiring that a marriage, to be valid, should be solem- nized in a church or chapel, where banns had been theretofore usually published, the Court of King's Bench, in 1781, annulled a marriage made in a chapel erected or con- secrated in 1765. An Act therefore passed, directing that all marriages solemnized before the first of August, 1781, in any church or public chapel, erected and conse- crated since the 26th Geo. II. should be valid, and that the Registers thereof should be received as evidence in all Courts. And that the Eegisters of all marriages solem- nized in any such chapels, should, within twenty days, be removed to the parish church of the parish in which such chapel should be situate, to be kept with the Mar- riage Register of such parish. This Bill was brought in by Lord Beauchamp, and ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC 83' There have been several attempts in the House of Commons to repeal Lord Hardwick^s Act : the first was in 1 765, when a Bill was introduced for its repeal, and also " to remove all doubts which may have arisen concerning the validity of certain marriages solemnized since the making of the said Act, and for the regulating registers, and for preserving the evidence of pedigrees,^^ which Bill appears to have passed, and been sent up to the House of Lords, who never returned it. In 1772 a second attempt was made — on the 7th of April in that year, a motion was made that "The Marriage Act" be read, which being done, a motion was then made for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the said Act, which was carried by a majority of owe, the numbers being sixty-two against sixty-one. The Bill was accordingly brought in and passed through a Committee, where it was amended, and on the 19th of May following, reported to the House and agreed to, but on the question being put that the Bill be engrossed, it passed in the negative, the numbers being ninety-two against thirty-four. A third, but unsuccessful attempt was also made in 1781.^ The enactments of Lord Hardwick^s Act still remain the law of the land, and the endeavours to repeal it have been fruitless, although Blackstone says, " much may be, and much has been said, both for and against this innovation upon our ancient laws and constitution." ^ In 1758 a Bill was brought into the Commons to levy a tax upon upon the debate in the Commons, Mr. Fox (who appears to have possessed an heredi- tary opposition to the Marriage Act of 1753) observed, " that all persons who had solemnized marriages in any of these new chapels were at present liable to transporta- tion. Under danger of that penalty stood, at present, a vast number of clergymen, and some prelates in the Upper House ; but as America would not receive them, they must go to tlie Justitia Sulk^ which to be sure would be a terrible thing, and he hoped the house would interfere to save these reverend, and right reverend gentlemen from so horrible a fate. It was an absolute fact, that several, if not all, of the Bishops had transgressed in this way ; and by the bye, the House might have the mortification to see Bishops in their lawn sleeves, instead of preaching the word, heaving balla Churchwardens (or Chapelwardens) of the Parish (or Chapelry) of . . . 2 In March, 1855, the Eev. Dr. Giles was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for making a false entry in the Register of Bampton, Oxfordshire. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 37 they are deficient, and the places where they are deposited. The Schedules annexed to the Act contain the following particulars : — BAPTISMS. When baptized. Child's Christian name. Parents' Christian and Surname. Abode. Quality. Trade^ or Profession. By whom the Ceremony was performed. MARRIAGES. Name and Parish of Man. Ditto of Woman. Where married. Whether by Banns or Licence. Whether with consent of Parents or Guardians. When. By whom. Signature of Minister, of the parties married, and of two witnesses. BURIALS. Name. Abode. When buried. Age. By whom the Ceremony was performed.^ In 1823, " An Act for amending the Laws respecting the solemnization of Marriages in England" was passed, but it did not affect the system of Registration. In the year 1824, a Bill was brought into the House, and read a first time, intituled, " A Bill to authorize the Establishment of a Metropolitan Register Office, for concentrating and preserving the Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in England." After reciting the 52nd Geo. III., and that the provisions contained therein had not been fully complied with, and that the same remained inoperative, inasmuch as the Returns to the Bishop's Registry were not regularly made, and that there was no penalty for the neglect, whereby the intention of the said Act was rendered abortive. And reciting, that in consequence of such neglect, the Bishop's Registrar had been deprived of the means of ascertaining whether the Wills of persons dying testate, or the personal estates of intestates had been proved or administered, and that numerous persons evaded such proof or administration, and the payment of the duties attached thereto, and the protection intended to be afibrded to the creditors of deceased persons, was defeated. And reciting, that the collecting the Registers in the provincial Registries ^ See Remarlcs and proposed Improvements of the Bill. By the Kev. S. Partridge, M.A., F.S.A. Boston, 1812, pp. 50. 38 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. had not afforded that facility in the tracing of pedigrees con- templated by the provisions of the Act of the 52nd Geo. III. ; and that several persons had been prevented prosecuting their claims with effect, to estates to which they are entitled, from the difficulty and expense of procuring Registers, and that facility would be afforded and expense saved, if the Registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials in England, were concentrated in one General Office in London or West- minster. It was therefore proposed that certain persons should be appointed Registrars, who should establish an office, to be called "The Metropolitan Register Office,^^ for concen- trating and preserving the Registers of public and private Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in England, from the to the both inclusive, and for continuing and maintaining the same. That copies of the whole Register should be made by each parish (the expense to be paid out of the Church Rate of the respective parishes), and afterwards, from year to year, a true copy of the Register for the preceding year, should be made, and sent to the Metropolitan Office. And in case of neglect by the clergy- man (without sufficient excuse) he should be disqualified for performing duty, for any period not exceeding months, at the discretion of the ordinary of the diocese, and in case of neglect by the churchwardens, they should forfeit the sum of £ , and the sum of for every week such neglect continued. That when such Registers as aforesaid should be so received at the Metropolitan Office, the Registrars should cause the same to be carefully arranged, for the purpose of being resorted to, and should cause correct alphabetical lists to be made, and kept in books suitable to the purpose, of the names of all persons mentioned in such Registers. That office copies of Registers might be made by the Metropolitan Regis- trars, to be received as evidence in Courts of Law and Equity. That the Registrars should aimually supply his Majesty's Legacy Stamp Office with the christian and surnames of all persons of twenty-one years and upwards buried during the previous year, with their titles, professions, or trades, and when and where buried. — Nothing was done with this Bill beyond the first reading. In 1830, Lord Abinger, then Attorney -General, undertook to ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, CANONS, ETC. 39 bring in a Bill to remedy the defects of the Act of 1812. The Bill was drawn and sent to him, but the pressure of business com- pelled him to transfer it to some other member, promising to speak upon, and support it in the House. The important questions which occupied the new Parliament, engaged amongst other urgent aflPairs in the Reformation of the Constitution of Parliament, pre- vented the further prosecution of the measure. In 1836 was passed '' An Act (6 & 7 W. IV., cap. 86) for Regis- tering Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England,^' and establish- ing a Civil Registration. It repealed so much of the Acts of 1812 and ] 823 as related to the Registration of Marriages. Provided a Registrar- General, Superintendent -Registrars, &c., for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages. Register Books in duplicate to be furnished to every Church and Chapel where Marriages may be solemnized, and the particulars of every marriage to be entered therein. Every quarter a Copy of the Marriages to be sent to the Superintendent-Registrar (to be forwarded to the Registrar- General), and one copy of the Register, when filled, to be delivered to the Superintendent- Registrar, ^ and the other to be kept with the Registers of Baptisms and Burials. Rectors, &c. to allow searches in any Register Book. Penalty for destroying or falsifying Registers. Registers of Baptisms and Burials to be kept asheretofore. This Act, and the previous one for Marriages (cap. 85), ^ were explained and amended in 1837 by the 1st Vic, cap. 22, which also imposed a penalty of ^10. on all persons omitting to transmit certified copies of Registers of Births, Deaths, or Marriages, as required by these three Acts. * The Marriage and Registration Acts^ with Instructions^ Forms, and Directions. By John S. Burn. London, 1836. 2 So that hath originals are kept in the country, and the Eegistrar-General has only a copy ! This is thought to be a very useless trouble thrown upon the clergy and the parties married. 40 CHAPTER HI. ON THE STATE OF PRESERVATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. THE custody of Parish Registers having been frequently committed to ignorant parish clerks, who had no idea of their utility beyond their being occasionally the means of putting a shilling into their pockets for furnishing Extracts, and at other times being under the superintendance of an incumbent, either forgetful, careless, or negligent, the result has necessarily been, that many Registers are miserably defective, some having the appearance of being kept regularly from month to month, and year to year, yet being deficient of a great many entries; some having a break of several years together, while others are written with a carelessness amount- ing to little better than a total omission of registry ; besides which, the appointment of lay Registrars in the time of the Common- wealth, and the order that the previous Register Books should be handed over to them, caused much confusion, and perhaps the loss of some of them. A few instances of these defects will now be given : — North Stoneham^ Hants. The Register of Burials begins in 1640, but that of Baptisms not until 1674. Shenly begins 1636, and ends 1649; the next book begins 1653, but no regular Register before 1703. Newton Blossomville begins in 1691, the old Register being lost. Cottenham, Cambridgeshire. The Register burnt in a fire, which consumed two-thirds of the town, in 1676. Great Brickhilt. Imperfect from 1639 to 1666. Milton. Several leaves cut out of this Register, in difi'erent parts of it. Bradwell. Imperfect from 1639 to 1666. Frampton Cotterell, Gloucestershire. No Entries whatever made from 1639 to 1653. Dursley. The first Register beginning in 1556 has been de- stroyed, the earliest entry now is in 1640. Torpor ley y Cheshire. In this Register is a break from 1643 to 1648, upon which is the following remark: — STATE OF PRESERVATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. 41 " This Intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating Memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts^' Bitteswelly Leicestershire. Begins in 1558, but there is a chasm in Baptisms from 1642 to 1651, there being but nine during that time ; and they are not entered at all from 1655 to 1659. There is the following memorandum in the Register : — " 1660. These following are recorded by Geo. Castell soe soon as this Booke came into his Hands — the omission of foregoing years was occasioned partly by the neglect of his predecessor, and partly by an ordinance of Parliament for a towne Register not observed by this Parish.'' Wimpole, Cambridgeshire. The leaves containing the Entries from 1604 to the end of 1616 were torn out by the parliamentary soldiers during the Civil Wars. — Population Returns. Paul, Cornwall. Paul Church was burnt by the Spaniards in 1595, and the Registers prior to that event destroyed. — Population Returns. St. Ewe :— '' The Parishoners refusing to allow os. per annum for keep- ing a Register, there was none kept for the years 1675-6-7, only these two were put down by me, Joseph May, Clerk,'' (Then follow two Baptisms.) Upper Slaughter. The third page of the Register begins thus: — " here we want fower yeares in Qweene Mary." Tunstall, Kent. In this parish there were many of the name of Pottman: the Clergyman seems to have been tired of recording them, and thus resolves — '^ 1557. Mary Pottman, nat. and bapt., 15 Apr. Mary Pottman, n. and b., 29 Jun. Mary Pottman, sep., 22 Aug. 1567. From henceforw*^ I omitt the Pottmans," The Bibliotheca Topographica Brittanica mentions the clerk of Plungar, in Leicestershire, to have been a grocer, and that he had no idea of the use of a Parish Register, beyond that of its affording waste paper for wrapping up his grocery commodities; and Mr. Cole, in his MSS., mentions a book intituled, " Registrum Causa- rum Consistorii Eliensis de Tempore Domini Thome de Arundele 42 STATE OF PRESERVATION Episcopi Eliensis, a large quarto, written on vellum, containing 162 double pages, which was purchased as waste paper at a grocer's shop at Cambridge, together with forty or fifty old books belong- ing to the Registry of Ely. Thoresby, in his History of Leicestershire , says, " at one place I was told by the clerk, when I observed that the Register must be deficient, that Farmer kept the Register lately, and he to save the tax, put no name down for two years T And with reference to the Register of Scraptoft, the same author says, " 1 saw the best preserved, and, I believe, the oldest Register in the county. It has not been a plaything for young pointers — it has not occupied a bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cup- board — it has not been scribbled on within and without ; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the honour of a succession of worthy clergymen/' The Gentleman's Magazine for 1811, upon this subject remarks, that " the clergyman (in many country places) has entered the names at his leisure, whenever he had nothing better to do, and perhaps has never entered them at all ; misnomers, which for the individual may have had the most serious consequences, have occurred in every page -, and the Registers have often been lent about the parish to any friends of the incumbent or the church- wardens, who, from curiosity or worse motives, have been induced to borrow them." The narrative of the restoration of the Huntingdon peerage, mentions the circumstance of the early Registers of the parish of Christ Church, in Hampshire, having been destroyed by the late curate's wife, who had made kettle-holders of them, and would, per- haps, have consumed the whole parish archives in this homely way, but that the parish clerk, by a timely interference, had rescued the remainder. Other mutilations of Parish Registers are also men- tioned in this narrative. A clergyman, in a remote county, being directed to transmit extracts of certain ancient entries in the Register of his parish, actually cut out, and sent by the post, several parts of the parch- ment leaves containing the entries required, professing himself incompetent to transcribe them. The slips, however, were returned » with an admonitory letter, and a strong injunction to replace them. In an Essex parish, the clerk, not having ink and paper, to make an extract for an applicant, observed, " Oh, you may as well OF PARISH REGISTERS. 43 have the leaf as it is,*' and coolly taking out a pocket knife, gave the applicant the entire two pages of the Register. Bigland, in his observations on Parish Registers, mentions his having occasion to consult a Register, and was directed to the cottage of a poor labouring man, as clerk of the parish ; he not being at home, Mr. B. informed the children of his desire, upon which they pulled out the drawer of an old table, where, among much rubbish, of rusty iron, &c., he found the Register. In another parish the clerk was a tailor, and had cut out more than sixteen leaves of the old Register, in order to supply himself with measures. Dr. Burnaby, upon one occasion asking to see the Register of a parish, was told that they had but the one produced ; that they had had another some time ago, but that it was very old and quite out of date, of no manner of use, for none of the neighbours could read it ; and that it had therefore been tossed about in the church, till either some workmen or children had carried it away, or torn it in pieces. In Northamptonshire, a clergyman discovered at the house of one of his parishioners an old parchment Register, sewed together as a covering for the tester of a bedstead ; and in another parish, the Register being in the custody of a parish clerk, his daughters, who were lace makers, were allowed to cut it up for a supply of parchment to be used in their manufacture. The Population Abstract of 1801, contains the names of some hundreds of parishes whose Regis'ters are deficient, and also states the particular periods at which the defects occur, and whether in the entries of baptisms, marriages, or burials ; although the returns from which the Abstract was compiled, only comprised the period from 1700 and 1800, there are many Registers defective, for spaces of fifty, sixty, and even upwards of eighty years ! ! By the returns made respecting the state of several parish churches in 1610, it appears that some were wholly without Register books. That relating to Birtley, in Northumberland, notices its wants thus : — " Offic Dni con* Gardianos. They want a surpless .... and a Register Book in parchment.^^ 17 Dec. 1610, Cur. Consist. No. 4, p. 136. • The evidence taken before the Select Committee in 1833, is well 44 STATE OF PRESERVATION worth perusing. Mr. Wm. Durrant Cooper, on that occasion, gave some instances of neglected registration, thus : a parish clerk said it was usual for himj and not the clergyman, to take an account of Burials, and he entered them in a little sixpenny memorandum book, thus : "A. B. 1*." If the fee was paid at the time, no name would be put into his book, he only booked what was due to him and the clergyman entered in the Register at the end of the year from his Memorandum Book. The author's evidence before that Committee was authenticated by the official Returns, and is therefore noticed here. Mr. J. Southerden Burn : — " I have been allowed by Mr. Rickman to peruse the papers as to Registers accompanying the Population Returns which have not yet been printed, and I see there are many particulars which show the negligence of the parties in keeping the Regis- ters. At East Markham, Notts., a late parish clerk made whole pages legible with fresh ink, but one date was falsified. • In the Register of christenings, from 1773 to 1774, are written on a fresh leaf, in his own hand-writing entirely. At Clee St. Margaret, Shropshire, the clergyman says that the Registers, prior to 1813, were all very much defaced and mutilated, having, in some places, whole pages, and in others single entries cut out. In another parish, in the same county, the clergyman says there are no deficiencies in the Register, with the exception of an erasure in 1682, and the false entry of a marriage. At Wix, in Essex, the clergyman says it is under- stood there are some earlier Registers, but they are in the hands of a solicitor, with reference to some legal proceedings. At Hanny, in Berkshire, the Marriage Register, from 1754 to 1760, was lost, but some years ago was found in a grocer's shop. At Castle Bytham, in Lincolnshire, a curate, in 1758, states that no Registers had been kept for the last seven years, but he inserted a few of the omissions, from the pocket book of his predecessor and the parish clerk. At Washenburgh there were no burials for ten years, the rector being frequently non compos. At Renhold, Beds, several leaves are deficient, parts of them having been cut out, apparently by children, who have scribbled and drawn figures on these Documents." OP PARISH REGISTERS. 45 " One Phillips, clerk to Lambeth Parish, ran away with the Register Book, whereby the parish became great sufferers, and in such a case no person that is fifty years old and born in the parish can have a transcript of the Register to prove themselves heir to an estate ; and in Battersea, the next adja- cent parish, their late clerk had often been found tardy, and detected in registering boys for girls, and girls for boys, and not one half of the Register Book, in his time, was correct and authentic as it ought to be." — The Exaction and Imposi- tion of Parish Fees Discovered. By Francis Sadler, 1738. Mr. Vardon, an inhabitant of Lambeth, had a package sent him from a shop at which he dealt, wrapped up in a leaf of a Register, upon perusing it, he found it actually contained the entry of his own baptism, about the year 1780.i " At Wainfleet, All Saints, in Line, the first Register has been mutilated apparently to write bills in, as a butcher^s bill remains on part of the last leaf." — Population Returns, In the Register of Feltham, Middlesex, is the following entry of marriage, which was extracted by the author in order to prove the title of a person to some property, of which he had the distribu- tion : — of parish and of parish were married in this by this first day of December, in the year 1770, by me r X her This Marriage was solemnized between us -^ Elizabeth V West L Mark. in the presence of Samuel Mercer Sarah X Cromwell. Notwithstanding the ridiculous appearance of this entry of marriage, and that both the witnesses were dead, the parties were particularly fortunate ; for a great many of the antecedent entries of marriages were not even so explicit as the specimen just given, inasmuch, as although the contracting parties certainly made their ^ Upon investigation it turned out to be a copy or duplicate of the Eegister. 46 STATE OF PRESERVATION marksj yet the clergyman had not written either of their names against those marks, so that, as it would be an utter impossibility to throw any light on the subject by the marks, it would be equally impossible by any thing on the face of the entry to prove whose marriage was solemnized. In the same book is the following entry : '' No Register was kept from this time,'' (27th November, 1753) "till June 30th, 1771,'' a period of eighteen years ! ! The Register Book of the Chapel of Somerset House, containing, among other entries, some of the Bouverie family, was some years since, in an Auction Catalogue of Sale by Mr. Christie ;' and some others are known to be in private hands. Not many years since some volumes of the Clapham Register (being those of early date), in consequence of their bad condition, were heedlessly thrown among other books supposed to be of no value, and sold as waste paper. After much fruitless search the rector, Mr. , traced them, by accident, to a chandler's shop, and fortunately recovered them with the loss of only a few leaves. They were afterwards bound to prevent the recurrence of the mis- fortune. — Lyson's Environs. By the return made in 1801 (in compliance with the Population Act), for the Parish of Ragdale, in Leicestershire, it appears that the Register of that Parish, prior to 1784, was in the possession of Earl Ferrers, and that " his Lordship desired the Rev. Wm. Casson, the curate, to say, that it was mislaid." A part of the Register of Nuthurst is in the British Museum. — Aysc. Catal. p. 70, No. 1677. Also the Register of Stevington, Berks, 1553 to 1559. HarL MSS. No. 2395. Shortly after Mr. Bagshaw came to the living of Buckminster, he desired Mr. Thorpe, the parish clerk, to take the Parish Register to a neighbouring nobleman. His lordship afterwards refused to give it up, although repeated applications were made to him, and he even refused to allow an Extract of baptism to be taken from it, which caused serious injury to the party requiring it. It was afterwards, however, returned, but with many interpo- lations of irrelevant matter. Two Registers of St. Peter's in the East, Oxford, were, for some years, at the Registrar's Office, in Chancery. They had been exhibited before Mr. Trevor, in a cause of Charles Calvert and others, ^ Now in the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. OF PARISH REGISTERS. 47 plaintifiPs, and Dame Ann Saunders and others, defendants. The author had an interview with Lord Chancellor Brougham on the sub- ject, when he directed them to be given to the author who caused them to be restored to the parish. The Register of North Elmham, from 1538, to 1631, was taken from the Parish Chest some years ago. It was purchased by Mr. Robert Fitch, the Honorary Secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, and restored to the rector of the parish on the 5th August, I86I.1 Lonshorough, Yorkshire. The early Register is in private hands. It has the entry of the first marriage of the Earl of Strafford.^ The Register of St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, London, was supposed to have been lost in the great fire of London; but it was found about 1820, by the clerk of St. Lawrence, Jewry, in an old chest in St. Lawrence Church; it was found to commence in 1559, and to continue till 1666, the time of the fire, when St. Mary's and St. Lawrence's were both burnt down. Guildhall Chapel (which stood close at hand,) escaped, and the several ceremonies of baptism, &c., of the parishioners of St. Lawrence and St. Mary Magdalen, were performed there until 1678, when St. Lawrence Church being rebuilt, the parish of St. Mary Magdalen was united to it. The Registers of St. Lawrence, Jewry, commence in 1538, and in the church cofi'er is contained, not only a very neat transcript on parchment, as directed by the canon of Queen Elizabeth, but also the original paper-book, from which it was copied. During the progress of the fire of London, the church-plate and books were removed from place to place, as the flames approached ; a memorandum in the parish-books of St. Benedict, Gracechurch Street, is to the following efi^ect : — " The church-plate and books were removed from place to place, as each were rendered dangerous by the approach of the dreadful element, and cost \0s. Sd.'' After the fire had destroyed so many churches, temporary places of worship were erected for the use of the parishioners, and gene- rally in or near the respective churchyards. These buildings were called Tabernacles. ^ Notes and Queries, 1861, p. 412. 2 Comrauniealtd by the late Rev. Joseph Hunter. 48 STATE OF PRESERVATION Kibworthj Leicestershire, ''Anno Domini 1641. Know all men that the reason why little or nothing is registered from this year 1641 until the year ]649, was the civil wars between King Charles and his Parliament, which put all into a confusion till then; and neither Minister nor people could quietly stay at home for one party or the other." Barkston, Leicestershire. " 1689, Ellen, the Daughter of Bryan and Ellen Dun, was baptized April 23.'' " Lord pardon me if I am guilty of any Error in registering Ellen Dun's name." This singular appeal was written by Mr. Huddlestone, the vicar, who perhaps had neglected to make the entry for a long time after the baptism, and not until his memory failed him as to the precise time; he had registered Ellen Dun in the year 1689, and finding it wrong, had copied it out, and put it in 1690. Burstead Magna, Essex. " Timothy Ockeley having been vicar of this Parish, Much Bursted, by the space of x. yeres neglected to sett down the names of those who were christened, marryed, and buryed, and that (is the reason) why this booke is imperfect. — Walter Farr." Some neglect must also have occurred in the Register of Hawsted, Suffolk, where is inserted the baptism of a daughter of Sir Thomas Cullum, Bart, in February, 1658, when he was not made a baronet till June, 1660. Hunton, Kent (1585). About 1663 :— " y cause of y^ incompleatnes of this Book for some yeares past was y® passinge of it through soe many hands both of ministers and others and y* seueral changes of y® times and not y® willfuU neglect of him who now at last had it in his Custody, hee often earnestly desireinge y^ Parishiones to bring in y* names of such persons who ought to have bin Registered either for marrige Babtizings or Burials and they not soe doing y® default must bee imputed unto them and not to him. But for any such as came and informed him concerning y^ same had them set downe without delay or deny all — such as I remembered I registered of my own accord." Rowcliff, Cumberland. On the first page of a Register, com- mencing at Easter, 1679, is the following: — OF PARISH REGISTERS. 49 " There was not one (Register) here before for many years, being taken away with other utensils of the Church by Scott's Armyes, and last of all by the Lord Duke Hamilton's in the year 1648." Kew, Middlesex. A few years ago these Registers, containing the Baptism and Marriage of the late Duke of Kent, the father of her present Majesty, and other Royal Births, Deaths, and Mar- riages were stolen, and have never yet been recovered. Melton Mowbray J Leicestershire, " 1670, Here is a Bill of Burton Lazars of the people which was buried, and which was and maried above 10 years old, for because the Clark was dead, and therefore they was not set down according as they was But they are all set down sure on nough one among another here in this place.'' Rotherby, This Register has notice of the troublesome times of Charles the First. Mr. Neeham writes in it : — " 1643 Bellum ! 1644 Bellum ! 1645 Bellum ! Interruption, Persecution ! Sequestration by John Mussen Yeoman and John Yates Taylor!" 1649, 1650, 1651, 1653, 1653, 1654 Sequestration ! Thomas Silverwood intruder." LoTighborough. This Register notices the change of religion in the times of Henry the Eighth, Mary, and Elizabeth. " Heare is to be noted and remembered that from the 10 day of April in anno 1554 there was no Register keepte, by reason of the alteration of Religion and often chaunginge of Priests in those times and yeares, until the first yeare of the raigne of our Soveraigne Ladie the Queen's Majesty Elizabeth by the Grace of God, Queen of England, Fraunce, and Ireland Defender of the Faith, and until the yeare of God 1558." Great Hampden. The Rector of this parish kept no Register from 1726 to 1750. At Stoke Newington are no marriages entered from 20th July, 1617, to 1st January, 1618-9, between which period Mr. Lloyd has written, " A Long Vacation,^' Simondsbury, Dorsetshire. This Register has been most negli- gently kept, except in Mr. Newburgh's time ; the following chasms, for instance, occur : — * 4 50 STATE OF PRESERVATION Baptisms, 1642 to 1645, cut out. „ 1646 to 1652, but five registered. „ 1676 to 1684, scarce any registered. Marriages, 1646 to 1652, none registered. St Peter^Sj Dorchester. '' 1645, Mr. Stephen Thorington, buried Oct. 13, at which time the plague of pestilence was here ; and in twelve months there died 52 persons, whose names are not inserted, the old Clerk, being dead, who had the notes.^'^ Godmanston, Dorsetshire, Some of the first leaves of the early Register have been lost, and others so much injured by damp, or by some corrosive matter, that they crumble to pieces upon the slightest touch. Buckhorn Weston. The Register of this parish is mentioned by Mr. Hutchins, in his History of Dorsetshire, to have been torn to pieces, and lost some years since. Long Critchell. In the Register of this parish, is a chasm of forty years in the record of marriages. Abbotsbury. This Register begins in 1567, the first page of baptisms is lost ; the second and third Register Books are much injured and defaced, probably by fire, the vicarage-house having been twice totally bmrnt. Brampton, Suffolk. The early Registers were lost in 1797, when the church was repaired. Hindringham, Norfolk. At the end of the Register (1749) is " Register of Bapt. and Burials neglected by Mr. Hemington, curate to the parish of Hindringham from the year 1749, to this day December 9th, 1782," and a similar entry as to marriages, from 1747 to 1782.- — Population Returns. St. Peters in the East, Oxford. " Si qui obierint anno 1581 no referri vide' in veteri Registro 1 The practice of the clerk keeping notes, and the clergyman making up his Register Book therefrom once a year, is still in use, notwithstanding the third section of the last Act : in the parish of St. Clement Danes, London, the entries were often made in the waste book in pencil. An affidavit being required in 1829, of the entry of a burial in this Register, it was found to be in pencil ; and after waiting two months to see it properly entered in ink, the deponent was obliged to swear to the copy from the penciled entry. And in another parish, the clerk demands a fee for causing his memoranda to be entered in the Register Book. See at the end oi this chapter the Decision of the Judges, on this very reprehensible practice. or PARISH REGISTERS. 51 fuit autem is p'mus Magistri Wilkes Vicarii annus in quo neque referu'tur in tabulas aut baptizati aut coniugati aut sepulti in singulis suis locis apparet." The Registers of Chatham^ in Kent, are very well preserved ; but there is a memorandum about 1653, that a great many persons had neglected to register their children's births, (and which plainly appears by the Register) and a threat of information at the Quarter Sessions against such as should do so in future. St. MargareVs, Rochester. These Registers have formerly been very negligently kept, a great confusion existing by the mixing of the several classes of entries in one book ; a great many entries were omitted by a former rector keeping at the church a waste- book, ^ in which he made the entries at the time of the perform- ance of the ceremonies, and "then entered (or intended to enter) them in the regular books at a future time. This waste-book had been lying about in the vestry, and although it afforded some information, a correct Register did not exist. Some of the bap- tisms in this parish are thus entered : — " June 14, of Thomas and Elizabeth ." Stalbridgey Dorset. "N. B. — The following names were transcribed by me, Richard Wright, Rector of Stalbridge, out of a loose paper, written (as I suppose) by Philip Pitman, Clerk to Mr. Samuel Rich, and delivered to me by William Drew, the Sexton, June 10, 1702." But it would occupy too great a space in this volume to notice the numerous instances in which Parish Registers are defective, ^ either as to their commencement, at certain political periods, during 1 A waste book was also in use in Chatham parish, called a " Minute Book," as appears by the letters of the minister in 1766, where he observes that " the entries are chiefly brought from the Minute Book, carefully kept in the vestry-room, and it cannot be supposed that there should be any material variation in the case." The mischievous tendency, however, of this practice will be noticed hereafter. 2 In 1791, a married lady was buried at Ightham, in Kent, and in 1804 her daughter was also interred there. A very large property depended upon the proof of their burial, and the Register was referred to, but no entry of either the mother or daughter's interment could be found ; and the parties were compelled to find the medical man who attended the family, and procure his affidavit of the fact of their deaths. « In the case of Jeason, and Wither v. Brewer, a cause in Chancery in 1764, a gentle- 52 STATE OF PRESERTATTON some particular incumbency, from neglect, fire at the church or rectory, ^ or casualty of one sort or the other. Repeated notices of the loss of Registers, in consequence of fire at the clergyman's residence, are to be met with. It has been frequently asserted by writers on this subject, that the Kegi'ters, during the time of Oliver Cromwell, were very badly kept; but, on the contrary, that they were unusually well kept, where a lay Registrar was appointed according to the Act of Par- liament, appears to be the fact ; if there are deficiencies of whole books in some parishes previously to and about 1653 and 1660, it should be rather attributed to the orders, first directing the clergy to hand over the Register Books to the lay Registrar, and then that, at the Restoration, by which the clergy resumed the duty of making the entries, and again took possession of the books, or so many of them as they could procure, and had not been lost or destroyed during those troublesome times. In the parish of Lang- ton, in Dorsetshire, there is a memorandum in the Register, by which it appears that, notwithstanding the order of Cromwell was complied with, the Incumbent continued to make the entries as theretofore, so that there was a double Register. Charles Dudley, the titulary Duke of Northumberland, was found guilty, in 1658, of forging an Entry of Marriage in the Register Book of East Greenwich, in Kent, and was fined 200 marks. The Dictum of Chief Justice Glyn, on that occasion, as recorded in Siderfin's Reports, part 2, p. 71, is, in the language of that day, as follows : — '^ Glyn, Chief Justice. Un Register Boke pur Tentry del Marriage, Births, &c., est un evidence per nostre Ley et la falsifying de ceo soit il per conspiracy ou nemy ne doit estre unpunished. '^ The earlier Register at Lassington, in Gloucester, commences in 1661, it has this entry : — man had to prove the pedigree of a family of some importance, and though he was not obliged to go farther back than 1590 for a common ancestor, yet, in consequence of erasures in some Eegisters, and bad writing in others, the difficulties were only sur- mounted by a great deal of perseverance^ and a very heavy expense. ^ About the year 1830, Lewisham Church was destroyed by fire, and all the Eegis- ters from the year 1550 were consumed. In 1857, the vestry of the Church of Pen- wortham, in Lancashire, was found in ashes, and the Registers, commencing in 1586, were consumed. And see the Parish Register Returns in 1833.— Oentleman's Maga- zine, 1830, p. 194. OV PARISH REGISTERS. 53 " The old Register Bookes belonging to the Parish of Las- sington were embezzled and lost in the late times of con- fusion, criminell divisions, and unhappy warrs/' — Population Returns, 1831. The earliest Register Book of Hanwell, in Oxon, was taken away by soldiers in 1642, and restored in 1649. — Population Returns. Jasper Arnold, Parish Clerk of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and Wm. Goddard, were indicted 5th December, 1718, for a trespass in tear- ing two leaves out of the Register Book for marriages belonging to the Church of St. Andrew's. Goddard having been married there in June, 1711, to Rachael Small, and afterwards marrying another during his wife's life, the Register was searched and the entry of the first marriage found ; but a fortnight after, it was found that two leaves had been torn out for the periods between the 21st February and the 27th March, and between the 30th May and the 1st July. It appeared that for a note-of-hand for £5. the clerk had torn the leaves out, and Goddard had burnt them. They were fined ten marks apiece, and to stand in the pillory at S't. Andrew's. {Collection of Trials, vol. iv. p. 308.) On the 21st December they both stood in the pillory, opposite St. Andrew's Church. On the 17th March, 1820, Mr. Wm. Radcliffe was tried at the York Assizes, for having in 1801 forged in the Parish Register of Ravensfield, an entry purporting to be the marriage of Edw. Rad- clyffe and Rosamunde Swyfte, 24th February, 1640, and for having set forth such entry in a pedigree presented to the Herald's Col- lege, to show his descent from the ancient family of Radclyfi^e, formerly Earls of Derwentwater, with a view to impose on the College, as well as upon the Governors of Greenwich Hospital, in whom the forfeited estates of that noble family were vested — Mr. Justice Parke, in summing up, observed, that if the forgery had been committed in a Parish Register of a date subsequent to the Marriage Act of 1753, it would have been a capital offence, but as it was, it was only a misdemeanour at common law. The prisoner was fined £50. and sentenced to three months' imprison- ment in York Castle. — Gentleman^s Magazine. The Morning Herald of 27th May, 1833, has the following advertisement : — " False Entry of Baptism. The churchwardens of St. Anne, Westminster, hereby give notice, that under date of the 30th April, 1785, a felonious entry of Baptism as follows: — 54 STATE OF PRESERVATION * Joseph KingstoUy of John and Ann,* has, at a period wliicli cannot be discovered, been made in the Register Book of the parish/^ In Hale v. Hale, in Chancery (November, 1829), the Solicitor- General admitted that the Registers of Alderney had undergone alteration by erasure and cutting. In the same year it was also discovered that the Registers of St. Peter's, Cornhill, and of Stoke Fleming, in Devonshire, had been altered to assist a claimant to the Earldom of Peterborough. The following extracts from the Registers of Bishop Wearmouth, Folke, and Monk Wearmouth, will show that, however neglectful or indiflPerent some clergymen have been, others have entertained very proper ideas on the subject of Parish Registers, and not con- fining their views to their immediate use, or considering their own personal convenience, have evinced a desire to benefit posterity by recording events, upon which the interest and happiness of families might one day depend. Langton, Dorsetshire. " Memorandum. Although by an Act of Parliament, bear- ing date the 29th day of August, in the year 1653, a Register is to be chosen in every parish, to set down, in a peculiar booke, all marriages, births of children and burials, of all sorts of people, which shall happen after the 29th day of September, in the year 1653 ; yet for the more securitie and common benefit of the inhabitants of this parish, we thought it fit to continue likewise the registering of the above said pas- sages in this book, according to former order, without dero- gation from, or prejudice to, the above-named Act ; and to set down what persons were married, and what people were buried in this congregation, to prevent inconveniences and trouble." Bishop Wearmouth, " The second Register, beginning 1653, has been kept with uncommon exactness by Thos. Broughton, A.M., Curate, who has written on the first page a commination against those who should alter the entries." " Si quis hunc librum mutilare vel in ulla parte vel nomen aliquod delere, aut in falsum immutare audeat, pro sacrilego habeatur." Folke, Durham. This Register begins in 1538, and has been OF PARISH REGISTERS. 55 carefully kept without any chasm to the present time. Upon the cover is thus — " Folke Register new written in the year 1628, in which year the church was new built, the churchwardens being " William Chaffey, '' Philip Taylor.'' Monk Wearmouth. In 1790, the Parish Registers were destroyed by fire at the residence of the minister, except those of marriages from the 16th October, 1785, and of christenings from the 2nd September, 1779, and of burials from the 3rd January, 1768. The Vestry, under the sanction of the arch-deacon, sat for several successive days, published by advertisement, to receive and enter on record such authenticated copies of Registers as might be in existence, and the whole thus collected were sworn to before the magistrates at Sunderland, the 18th February, 1791. The early Register of Barming, in Kent, is a transcript made in pursuance of Elizabeth's Injunction. It is unlike most others, being written upon a Roll of parchment, several yards in length ; ^ it has a memorandum indorsed upon it by the Rev. Mark Noble, that it had been out of the possession of the rector for forty years, when Mr. Noble discovered it at the Homestall, in a drawer — that Mrs. Dormer said it was something she could not read, and that he claimed it and brought it away. The Rev. S. Denne, rescued the Registers of two parishes in Leicestershire, one from the shop of a bookseller, and the other from the corner cupboard of a working blacksmith, where it had lain perishing and unheard of more than thirty years. ^ A similar Eoll was found in the parish chest of Ledgers Ashby, but it appears to have been an original document from 1538, whereas that of Barming is a transcript. At Brenchly^ Kent^ is a Roll^ commencing l7th October, 1539, but has many inter- ruptions. It is called " The Long Register." At Nurstedi in the same county, is a Scroll^ containing entries from 1561 to 1735. At Appleby^ St. Michael^ otherwise Bongate, in Westmoreland, are two parchment Bolls, the first from 1582 to 1677, the second from 1691 to 1709. The first is thus intituled — "The Register Booke of all Christenings, Weddings, and Burials within of St. Mychales, in Appleby, from the . . . day of December, 1582." At Ambleside, in the same county, are three parchment Bolls, the first commencing in 1643, and the last ending in 1753-4 ; and at Orlingbury, in Northamptonshire, is a Boll of Registers, from 1564 to 1646 j and At Thormanby, Yorkshire, arc^two Bolls, from 1658 to 1783 inclu§ 56 STATE OF PRESERVATION St. Peter's, Isle of Thanet. In the first leaf of one of the Regis- ters is the following memorandum : — ''In examining the Church Chest, 1759, I found the frag- ment of a Register from 1540 to 1582, but in so bad a con- dition that it seemed equally impossible and useless to copy it. Nevertheless, to satisfy the curiosity of those who may be desirous of knowing what families are first on record in the Parish, such sire-names, as could be picked out of those shat- tered remains, are here inserted in an alphebetical list. C. WiLLEs, 1759/' Allhallows Staining, " Mem. — That since Salter kept this Register, some faults he made which I have mended as well as I could. I shall now (God willing) see to it myself. W. Holland, Minister." St, Mary, Aldermanbury , '' In the year 1625, Mr. Downing, the Curate of this Parish, his wife, three of his children, and the Parish Clerk, were victims to the plague, and the consequence was that a hundred names were entered in the Register from recollection. Kirk Whelpington, Northumberland. "29th June, 1824. — Apud Horsley, in Redesdale, Dominus Vicarius ibid, inopiam reg'ri sui msesto fatitur animo." Cotton. " On visiting the village school of Colton it was discovered that the ' Psalters ' of the children were covered with the leaves of the Parish Register; some of these were recovered and replaced in the church chest ; but many were totally oblite- rated and put away. This discovery led to further investigation, which brought to light a practice of the Parish Clerk and Schoolmaster of the day, who to certain favoured ' goodies ' of the village, gave the parchment leaves for hutkins for their knitting pins.'' ^ East Norton, Leicestershire. The oldest Register of this parish was taken away some years since, by one of the former Vicars, and no one now can tell where it is to be found. The present one is not of an earlier date than about 1780. ^ Notes and Queries, 1857, p. 136. OP PARISH REGISTERS. 57 Birchington, Kent. At the end of the marriages and burials in 1 553, are the following notices of a Black Book ^ : — " Here endeth the first boke of the Register, of Birchengtoun. The second boke, called the Black Boke, was spoiled by an ignorant woman. " Secundis inde liber p. una fatnod muliere erat destruct^'' Stoke Rochford. " Some old leaves of a Register, stitched together, begin 1663, the oldest began 1560, but is not forthcoming. They have been miserably kept." — Tumor* s Grantham. Lowestoff. " During the Commonwealth, and to the Restoration of Charles the 2d, no Entries were made in the Parish Register. The Rev, Jacob Rous, then Vicar, says, that on the 14th of March, 1643, himself, with many others, were carried prisoners, by Colonel Cromwell, to Cambridge; so that for some time following there was neither Minister nor Clerk in this Town, but the inhabitants were obliged to procure one another to baptize their children, by which means, says he, there was no Register kept, only a few were by myself baptized in those in- tervals when I enjoyed my freedom. Parish Register,^ 7th June, 1616. Jacob Rous.'^ St. Bridget's, Chester. "Burials.— 1619, Jane Da: to S' Geo. Smith last Aug.'' Staplehurst. The earliest Register of this parish is an original document, commencing the 29th of September, 1538, in excellent preservation, and containing many curious entries. The cover to it is of vellum, and appears to have been a portion of a very ancient manuscript, very neatly written. The parish has also a transcript of a part of the original Register, commencing with the year 1558, but it is by no means correct, as a great many entries are omitted. Houghton-le- Spring. "1653. Let noe man whatsoever presume to scribble, blott 1 Queri/. — If this may not have contained a List of the Protestants and Catholics, as directed by Cardinal Pole in 1555 ; and destroyed in the reign of Elizabeth, by some person who was registered in it, as having been reconciled and absolved pursuant to the Cardinal's Injunction. 2 In October, 1830, on searching the box of parish papers, there was found an early Register, from 1561 to 1649. — P^ulation Meturns. 58 STATE OP PRESERVATION out or tear out any part of the leaves of this Reigister Booke, &c., as they will be answerable for such their great pre- sumpcon and folly unto the gent and fower and twenty of the said parish/^ Kingston-on-Thames, The earliest Register (1541 to 1556) was in a Catalogue of Sale by Puttick and Simpson. From the cir- cumstances stated in the Surrey Comet of November, 1861, it appears to have been taken away with the books and papers of the Rev. S. W. Gandy, the Vicar of Kingston, in 1851. The Register is now restored to its proper custody.^ Peterborough, '' 1572, October. Here left (Gilbert) Bull to kepe the Book, and then began a loss of names. " 1604. — Here it seemeth that the Byll ^ of the names of suche as were baptized, marryed, or buryed in the month of Aprill, 1604, was utterly lost, and never could be' found to be sette down afterwards in the Church Register. It a. Testor Edward Wager. Vicar Petriburg." " The Registers of South Otterington containing several entries of the great families of Talbot, Herbert, and Falconer, were formerly kept in the Cottage of the Parish Clerk, who used all those preceding the eighteenth century for waste paper, and devoted not a few to the utilitarian employment of singeing a goose.^^ — Postulates and Data, p. 197. Appledorey Kent, *^ The early Registers Have been lost, having been kept at a public house to be shown, as they contained some curious entries as to tythes, &c." ^ye, Northamptonshire. '^ This Register being lost above fourty years, was found and bought by Thomas Laxton, inhabitant of this Parish, and given by him, at the request of the Reverend Mr. Jos. Sparke, to the Parish, only desiring the liberty of consulting it, when- ever he, the restorer, thinks fit, July 22, 1711. J. Sparke.^^ ^ Times, lltli November, 1861. 2 Waste Book. OF PARISH REGISTERS. 59 Nor borough. The entries in this Eegister from 1665 to 1670, are imperfect, and after December 18, 1670, is the following remark : — " The reason of this defect in the Register was, because one Mr. John Cleypoole, a factious gentleman, then living in the Parish of Northborough, caused the Register to be taken away from mee, Jo: Stoughton, then Rector; for which I was by the Ecclesiastical Court, then holdenat St. Martin's, adjudged for satisfaction the summe of two pounds ten shillings. The money was paid at the charge of the Parish, by Robert Cooke, then Churchwarden. " Sic testatur Johannes Stoughton — Rector Ibidem.'^ St. Mary's, Reading. The years 1641 and 1642 are defective, and there is this note in the Register : — " In time of Warre, people made use of whom they could get, burialls without minister, dark, or bell/' St. Giles, Reading. " 1646. Confused times of war occasioned some confusions in the Register.'' St. Bridget's, Chester. At the end of 1643, is the following : — " Here the Register is defective till the yeare 1653 — Thomas Walker, register, the tymes were such." Trinity, Chester. " Yere wanting from this place, for then the Clarke was put out of Towne for delinquinsy, so no more is entered till 12 March, 1645 ; for all this tyme the Citty was in strait Siege." St. Olave's, Chester, The Register begins in 1617. The oldest book was lost in a suit between Hugh Harvey and the Parishioners in the year 1666. The Register, now the oldest^, distinguishes the 1 The materials for Bridge's History of Northamptonshire, were collected in 1720, when the dates of the earliest Registers of each Parish were noted j Mr. Baker, of Northampton, when compiling a new History of that County, mentioned to the author that it was surprising, upon comparison of Mr. Bridge's notes with the dates of the existing Registers, how large a number were not to be found, whereby in some Parishes, the Records for upwards of a century were lost. — In the Lansdown M^S.^ (No. 729), is a volume containing very copious extracts from some of the missing Registers. Baker's Northamptonshire, has since been published, and at p. 13, he says " I have experienced the mortification oi» meeting with many other instances of these valuable 60 STATE OF PRESERVATION several ceremonies of baptism, &c. by the abbreviations of " bap. sep. and nup.^' In the Register of the Parish of Cerne Abbas, is inserted a memorandum of the appointment of a Lay Register, under which, at a subsequent period, has been written the following : — " The above mentioned Parliament had noe colour of a Par- liament, but a Convention by Oliver Cromwel when General, without the choyce of the people, Anno D^m 1653; and soe their act for a Register in every Parishe was noe act ; and since made voyd by the soe called Parliament. GUL : TULLEDGE." In that also of Helton^ in Dorsetshire, Mr. Antram has entered a memorandum in 1660. That in the time of the Civil Wars, he was, by the power of the sword, violently kept out of his living from 1646 till Michaelmas 1660, when he was by Law restored; and that in that compass of time the Register had been kept very imperfectly. There is also in the same Register this memorandum by Wm. Snoke, one of the intruders, which is remarkable on account of its bad writing and orthography : " 1649. At my first coming to this place, about this time, ther war som married, that livid in the parish, others buried, and especially more that had their children baptized, partly in contempt, and by reason of ignorance and wilfulness against me refusing to be examined, of the poorer sort, and whereof som ar living, others ar dead, the which if they should live, they would be made uncapable of any earthly inheritance. This I note for the satisfaction of any that do. And so I left it in the dark's liberty. William Snoke.'^ A great number of the early Registers are in Latin ; some have the miscellaneous memoranda written in French, others in Greek, short-hand, &c. &c. The practice of making the entries in Latin does not appear to have been generally disused Until about the middle or latter end of the seventeenth century. The establishment of protestantism had great weight in effecting the change, as the Bible was then directed to be read in the English tongue, and the catholic priests gradually gave way to the clergy of the reformed family records being irretrievably lost bj^ modern apathy and neglect, after safely weathering the political and religious storms of the seventeenth century." OF PARISH REGISTERS. 61 religion, and these latter individuals, had little reason to adopt the language so much in repute in the Catholic Church. The Register of All Saints, Derby, has the following memorandum, notwith- standing which, entries were made in that Register for many years afterwards in Latin : — " May 16, 1610. I see no reason why a Register for English people should be written in Latin. Richard Kilbie, Minister of All-hallows, in Darbie.^' In the Register of Clyst St. George, Devon, is this entry : — "9°Georgii2^ 1735,6, The Law now forbids y® keeping any Records in Latin, &c ^.'' The most curious Register, if any is at present extant ^, is that ordered by Cardinal Pole, in pursuance of a Bull of the Pope of Rome, for the reconciliation of the kingdom to the catholic faith, to be kept by every parish priest, of the names and surnames of all their parishioners, who, on a certain day to be settled on, were to be reconciled and absolved. The Cardinal on the 29th of January, 1554-5, gave deputed powers to the Bishops, together with certain Rules, to them and their officials, from which Rules the following passages are extracted : — "Eodem die constituetur Dies Festus et Solemnis in quo astante in Ecclesia populi Multitudine Domini Episcopi omnes 1 Careful search has been made in the Acts of Parliament of that period, without finding any such enactment relating to Parish Registers. Previous to the reign of Edward III., public documents were written in Norman French. In 1352 it was enacted that law proceedings should be conducted in English, but entered in Latin. During the Commonwealth it was ordered that all public records should be in English. At the Restoration, Latin was again used until the 4th George II., cap. 26 (1731), when an Act passed " that &W proceedings in Courts of Justice^* should be in the English Ian > guage ; and that the lines and words should be written close and not in cowrt-Tiand. It does not however, extend to Parish Registers. 2 The author has used great exertions to discover one of these Registers, without success, though he has no doubt there are some in existence, perhaps mouldering in a parish chest. Some may, however, have been sent to the Bishop of London, and may be in the present Bishop's Registry ; for the conclusion of " The Declaration of the Bishop of London, to be published to the lay people of this diocese, concerning their reconciliation," runs thus : — " And they not so reconciled, every one of them shall have processe made agaynst him, accordyng to the canons, as the case shall requyre ; for which pur- pose, the pastours and curates of every paryshe shal be commaunded by their achedeacon to certify e me jgi writinge of every man and womarCs name that is not so reconciled. Dated 1 Feb. 1554" 62 STATE OF PRESERVATION Curati Ecclesiis suis, omnia eadem quae Clero jam exposit' fuerunt populo quoq ; insinuabmit et omnes invitabunt paterne et Cuir omni affectu, ut agnitis erroribus suis ad Ecclesiae Catholicae gremium revertantur : promittendo fore, ut omnibus preterita Crimina omnia Condonentur et remittantur modo eos ex animo illorum peniteat et illis renuncient. Prefigatur autem terminus, utpote tota paschatis Octava, infra terminum omnes Ecclesiae reconcilientur alioquin eo lapso contra ipsos et eos qui post reconcjliationem ad vomitum aversi fuerint severissime prooedetur, dicatur etiam de facultate concessa a Reveren- dissimo Domino Legato Episcopis, et aliis ut absolvere possint, ommes quicunq, ad vos reversi fuerint. ^' Idem, Domini Episcopi et Officiales nominabunt et deputa- bunt Ecclesiarum Parochialium Rectores seu alias personas idoneas, quae Laicos ab Heresi Schismate et quibuscunq, cen- suris absolvant juxta Facultatum Eormam et tenorem. Data per Episcopos formula qua in absolatione et reconciliatione uti debeant. "Eadem poterint cum clero totius Dioces' observari prout commodius visum fuerit. Domini Episcopi et Officiales prsefati, nee non omnes Curati seu alii ad id deputati, habebunt lAbrum in quo nomen et cognomen ParocManorum reconcilia- torum inscribantur et postea sciatur qui fuerint reconciliati et qui non. ^' Idem Domini Episcopi et Officiales octava Paschatis elapsa poterunt facere visitationem Civitatis primo, deinde Dioc' et se qui non fuerint reconciliati poterunt eos ad se vocare, et cog- noscere propter quas ab erroribus suis nolint recedere et si in eis obstinate perseverarint, tum contra eos procedent.^^ ^ Amongst the Articles set forth by Cardinal Pole to be inquired in his ordinary Visitations, within his Diocese of Canterbury (1557) was: — " 8. — Item, If they do keep all the names of them that be reconciled to the duty of the Church.'^ The practice of keeping the Registers in a chest with three locks and keys, has been long discontinued, as giving great useless trouble ; and it being, in many cases, impossible to be attended to. A dis- ^ Burnet's Reformation^ 8vo. 1829, vol. iii., pt. 2, p. 329. OF PARISH REGISTERS. 63 pute existed in the parish of Chatham, in the year 1766, upon this subject; the churchwardens, having presented, at the previous Michaelmas Visitation, that the parish Register was not kept, accor- ding to the seventieth canon, in a chest with three locks, &c., the clergyman of the parish wrote his objections to the practice, in which he was supported by the opinion of Dr. Prideaux, and by the usage of almost every parish in the kingdom ; his letters were pub- lished in a pamphlet, intituled Letters and Instruments relative to the dispute about the Register Book at Chatham} In addition to these objections, it has been found that the keeping of the Registers in the church injured the books, in consequence of the dampness common in uninhabited buildings ; and they were also liable to be stolen with the other contents of the coffer. It will have been observed, that the last Act requires them to be kept in a dry well-painted iron chest, constantly kept locked, in some dry, safe, and secure place, within the usual place of residence of the Rector, &c. ; if resident within the parish, or in the parish church. With respect to the use of paper or parchment for Register Books, it appears that the old Registers were generally of thin folio vellum or parchment; and this was preferred, although the injunction of Lord Cromwell, in 1538, did not direct the use of any particular material. The arguments in favour of the use of this substance are, that it has long been used for documents required to be preserved and handed down to posterity, such as title deeds, charters, pedigrees^ &c. &c. It is not so liable to wear and tear by use, as paper ; nor is it so easy for evil disposed persons to tear a leaf of it out of a book composed of this material ; and if it is properly prepared in the first instance, and kept in a dry place, it will resist the ravages of many centuries. On the other hand, it is sometimes so greasy that it will not receive the ink, without the use of pounce, and unless the ink is received into the substance of the parchment, it will rub oflF by friction; but the pounce alluded to, by absorbing the greasy particles, renders it very susceptible of damp. The last Act requires these books to be of paper, (unless the churchwardens of any parish shall require them to be of parchment), and paper has been found in excellent preservation several centuries after it has been written on ; it takes up less room, it receives the ink freely, and requires no previous preparation. The transcripts, however, for the bishop are, by the Act of 1812, required to be on parchment, . • __ — 1 8vo. London, llm.— British Museum, 1004*' 20. 64 STATE OP PRESERVATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. The practice of not making the entries in the proper Begister Book, immediately after the ceremony is performed, is still in use, notwithstanding the third clause of the last Act, which directs it to be done " as soon as possible, and in no case later than seven days after the ceremony shall have taken place, unless prevented by sick- ness or other unavoidable impediment.'' The Act also imposes on the " rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister,^' the making and keeping of the Register ; and this duty should not be left to the parish clerk, as is the case in some large parishes. On the perusal of these pages, the ill effects which this practice has given rise to, will have been observed, without rendering a repetition necessary in this place. The subject, however, must not be left without noticing a case, showing the hardship which accrued to an individual in con- sequence of a mistake in copying from the Waste Book into the Begister. The case alluded to is that of May v. May, 2 Str. 1072, where, on a question of legitimacy, it appeared that a Register Book was kept in the parish, into which the entries of baptism were made every three months, from a Day Book, into which they were made at the time, or in the course of the morning. In the Day Book were put the letters B.B., which were said to signify base-born, but these letters were not inserted in the Register Book. A majo- rity of the judges present, on a trial at bar, were of opinion that there could not be two registers in the parish ; and that the Register Book, being the public book, was to be considered as the original entry, from which evidence was to be given, and that it could not be controlled or altered by any thing appearing in the Day Book, the entry in which, appeared to be merely a private memorandum kept for the purpose of assisting the clerk in making up the Register.^ ^ The decision in this case was doubtless legal ; but there can be but one opinion, as to which was the correct entry, the original or the copy^ or whether it was not more likely, the entry in the Day Book made at the time of the baptism, should be more authentic, than a copy made from it three months afterwards. Ses Nofes and Queried for 1857, p. 323, but many of the extracts are from this work. 65 CHAPTER IV. OP THE TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. BUT few even of the old Register Books are those in which the entries were inserted at the time of the performance of the cere- monies to which they refer ; they are generally transcripts made, in pursuance of an Injunction of 1597, or that of 1603. This may generally be ascertained by the title of the book, or by the simi- larity of the hand- writing, up to the year 1598, or thereabouts, or by the signatures at the bottom of each page. The minister and the churchwardens of that year, in which the transcript was made, signed every page of the transcript, in order to give greater weight to its authenticity ; and, in pursuance of the terms of the injunc- tion; this circumstance will account for a commonly-received opinion or impression, that the clergymen, at the close of the fifteenth century, were longer lived than those of the present day : one instance of this supposed longevity was Mr, Simpson, of Keame, in Leicestershire, who was reported to have been incum- bent for ninety-two years, and to have had the same church- wardens seventy years ! ! A full account of this notion will be found in Cole's MSS. (in the British Museum), vol. xli. p. 310. It occasioned, some years since, a subject for very general con- troversy, as the circumstance had been stated by several authors, who supported it by reference to different registers. Thus, Dun- cumb, in his History of Herefordshire^ in giving a description of the Parish of Bromyard, " Robert Barnes was vicar during eighty- two years, and his name appears to parochial Registers annually, the whole of that period ; one of the churchwardens also continued from 1538 to 1600 inclusive." The Parish Register, sometimes called '^ The Poor Man's Char- ter,'' has had a variety of titles given to it; a few specimens of these titles will now be given : — Granciter. '' Granciter Register Book, as well of those scatteringly and out of order, in the old Reg"", before and in the reign of Qu : Eliz : from 24 of Aug : 1572, until this present year 1598 ; that 5 6b TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. is, from the first daye that I, Edward Braine, the writer hereof, and vicar of Granciter, did take care of this church." " Johes. Butt, Infans, obiit : 19 Jan : 1539." Eyneshury, Hunts, " Chylderne kyrsenyd in the 37*'' yere of oure Soufferande Lord Kyng Harre 8^\" " Jone Clopton, the Douter of Stevyn Clopton, kyrsenyd 7 Nov. 37 Hen. 8." On the first leaf of the earliest Register Book, of the parish of Burnham, in Bucks, is the following memorandum of the incum- bent in 1561 :— ^' Jesus + Johannes Wrighteus inductus fait Vicarius Burn- hamiensis ipsis Calendis Novembris a.d. 1561, videlicit, ipso die omnium SHoru — NuUu. Begistru hie invenit." And in the same book, alluding to a former incumbent, the then incumbent writes — " Nulham Ephimeriden vel imperfectissimam reliqnit." St. Thomas, Dudley. ^' Christnings, Weddings, and Burings in the pish of St. Thomas, in Duddley, from the xxxij yeare of the Raigne of or Soveraign Lord King Harry y^ viij., supreme head nearest Christ of the Church of England, &c. — S*^ Thomas Wall, Yicar." Banstead, Surrey. " The Weddying, Crystengg, and Buryyng booke off ban- steyde." Wadhurst. " Registrum Ecclesiae Wadhursturiensis Exhibens Tres maximas humanae vitae rautationes Flet natus, ridet nuptus, mox pallida finem Tristibus et laetis mors positura venit Anno salutis MDCLVI. Domino John Barham et John Gilbert Guardianis. Jac. Wilcoxo Ministro, TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. 67 The Parish Register of Walton, in Bucks, begins in 1598, the Kev. John Jones was the rector, from 1572 to 1596: his suc- cessor wrote in it the following lines on him : — /!^Srt^*^T - '^ Nee populum docuit, nee Jugera culta reliqmtUA'/ \ \, ^^> Glebse, nee tali Nomina scripta Libro Xs!-^/ ' ' ^ ^ Camber : et Incumbens Ulmos, malosq ; rescinS^sb^^^ ^^i ^des fatalem diruit ante Diem/' The title of the Register of Ambroseden, in Oxfordshire, begins, " A true Register/^ &c., upon which Mr. Donkin observes, that, notwithstanding the above title, many of the weddings, christenings, and burials, have not been entered, nor could the exertions of Mr. Watson, or the industry of his successors, recover half the names that should have appeared in the Register : the following will show in what way it was attempted to be done : — '^ Richard Filia, Richard Peesley was 16 years of age when King Charles came to his Crown.'' " Mary, the daughter of Richard Peesley, was 3 years old, when King Charles the 2°** came to his Crown." The Parish Register of Hokington is thus prefaced : — '^ The Regester Boke for the Parris of Okington maid A.M. five hundreth Ixi." St. Oswald's Durham. " The Regester Boke of the p'ysshe of St. Oswaldes made the XXV day of Marche A° 1580 anno Elizab. xxij by the Vicar and Churchwardens whose doinges god directe to hys glory and p'fett of the sayd p'ysshe and to the manteynynce of the queen's Magestes godly p'cedings, whome God p'sve to regne over us to the abolysshme't of popery and strange and false religion and to the mentenynge of the Gospell. Graunt O ! Lord y* she may long contenew a Mother in Israeli w** p'sp'ews healthe honour & felycite, and after thys hyr gret goverme't in thys lyffe she may w^'' Moyses, Josua, Debora & other godlye gov'nours inioy a crowne of Eternal glory. Goodly reder say Ame'." Rodmarton, ^ Gloucestershire. '' Hanc Librum Jobus Yate Rector Ecclesise de Rodmerton 1 The situation of Rodmarton is Jiigh and dry, on a calcareous soil ; the " dankish- ness " complained of arose solely from the exuding nature of the building stone, 68 TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. in Comit. Glouc : fieri fecit sumptibus Parochise, impensis in eum mille. tercent. quadragint. quatuor quadrantibus Feb : 3 1630 stylo novo i* e' Januar 24 Anglicano Veteri. *^ If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier or in the Sunne three or foure times a yeare — els it will grow dankish and rott, therefore look to it. It will not bee amisse when you finde it dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloath. This Place is very much subject to dankishness, therefore I say looke to it.'^ St. Saviour^s, Norwich. " Janua, Baptismus, medio stat Tseda Jugalis Utroque es felix : mors pia, si sequitur.'^ Meopliam, Kent. " A true Register of all marriages christnings and Buriyngs from the sixt day of Aprill 1595 with the names of all such as are to be found registred from the yere 1570 unto the said year 1595. The first that can be found are in the year 1561. " You shall understand that the auncient Register was stolen out of our Church with divers Bookes Ano Dni 1569. ^^ Further you shall understand that in the daies of Mr. James Day, Vicar of Mepham for fyve yers space none were registered.^^ Cherry Hint on, Cambridgeshire. ^^ Hie puer setatem, hie Vir sponsalia noscat Hie decessorum funera quisque sciat.'^ Ruyton of the eleven Towns, Salop. " No Flattery here, where to be born and die Of rich and poor is all the history Enough, if virtue fill'd the space between Prov'd, by the ends of being, to have been." Buckland Newton, Dorsetshire. '^ Registrum sine Diarium nominum eorum confectum qui baptizati ac matrimonio conjuncti et sepulti fuerint infra paraechiam de Buckland in Comitatu Dorset a decimo sexto mensis Januarii anno Dom. juxta computationem Ecclesise Anglicanae, 1568 quo in posterum ad posteritatis memoriam which, after a little time, is fatal to any books or papers which may come in contact witli the walls. TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. 69 propagari possint, diligenter examinatum transumptum et fideliter scriptum per Joannem Phillips, clericum notarium que publicum, vicarium ecclesiae parochialis de Buckland pra&- dicte anno Dom, 1598 reginaequ illustrissimae in Christo prin- cipis ac dominae nostras, dominse Elizabethae, Dei gratia Anglise Francise et Hibernise reginse, fidei defensoris, &c. quadra- gesimo primo, ex veteribus libris cartaceis praemissorum hue usque factis et reservatis ac in posterura conservandis." To this is added a long letter in Latin, from Archbishop Parker, describing the office of notary, and appointing John Phillips to that office. Dated Feb. 10, 1573. O.S. Nether Compton, Dorsetshire, " Liber in quo omnium tam matrimonio contrahendorum quam baptizandorum et sepeliendorum nomina inseruntur a Pancratis Growte, Nether Comptone rectore, anno Domini. 1538,^primum inca&ptus et nunc per me Johannem Gierke, Rectorem, ibidem et successorem ejus anno Domini 1600, et anno regni Domine Elizabethe, Dei gratia, Anglic, Francie et Hibernie regine, &c. rescriptus.^^ Chelsea^ Middlesex, " A Booke begun in the House of God, for Registringe of all christenings, raarages and burialls, within the Parishe of Chelsey, provided for that purpose, by I. Tomkins and Thomas Saunders, Church Wardens, the 19 daye of Marche, 1559; and now in the time and yeare of Richarde Warde, Parson of Chelsey.^' St.lAndrew^s, Holborn. " Here begynneth the Burialles had in the tyme of our most gracious Soverayne, Lady Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, of Ingland, Fraunce, and Ireland, Queene, Defender of the ould auncient and Catholique Faithe, and. in yearthe, next and immediately under Christ, and principale member of his Churche, and supreame Governoure of this Real me, as well in all causes, as over all persons. Ecclesiastical or Temporall, her rayne begynninge the xvii day of November, in the yeare of our Lord God, 1558." Bouyhton Blean, Kent. — The church book of this parish com- mences in the following manner : — 70 TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. " Uppon All Sowles day, being the seconde day of November, in the yere of our Lord God M'° v*^ Iv, and in the seconde and thyrde yere of the raygne of our Sovaigne. Lorde and Lady, Phillip and Mary, by the Grace of God, Kinge and Queene of England, France, Naples, Jerusalem, and Yrland, Defenders of the Fay the, Prynce of Spayn and Cycell, Archeduke of Austrya, Duke of Aquttayn, Burgundy, and Brabant, Cowntyes of Flanders and TyroUe/' The Register oi Elmore , in Gloucestershire , begins in 1560; but at the end of the first book is a part thus intituled : — "Of Baptisme, Weddinges, and Burialls happening at Elmore, out of the Worshipfull House of Guyse, sythens the 6^*" day of December, 1556/^ The House of Guyse, here mentioned, is Elmore Court, the Mano- rial Mansion, rebuilt in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by John Guise, Esq. The Abbey, Tewkesbury. " Lo heare thou maiest with mortall eie beholde Thy name recorded by a mortall righte. But if thou canste looke but spiritualie Unto that God which gives such heaunly sighte Thou maiest beholde w**^ comfort to thy soule Thy name recorded in the Heaunly Boule ; And therefore praie the Register of heauen To write thy name within the Booke of Life And also praie thy sinns male be forgiuen And that thou maiest flee all sinn and strife That when thy mortall bodie shall have ende Thy soule male to the Imortal Lord assende.'^ Newbottle, Northamptonshire. " Thys Boke, mayde by y^ exprese comandement of o"" most Sovereygne Lorde Kynge Henry y® eight, by y^ gee. of Gode Kynge of Englande and of France, Defender of y*' feyth. Lord of Yreland, and y^ spme. hede i erth of y^ hys church of England, for certen goodly usys, by hys ryght excellent wyse and sage Counsail, divised and upon lyke cosideracons instituted as by the divisyons of y* same, in iij sondrie places here folowynge may apere, begynnynge i y** yere of hys pspous. and honorable TITLES OF PARISH REGISTERS. 71 reyne xxx. and i y*^ yere of our mayst. Christ md, xxx, viij.^ fyrst day of October^ to be exercysed aft. ye forme as tlierafter ensueth. The Lord Thos. Crnwell, Lord pvyseale and vice- geret to hys hyghnese of y^ ecclesiastycal jurisdiction, exhibiting to us of y® clergye y' same w* dyverse other at y® time lyke fruytful and laudable inventions, meted to y* glorye of God, to the Kynges hon'" and to y® great benefyt of y^ hys realme, and annihilatynge of y® bysshop of Rome hys long falsly ptensyd. and usurped powre. I, Edward Medley, beynge Vicar here, Robert Wyat and Thomas Harden, Churchwardens, stayting o'" names, pmisyng o"" feyth, natural obedyence, bonden servyce, lyke assyduouse preyer w* all fldelyte and obsequence to y'' accoplesshmet of y^ cotetes of y^ same. Amen. '^ Noia infantiu i Xo. renatoru.^' CHAPTER V. OF THE EEGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. " Oh Parish Register ! oh Peerage ! why Record those years that I would fain deny." — Byron. " JEre Registers — to prove a man of age Took depositions, that would fill a page. Old Gaffer Greybeards stammer'd all they knew What one believ'd, another swore was true." — Sir Cuthbert Sharp, ON the first institution of this Rite of Baptism, it is unnecessary to comment ; but on the subject of names, a few remarks may not be unacceptable. " Names, called in Latin Nomina, quasi notamina (says Camden), were first imposed for the distinction of persons, which we now call Christian names : after, for difference of families, which we call surnames, and have been especially respected, as whereon the glory and credit of men is grounded, and by which the same is conveyed to the knowledge of posterity ; and every person had, in the begin- ning, one only proper name, as Adam, Joseph, &c/^ Camden also states, that he could never find an hereditary sur- name in England before the Conquest. The surnames in Doomsday- Book were brought in by the Normans, who not long before had taken them ; but they were mostly noted with a " de,'^ as John de BalringtoTij Walter de Hugget, ^c. ; or Ricardus filius Roberti ; and that they were not settled among the common people, till about the reign of King Edward II. They are sur-names, not from sire, but sur, being super-sidded to the Christian names. Places anciently gave names to persons, and not the contrary ; thus, William, son of Roger Fitz-Valerine, in the time of King Henry I., being born in the Castle of Howard in Wales, thence assumed the name of Howard, and transmitted it to his posterity. Edward of Caernarvon was so called from the place of his nativity, so Thomas of firotherton, from the village in Yorkshire, where he was born; and John of Gaunt, from the city of Gaunt in Flanders, the place of his birth. REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 73 Other names were derived from certain offices, &c.; thus Marshall^ from being Marshall of the King's Palace, whence the Marshalls, Earls of Pembroke. De Mora, of the Moor, whence St. Maur, now Seymour. It has been a commonly received impression, that the family of Percy derived their name from an ancestor, hsLving pierced the King of Scot's eye ; but in fact it was taken from Percy Forest, in the Province of Maine. Camden says, " Two Christian names are rare in England, and I only remember now his Majesty, who was named Charles James, and the Prince, his sonne, Henry Frederic ; and among private men Thomas Maria Wingfield and Sir Thomas Posthumous Hobby." — Three and four Christian names are now occasionally met with, giving occasion for the epigram on M. L. P. Saint Florentin. Ci git un petit homme a Fair assez commun Ayant porte trois noms, et n'en laissant aucun. Anciently, one name was given at birth by the parents, and another at christening, which second name served as a surname. Names could be changed at confirmation : — " If a man be baptized by the name of Thomas, and after, at his confirmation by the Bishop he is named John, he may purchase by the name of his confirmation. And this doth agree with our ancient books, where it is holden that a man may have divers names at divers times, but not divers Christian names.'' — Coke Lit. Previously to the Reformation it was the custom to baptize the infant on the day of its birth ^ if possible. The following are records^of births as entered in an ancient MS. : — "Non Sept. Eicardus Cheddre, filius Robti Cheddre natus fuit apud BristoUium, die d'nica, quarto die Septembr, Ira d'nicali b. Anno dni Millmo CCC'"^. lxxix'"°." "XI Kal Jan. Johes Selsy fili Lucie Selsy, nascebat' xxiiij^\,die decembis vz, i vig' nat' do'^ Anno dni Millmo CCC^^Mxviij^" It has been the custom of some clergymen, for the sake of brevity, to enter the baptism of a child thus, " Ann, of John and Mary Bond," without^' saying whether a son or daughter ; but although there are certain names usually given to males, and others to ^ See the Probationes JStatis t9mp. Edw. III., 4.th Report Fublic EecordSy 1843, p. 131. 74 REGISTERS OP BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. females, yet there have been frequent instances where persons have departed from the general rule, and given their child a name not usually applied to its sex. The forms of entry of baptism, as printed in pursuance of the last Act, are not calculated to prevent the continuance of this mode of entry, which is the more objectionable on account of the now common use of Surnames as Christian names. It was not unusual, about the sixteenth century, for persons to have two or more children of the same Christian name, with a view perhaps of perpetuating their names, in case of the death of one ; this will be seen by the following extract from the will of John Parnell de Gyrton, 8 Mar., 1545 :— " Alice my wife and Old John my son to occupy my farm together, till olde John marries, and then she to have land and cattle. Young John my son, shall shall have Brenlay's land plowed and sowed at old John's cost.'' And in the Register of Beby, Leicestershire y is the following : — ^' 1559, Item, 29^^ day of August was John and John Picke the children of Christopher and Anne baptized." '^ Item, the 3P^ day of August, the same John and John were buried.'' And one John Barker had three sons, named John Barker, and two daughters named Margaret Barker. Guy de Laval, was so fond of the name of Guy, that he desired leave of Pope Paschall II., that all his sons and their descendants might be called by that name. The Pope, in reward of the services he had done to Christendom in Holy Land, granted his request, which was confirmed by Philip L, King of France. Guy de Laval, the seventh of that name, ratified the privileges, and ordained by his will in ] 268, that the eldest son of the house of Laval, should bear the name of Guy and the arms of Laval, on pain of losing the Lordship of Laval. ^ Entertainments at christenings are an ancient custom. In The Batchelor^s Banquet, is the following : — " What cost and trouble it will be to have all things fine against the christening day ; what store of sugar, biskets, comphets, and caraways, marmalet, and marchpane, with all 1 Histoir de Sahlc, par M. Menage. KEGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 75 kind of sweet suckers and superfluous banquetting stuff, with a hundred other odd and needless trifles, which at that time must^fiU the pockets of dainty dames/' by which it appears the ladies not only eat what they pleased, but pocketed likewise. Upon this and the falling off of the custom of giving " Apostle spoons '^ at the christening, is the following : — " Especially since gossips now Eat more at christenings than bestow; Formerly when they us^d to troul Gilt bowls of sack, they gave the bowl ; ^ Two spoons at least ; an use ill kept ; Tis well now if our own be left/' — Shipman's Gossip, 1666. In 1559, the son of Sir Thomas Chamberlayne was baptized at St. Benet's Church, Paul's Wharf, when " the church was hung with cloth of arras, and after the christening were brought wafers, comfits, and divers banquetting dishes, and Hypocras and Muscadine wine, to entertain the guests." — Strype. Sermons at christenings, were also customary. Besides the baptizing of children, it appears to have been for- merly the practice to baptize the church bells, and though we do not find the entries made in the Register, yet, the bells themselves bear^testimony to the fact, as well as of the date of their manufac- ture, and the name of the maker.' — John Stell, in his Beehive of the Romish Church, 1580, p. 18, says, "Nowe over and above all this the belles are not only conjured and hallowed, but are also baptized, and have apoynted for them godfathers,^ which hold the rope (wherewith they are tied) in their handes, and doe answere, and say Amen_^to that which the sufiragane or bishop doth speak or demand of the belle ; and then they put a new coat or garment upon ^ In the account book of the Duchess of Grafton, are several payments of £10. 15*. at christenings, thus : — 1709 Lady Harvey's christening £10 15 1710 For Mrs. Hammond's christening 10 15 - In the churchwarden's account of Si. Lawrence y Beading, is the following entry : — " 1499. It payed for halowing of the bell named Harry vjs viijs and ovir that Sir WiUi'm Symys, Richard Cleck, aiM Maistres Smyth, beyng godfaders and godmoder at the consecraycyon of the same bell, and beryng all oth' coBts to the suffrygan." 76 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. the belle, and so conjure it, to the driving away of all the power, craft, and subtiltie of the devill, and to the benefit and profit of the souls of them that bee dead (especially if they be rich, and can paye the sexton well), and for many other like thynges. Insomuch, that the belles are so holy, that so long as the church and people are (upon any occasion) excommunicate they may not bee rung/^ Bishop Kennett says, that until the year 1660, " the account of christenings had been neglected more than that of burials, one and the chief cause whereof was a religious opinion against the baptizing of infants, either as unlawful or unnecessary. A second reason, was the scruples which many public ministers would make of the worthiness of parents to have their children baptized, which forced such questioned parents, who did also not believe the necessity of having their children baptized, by such scruples, to carry them unto such other ministers as having performed the thing, had not the authority or command of the Register to enter the names of the baptized.^' "A third reason was, that a little fee was to be paid for the registering. Upon the whole matter, it is most certain, that the number of heterodox believers, between 1560 and 1660, was very great, and so very peevish were they, as not to have the births of their children registered.^^ But in addition to this, many clergymen refused to make the entry of baptism in the Register until the child had been brought to church, by which they intended to prevent the custom of private baptism. On the subject of the worthiness of parents, it may not be irrele- vant to give a specimen of the entries in the Church Session Books of Scotland, where this is noticed, after recording a reproof given by the Rev. Andrew Burn, the minister of Anstruther Wester, in Fifeshire, to a magistrate of that Burgh, for his aiding in the Rebellion of 1715. " JanJ" 25, 1717. John Lyall, late magistrate of this Burgh, confesses his sinful compliance in the late rebellion, drinking the pretender Marr, and several other rebels healths att the Cross, his ordering the boats over the water w* y" rebels, his ordering to beatt a bank for payment of cess to Marr, his counteracting the Government's order, in commanding to take up the boats to y'' shear when the Government had ordered y" to the south shoar, and several other things he confesses, and professes his sorrow for the same ; and promises to walk more REGISTERS OP BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 11 regularly in time coming, and to worship God in his family, upon which the minister condescends to baptize his child." In the year 1747, books were provided ^ at the Herald's College, for the purpose of registering births in London, and within the Bills of Mortality, in the Colonies, in the country, and the births of persons of any age, born before Christmas day, 1747. The plan to be pursued was, that one or both parents were to come in person, or in case that could not be done, two persons who were present at the birth, the midwife for one, if convenient, and there sign the entry, which was entered by two Officers of Arms in the Register Book, on paying the fee of half-a-crown, and at the same time an attested certificate of the entry made, was to be given on parchment, and sealed with a seal of office. Persons at a distance were to draw up a certificate, signed by both or one of them, or by two persons present, and make affidavit of the truth, which certificate and affi- davit were to be transmitted, with the fee of half-a-crown, and would then be duly entered. The time and place of the parents marriage were also to be given, together with the name of the naother's father.^ In the abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an Act of 1st Geo. IV. intituled " An Act for taking an account of the population of Great Britain, and of the increase and diminution thereof ; " the editor states, that the Registers of baptisms are deficient from several causes. 1st. Because many Dissenters of every denominatian (those especially who reside at a distance from any other burial place), bury their dead in the cemeteries of the established church, though they baptize after their own manner, or not at all. — 2dly. Some irreligious persons, especially in large towns, neglect the rite of baptism altogether.^ — 3dly. Some die before baptism ; the great defect in baptisms heretofore arose from private baptisms, which is carried to an extent not at all in the contempla- tion of the founders of the church of England. The practice of the ^ A few entries were made at that time, but the measure failed in a great measure from want of publicity, as well as from the trouble it occasioned the officers of the College. 2 See Ohservations on Marriages^ Bajotisms^ and Burials, as preserved in Parochial JEtegisters. — By Ealph Bigland, Esq., Somerset Herald, 4to, London, 1764, pp. 96. A very curious book, from which many extracts have been made for this work. ' In the Annals of SandwicJi, the following order is recorded, " 1571. The Dutch shall have their children baptize^i according to the order now here used, under pain of banishment." This relates to the Dutch Settlers at Sandwich. 78 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. clergy is not uniform on this point, and it appears from the remarks subjoined to some of the Parish Register Returns of 1811, that the registry of private baptisms was refused in many places, from a conscientious desire to induce parents to cause their children to be publicly received into the congregation. But the 52d Geo. III. no longer leaves this optional.^ The Bibliotheca Topographica Brittanica mentions that in the Register of Knipton, in Leicestershire, from 1656 to 1660, the children are registered from births; baptisms are not even men- tioned ; — but this was very general, for Oliver CromwelFs order in 1653 directs the registry of births. The following entries will serve to show, in some measure, the origin of surnames ; and to account for singular names constantly met with. The first entry (but for the other particulars) might lead to suppose the child to have been of French extraction. Kensington. " A woman child, of the age of one year and a half or there- abouts, being found in her swadlinge clothes^ layed at the Ladye Coopers gate, baptized by the name of Mary Troovie, 10th October.'^ In some country parishes, the child is invariably called by the name of the saint, on whose day he happens to have been born. A contributor to Notes and Queries (1853), baptized a child Benjamin Simon Jude. On expressing some surprise at the strange conjunc- tion, he was informed that he was born on the festival of St. Simon and St. Jude, and that it was always very unlucky to take the day from the child. St, Gregory by St. Paul's. " Moyses and Aaron, two children found in the street, 26th December, 1629." Landbeche. " (Baptized.) Joane, whome we maye call Yorkkooppe, because she was the bastarde dawghter, as y^ is commonly e reported, of one John York and Anne Cooper, 3rd April, 1595.'' ^ In addition to this it should be observed, that the Chaplains of Hospitals baptize and bury. The London Lying-in Hospital has a Eegister of the Baptism of all the children born in that establishment. The Population Seturn for 1821, states Registers to be kept at the Albany Barracks, Southampton ; also, at the House of Industry, at Meole Brace, &c., and at the Work- house at River, Norwich, &c. &c. REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 79 In the Register of St. Lawrence, Jewry, there are the baptisms of a great many foundlings, to whom the surname of Lawrence has been invariably given,^ and tlie same practice now exists in that parish, though the occasions are not so frequent. ^ 1 By the 2nd Geo. III., cap. 22, a Kegister Book is directed to be kept by every parish within the Bills of Mortality, in which are to be entered all infants under four years, who should be in any Workhouse, or place provided for the maintenance of the poor, " with the times when they were received, their names, age, and whatever descrip- tion relates to them as far as can be traced." Sec. 7. — That in case any infant be received into the Workhouse, &c. before the said infant is baptized, due care should be taken to baptize the same, so that the Christian and true Surname, if known, and if not known, a Surname to be given by the Churchwardens and Overseers, be regularly entered in the said book, and the name and surname of such infant be also registered in the Parish Register of the Parish ; and in case of a difficulty in distinguishing children, some proper mark should be affixed to the child's clothes, or hung round his or her neck. A copy of this Register to be anually deposited with the Company of Parish Clerks, and to contain the following particulars, viz : — ^uame of child, whether foundling, bastard, or casualty — age, when born or when admitted — by whom sent, and what sum received with it — when died, or when discharged — if nursed by the mother — nurse's name, abode, &c. &c. If this Act is still in force (and it is believed that it has not been repealed), it is but very partially, if at all, attended to ; although its provisions are calculated to be very serviceable. 2 To name an Infant, met our Village Sires, Assembled all, as such event requires Frequent and full, the rural sages sate And speakers many urged the long debate — Some harden'd knave, who rov'd the country round Had left a Babe within the Parish bound. First, of the fact they questioned " Was it true ? " The child was brought — " What then remained to do ? " " Was't dead or living ? " This was fairly prov'd, T'was pinch' d — it roar'd — and every doubt remov'd. Then by what name th' unwelcome guest to call Was long a question, and it pos'd them all For he who lent a name to Babe unknown Censorious men might take it for his own. They look'd about, they ask'd the name of all And not one Sichard answer' d to the call. Next they inquir'd the day, when passing by Th' unlucky peasant heard the stranger's cry ; This known — how food and raiment they might give Was next debated, for the rogue would live ; At last with all their words and work content > Back to their homes, the prudent Vestry went i And Richard Monday to the Workhouse sent j Long lost to us, at last our Man we trace *' Sir Richard Monday died at Monday Place." — Crahbe. 80 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. By the Temple Register it appears that from 1728 to 1755, no less than 104 foundlings were christened there, all of whom were surnaraed Temple or Templer. In order to give facility to the astrologer in " casting the nati- vity/' or telling the fortune of a child, should it be desired, great precision was occasionally observed in the entry of the birth, as will be found in the Register of Hawsted, in Suffolk. (c ^A rpj^^^ ^y. i^obert Drury, the first sonne of Mr. William Drury, Esquire, was born 30 Jan. betwixt 4 and 5 of the clock in the morning, the Sunne in Libra, anno 1574, at Durham House, within the Parish of Westminster." Merboroughy Yorkshire, " 1592, Jan. 18, bap. Robert Browne, son of John Lillie, Esq."i St, Edmund^ s J Dudley. '' 1539. Samuell, son of Sir William Smithe Clarke, Vicare of Duddly, was born on Friday morninge, at 4 of the clock, beinge the xxviij day of February, the signe of that day was the midle of Aquaris Si ; the signe of the monthe X ; theplenet of that day 9 ; plenet of the same ower ^ and the morow- day, whose name hath continued in Duddly from the conqueste.^' Goodnestone, Kent. 1609 "] Symon "^ Maior natu Aprilis V et LFilii Johannis Miller bapti sunt. 9** J Danyel J Minor natu The following entries are extracted from various Registers, on account of some peculiarity. " The son of Janken, the Shepherd, baptized.^' Milton. ^' 1656. Thomas, son of Frances Paget, born 17th June.'' Kensington. '' 1548. Samuel, a Londoner, the 23rd May." Hokington. ^' Baptisms, 1587. William Mumford, 30th December ; William Mumford, 28th January \ Ann Cole, 9th^June." 1 This is a rare instance of a double Christian name, during the Eeign of Elizabeth. He is afterwards called Robert Browne Lilly. REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 81 1611. " Geo : S. of Ffenson Benet and Jone, bapt : N.B. — This is a mistake of the clerk, the fact is, that in 1565, Vincent Goodwin was Vicar, and several of his parishioners named their children after him ; but the clerk transformed it into Ffenson, as he did Ursula, into " Osurley,'^ " Usurley,'' " Oursley.'' &c. Cottenham. " Robert Marshall and Mark Benton, of Cotenham, make oath, that John Cooke, and Eliz. his late Wife, was bom in September, 1689. Jurat apud Cantabr 17 Martii 1710, coram me Ricardo Penson Comissionar secundum formam Statuti, &c." "Ici commence Pan de nostre Seigneur 1636, Quicunque certes estes baptisez, vous avez vestu Christ ; Repentez vous, et qu^un chascun soit baptise' au nom de Jesus." Baptised. — ^'1641, Jane, the Daughter of John Mayle, quidem Johannis est Junioris a tribus de iste nomine et Judithe uxore suis baptizata primo Junii." Bishop Wearmouth. ''March 27, 1695, a person aged about 20 years, a Tawny, borne at the Bay of Bengal, in the East Indies, and beiug taken captive by the English, in his minoritie, was (after due exa- mination of himself and witnesses) baptized, and named John Weremouth, by me. T. O., Curate.^' Whitworth, Durham. " 1645, July 27, James, Son of Ambrose Bell, of Juddo, was the last Baptism with the Book of Common Prayer in this Parish." " Charles II. proclaimed at London, May 8th, and at Dur- ham, 12th May, 1660, on which day I, Stephen Hogg, began to use again the Book of Common Prayer." Eaton, Rutlandshire, " 1586. Mr. Henry Hastings, Son and Heir of Mr, Francis Hastings, was born on St. Mark's Even, April 24, between the hours of 10 and 11 of the clock at night. Sign Sagit : secund : die pleni luniiJMarte in Taurum iutrato die prece- dente; and was christened May 17." 6 82 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. It has been the custom, with some persons, to enter the Births of their children at the place where they have resided for a con- siderable time, or where they may have property or estates, thus at Winterborne Earles. " Edward Nicholas nascitur quarto die Aprilis circa deciam noctis horam 48 post horam natu, 1593. 3° Sabb° die.'' and at a subsequent period when the family had ceased to reside in the parish, there is in its Register, "William Nicholas, Son of Sir John Nicholas, Knight of the Bath, was born at Spring Garden, on Munday, the 13th day of Aprill, 1668.'' St. Botolphj Aldgate. " July 17, 1655, William Clark, son of John Clark, a Soldier, and Thomasine, his Wife, who herself went for a Souldier, and was billetted at the Three Hammers, in East Smithfield, about seven months, and after was delivered of this Child, the 16^^ day of this July, and was baptized the 17*^ in her lodging, being one Mr. Rubber's House. She had been a Souldier, by her own confession, about five years, and was some time Drummer to the Company." St. Bennet, PauVs Wharf. " An Infant crisand." " Thomas Tuckwell, Son of Adam Clark, was born the 20 of June, 1722." He stands registered 14 days before that time, besides Adam Clark was his Godfather j and not his Father. Stalbridgej Dorsetshire. " 1699, Jan. 26. Glory be to God.— Dinah Masters, my Son, aged 22 years, baptized in Stalbridge Church." Eastbourne, Sussex. "1651. Rich. Boulte, the Son of me, John Boulte, was born January 19th, and was baptised January 21st, he being my 26th child," QuorndoUj Leicestershire. " Master Edward Farnham, and Mary his Wife, baptized Phillis, his Daughter, June 27, 1677." REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. ^ Loughborough, ''1581. Margaret Bannister, Daughter of William Ban- nister, going after the manner of roguish ^lEgyptians, was baptized the 2d of April. ^' Thurcasion. '' Nov. 19, 1763. John Cragg of Thurcaston, an adult, in his 75th year, being bed-rid, was privately baptized, at his own request. N.B. — His Father and Mother had been rigid Anabaptists. R. Hurd, Rector.'^ Appleby Magna. " 1699. Bassil, the Son of Clifton Harcourt, Yeoman, and Susanna his Wife, not worth £50 in land, nor £600 in personal Estate, July 25.^' Ayleston. '' 1639, March 8. Was baptised at Enderby, Henrye, the Sonn of Henrye Taylor, of Lubsthorp, Mason, and of Prudence his Wife, by reason of a grate flood hindering passage to our Church.^^ 1 VARIOUS MODES OF ENTERING ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN IN PARISH REGISTERS : — ^ St. Pancras. '' William, Son of Lord Talbot, per Dutchess of Beaufort, ut asseritur born November 1, 1743, bap. Mar: 24, 1743-4.^' ^ About the year 1776, there appears to have been an objection by the parishioners of Chatham, against the christening of children belonging to the parish of Gillingham, at their Church, the Minister of Chatham in his defence, attributed the circumstance more to the importunity of the parents, who lived nearer Chatham than their own Parish Church, than to his wish, and stated that the letter "G-" or " Grillingham," was set against those entries, and that all bastards were properly distinguished. 2 It was stated, on a recent trial, that Mr. Eose's Act had provided a form for en- tering the baptism of illegitimate children : upon reference, however, to that Act, I do not find such a provision. The method of such entries varies in different parishes, some inserting the name of the reputed father and mother, and others the mother only. In St. Saviour's Parish, Southwark, is the following minute made at a vestry in 1613, " That the Minister shall be turned out at the pleasure of the Yestry, and that he shall not baptize any bastard, without half a day's notice, to be given to the wardens." The Eituale of the Roman Catholic Church, prescribes the form of entry of baptism of illegitimate children. " Ritual Rom., p. 409. ^i Infans non fuerit ex iegitimo matrimonio natus, scribatur nomen, &c., (omnis tamen iufamiee vitetur occasio)." 84 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. Wimbledon, \ " Johan, the Daughter of an Harlott, was baptiz'd Nov. 7, \ 1579." I Croydon, \ "William, filius terre, was christenM May, 1582." | "Alice, filia Vulgi, bap^- Aug. 14, 1569." | Cheshunt. \ " July, 1560. John Carpenter, or Jeffrey, or the Son of the 1 People, base born of Jane Carpenter, bap^-" | ■s Heston. ] " Maria, fil Marise Coxe, ex fornicatione gravitse, April 12, ] 1620." i Wandsworth, i " Jasper, Son of Mary Ham, fil populi, buried 1 629." 1 Putney, ] " Thomas, Son of Thomas Powell, begotton on the body of \ Diana Rigdon, single-woman, buried November 12, 1698." • " Sarah, a base d. of Constance Simcoe, bap. Oct. 19, 1 1628." \ Streatham. \ " Harry, a base child, bap., 1580." \ Eltham. '\ "John Whore, a base born Infant, buried December 4, \ 1778." \ Burwashy Sussex. \ " 1566, Dec. 15. Bap. Johannes, filius Thomasinse Collin, incerti vero Patris." ; All Sainfs, Newcastle, \ " Craddock Bowe, love begot, bap. 22 Feb., 1683." ; Lambeth, \ "George Speedwell, a merry begott, bap''* Nov. 1, 1685." 'i " Anne, a bye-blow in Lambeth Marsh, bap. Feb. 22, 1688." \ "Joseph, the base born Son of Ann Funny, bap. Oct. 15, j 1699." ! REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 85 Morden. "Peter, the unlawfully begotten Son of Ann Major, bap. Jan. 6, 1658.^' " Ann, d. of Joan Money, and J. Bayley supposed father, begotten in fornication : bap. Mar. 15, 1654.^' " John, S. of Hannah Gilham, a bastard who was begot in Bedlam Hospital for mad folks; bap. May 17 '' (1654). Chelsea. "Johannes filius Meretricis, bap. Aug. 12, 1564." "Agnes Price, base born in a barn, bap. June 4, 1610.'' Isleworth. " Anne Twine, fil unius cujusque, 1603." Twickenham, "A scape begotten child, buried '^ (1590). Stepney} " Jonas, a bastard Son of that ancient harlot, Elizabeth Duckett, of Poplar," (1589). " A Daughter of Eliz. Miller, begotten by Arnold Lust, in adultery," (1580). " Alexander, Son of Katherine, Wife of Alexander Tuckey of Poplar, begotton she affirmed in the field on this side the mud wall near the Gunne, about 9 of the o'clock at night ; the father she knew not, but the said Alexander by them that brought the child to be baptized, requested that it might be recorded in his name.— Oct. 23, 1633." Wingey Rutlandshire, " Elizabetha Berrie, filia Galfridi Berrie et Catherine Allen uxoris ejus baptizata fuit secundo die Januarii Ista Infans nata fuit tertio mense dempta uno die post connubiam Parentum- Matrimonio enim; copulati fuerunt Parentes undecimo die Octobris, anno 1630 — Ista Infans genita fuit in fornicatione, nata autem in matrimonio."^ ^ There is a prevailing error, that those who are born at sea, belong to Stepney Parish. ^ 2 The origin of the vulgar error, " that all children under the girdle at the time of marriage are legitimate," is thus explained : — Every one knows of the " legitimatio per 86 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. Forcett, Yorkshire, "Anne, supposed daughter of Sir Jeremiah Smithson, fathered of y* said Sir Jeremiah, in the Church, bap. 9 Ap. 1662.^' 1615 filius terrse West Thorney, Sussex. '" Spinola, the Sonne of Dorothy Dumpar, base borne, was baptised the tenth day of March, his Godfathers /were Godfrey Blaxton Psone of Thorney, and Thomas Roman, and Widdowe Toogood Godmother: God^s blessing be uppon him, Amen.'^ Ulcombj Kent. " Jeremias, filius scorti de Hedcorne, baptizatus'fuit^lS™'' die Decembris 1608. This child was born in the fields as was reported, but whether in Hedcorne or in Ulcombeis not justly known ; yet they of Hedcorne would not sufi'er it to be baptized there, although often ofifered, so it was above 3 months unbap- tized, as the woman said who brought it." Echingham. " 1595, Feb. 14, Bp. Anna y® d. of noe certaine man.'^ Graveney, Kent. "Ann Corke, (Nothus) buryed Aprill the 13th, 1640." Sedgefield, Durham. "Forsaken, filius meretricis Agnetis Walton, nunc uxoris Johannes Hartborn de Sedgefield : de mandato Tobie Episcopi Dunelmensis, bap. 27 Jan., 1(5)08." Mitcham, Surrey, " Anne, the Daughter of George Washford, who had 24 fin- gers and toes, baptized Oct. 19, 1690." subsequens matrimonium " of the Canonists, and how the Barons assembled in Par- liament at Merton, refused to engraft this law of the Church on the jurisprudence of England, but it is not perhaps, so well known, that upon such a marriage, the prema- ture ofTspring of the bride and bridegroom sometimes used to perform a part in the ceremony, and received the nuptial benediction under the veil or mantle of the bride, or the pallium of the altar. Hence the children, so legitimated, are said to have been called by the Germans, " Mantelkinder." — (See Hommell's Jurisprudentia Numisma- tihus Illmtrata, Lijpsice, 1763). — Notes and Queries^ 1853 . REGISTERS OP BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 87 Loughborough. " 1540, John Dawson, the Son of Henry Dawson, was bap- tized the 8th day of May. This John Dawson did copy and write out this book out of the old paper Book, when he was at the age of three score and one years, and at that time, had been Schoolmaster of the Grammar School in Loughborough 36 years, and in his time taught and brought up many Scholars, Gentlemen, Men of Worship, Justices of Peace, and Poor Men's Sons, profitable to the Church of God, preachers and ministers beneficial and comfortable to the Commonwealth — advancing greatly the Glory of God/' All Sainfs, Newcastle. "Joseph, Son of Samuel Tizick, Glass-maker,^ bp. 22 Oct., 1620." AllhallowSj Bread Street. "1667, June 19. Was born and christened, Michael, Son of Michael and Phebe Pyndar ; but by reason of the dreadful fire, was born in Coleman Street, in Sir William Bateman's House,^ where many of this parish, for some time inhabited.'' The Register of Baptisms, in this parish, contains the entry of Baptism of the author of " Paradise Lost " it is in the following form : — " The 20th day of December, 1608, was baptized, John, the Sonne of John Mylton, Scrivener." St. Andrew's, Holborn. " Margaret and Clare, twins. Daughters of Thomas, Lord Arundel, and of Anne his Lady, was baptized {as it was reported) Feb., 1619, in the Lord ArundeU's house in Castle Yard in Holborn, by one of his Chaplains and recorded here." " 1624, Sept. Anna, base born of Frances Forest, and Sir Francis Duncum, Knt., out of Lancelot Dod's house in Field Lane." " 1635. Charles Wriothesley, Son and heir of Thomas 1 Of the Glass-Works established on the Tyue in the reign of James I., see Genfs Mag. for 1856. — Burn's Hist, of Foreign Refugees, p. 253. 2 Perhaps Sir William had, like many others, after this calamitous fire, thrown open his mansion as a refuge for the Mbuseless, many hundreds of whom there must have been, on the destruction of 13,200 houses. 88 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. Wriotliesley, Earl of Southampton, and Dame Rachel his Countess, was born in Southampton House, in Holborn, June 1635, and baptized in the said house the same month. Rex. (Caro) lus ejus compater erat.^' St. Anne's, Blackfriars. '' 1596. Epolenep^ Crookes, Son of Mr. Recorder, Dec. 29.'' Nunney, Somersetshire. " Roger Starr, baptized Dec. 17, 1604. He clymed up a ladder to the top of the house, 23 Oct., 1606, being seven weeks and odd days less than two years old.'' South Pichenham, Norfolk. "Aug. 31, 1634. Baptizatus est Franciscus filius Marise Walker quae (ut ipsa ait) ante triennium apud Thirton in agro Norfolcienci cuidam fidicini nomine Johanne Botewright nupta est, sed Is vegabundus nebulo et nuUius Laris Homuncio existens, postquam Mariam suam Gravidam fecisset, hue cam parituram misit, quo infans natus hujus paroeciae Impensis aleretur : at que, in hunc modum jam secundo huic Villse vafre imposuit." " 1636. Elizabetha filia Jacobi Hunter ex Anna Uxore ejus in ipsius plateis sub Australi parte Magnae Ulmi October 9 in Lucem Edita est, et eodem dio sacro baptismate aspersa est." " 1610. Francisca filia Henrici Bedingfield Mil'et Eliza- bethse Uxoris 10 Januarij Que quidem nata fuit de die Domi- nico viz. tricessimo die mensis Decembris anno predicto inter horam sextam et septimam ante meridiem. Compatr' Robert' Wynde Miles. Ux' Edmundi Munford Militis et Alicia Uxor Thomae Bradbury Ar'." Heme, Kent. " 1565. John Jarvys had two woemen children baptized at home joyned together in the belly, and havynge each the one of their armes lyinge at one of their own shoulders, and in all other parts well proportioned children, buryed Aug. 29." " 1567. William Lawson, an infant, christend by the woe- men,2 buryed 21 Martii." ^ Penelope. 2 By the ecclesiastical law, the rite of baptism maj be administered by any person in REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. OV St. Mary^Sj Lichfield. '' Oct. 12, 1591. Margarett, D' of Walter Henningham, de Pypehall, baptized by the mydwyfe, and as yett not broughte to y^ Churche to be there examyned and testified by them that were there presente." Goodnestone, Kent. " 1539, July 19. Francis Sladde, Son of Henrie, who was also christened by y® midwife at St. Alban's Courte.'^ St. Finn Barr's Cathedral, Cork. " 9*^ Nov., 1685. Joana Toogood, uxor Jooloffe Twogood de Civit. Corck, licentiata fuit obstetrix infra Civit. et Dioces Corcag.^' Blendworth, Hunts. '^ John, the son of John Lutman y® younger, and of Priscilla his wife, was born about three of y® clock in the morning, and bap. y® 12th of the same, pileum naturale, that is, a certain film or skin like a cap, a thing not common.^^ Kingston-on- Thames . The terms used are — " Consignatus baptismo.^' " Perfusus baptismo." case of necessity. In the Archbishop of York's Injunctions to his Clergy, is the following : — " Item. All curates must openly, in the church, teach and instruct the myd- wiefes of the very wordes and fourme of Baptisme, to thentents, that they may use them perjBetly, and none oder, &c." ap^ 28 April, 1725/' ^; ''a2^ Staplehurst, Kent (1538). ((^^ ' '^ i.KSlTY '^The firste day of Octobre (1539), ther^^^i^^^S^ a ^ dawghter of Thomas Roberts the younger, whose name is Elizabeth/' '^ 1547. Ther was baptized by the Midwyffe andsoburyed, the childe of Thoms. Goldhm., called Creature.^ " The thirde daye of December Anno Regni Regine Nostre Marie primo Annoq : dni : milesimo quingentiscem, liij, 1553, was baptysed Symon, the Sonne of that noble Warryoure Wyllyam Pytt." "1646, December 4 Boorn into the World Elizabeth Date 2 of Danyell Kingsnoth, of Margreet his Wif.'' " 1560, the vijth day off Apell. There was baptised Willm. Sone of William Fant, whiche Childe was borne in troublous days and therefor not chrystned tyll it was a yeare old.'' " 1 Ed. 6, the xxvij of Apryle, there were borne ij Childre of Alexnder Beerye, the one christned at home, and so deceased called Creature, the other christned at church called Joha." " 1552, the xxx**" daye of Novembre was baptyzed a cople of children togedr y* y' Goodman Baylyf Chylde w^*" was a dawghtr and Goodman Baker's Sonne." '* 1652, 5 March. Ther was baptised John y^ Son of Jone Gyles a harlotte." " 1557, 18 eiusdm tingebat'' sacro fonte Robert, filius Edwardi 1 It appears to have been the custom, in this parish, whenever a child was baptized by the midwife, to name it thus, and the name seems to favour the supposition that it was a baptism before birth. The Rubric gives the following directions for the baptism of infants in such cases : — " Nemo in utero matris clausus baptizari debet, sed si infans caput emiserit, et peri- culum mortis immineat, baptizetur in capite, nee postea si vivus evaserit, erit iteriim baptizandus. At si aliud membrum emiserit, quod vitalem indicet motum, in illo, si periculum pendeat, baptizetur," &c. — tLom.'Rit. Of the Ancient Irish, it has been recorded, " In some corners of the land, they used a damnable superstition, leaving the right armes of their Infants unchristened (as they tearme it), to the intent it might give a more ungratious and deadlie bio we." — JSollinsTied. - Daughter. 94 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. Bapterst copri (ejus) Roberto Batterst ac Thoma Batterst comre. Maria Bucherst/' " 1562, the fyfte day of Mche, ther was buryed the Son of Peter Cottman, baptized at home, and no nae given/^ " 1564, 15 October. Ther was baptised Thomas, the Sonne of (an harlott whose name is) Katryn Fyllpott, Wydowe/^ Mr. Brayley in his Beauties of England and Wales j p. 149, says, that illegitimate children are in this Register called " Children of God.^' In St. Peter's in the East, Oxford, is the following entry of the baptism and burial of a child of Bishop Humfrey : — "1563, Julii 17. Baptizata fuit in aedibus M" Humfrey filia eius quae nominata fuit creatura ChristiJ' "1563. Creatura^ Christi filia Laurentii Humfredi sepulta Julii 17,'' " Aberyne Bosse was baptized y" fourth of December, vidz. sexitamana 26*^ post parentii nuptias vitalis tamo et pfect.^' 1608.^' St. Bridget's, Chester. The Register of Baptisms from 1560 to 1583 does not state who are the parents of the children baptized,^ and for a long time after 1583, only gives the name of the father. The form of the first entries are thus : — " 1560. Jane Bunbury, 27 Dec, 1560. but in Trinity Parish, in the same city, the Fathers, Godfathers, and Godmothers, are inserted from 1600 to 1624, thus : " 1601, 6 Janary. To Ashton Baker a Sonne named Rafe, G.F. Mr. Rose Berkenhead and Rafe Crosse, G.M. Mrs. Eliza- beth Thropp.'' 1 The word Creatura is used in the Rubric in the Baptism of very young children (parvulorum), thus : — " Benedictio Salis Exorcise te Creatura Salis, in nomine Dei," &c. In Piers Plowman (9614), is the following notice of this name : — ** I conjured hym at the laste If he were Cristes creature Anoon me to tellen, ' I am Cristes creature ' quod he, In Cristes court y knowe wel. And of his kyn a party." 2 This^^is by no means uncommon in Registers of that date. REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. 95 "1620, 14 March. Margret, Dau. to Rob* Flecher Baker, Rafe Cratchley, Margret Harndy and Marg* Blanchard, Gossips.^' Birchington, Kent. " 1578, 1 Novembris baptizata Elizabetha filia JohisUnder- doune cuius Susceptores Johes Sacket, uxor Henrici Alchorne et uxor Rob*' Philippe.^' Debt ling, Kent. " 1629. Ellenor, the Daughter of Henry Richardson's Wife, was baptized Novembris 29°. This child is thus registered because it was begot before Richardson married her. Shee not living neere him neither, but she in Sussex and he in Debtling, and indeed she confessed another father that pmissed her mar- riage dwelling in Sussex, but his name I know not." St. Andrew's, Newcastle. "John, Son to whom we cannot tell, bap. . . 1717." Wrotham. " Joan, y^ Daughter of Alice Wrynner (filia nuUius) was baptized y^ 21st day of December." " 1580. Elizabeth, the Daughter of ^ was baptised y" 29th of October." " 1580. Alice, the Daughter of , was baptised y* 29*'> of October." Sea Salter, Kent. " Rachael, Daughter of Will, and Eliz**^ Fox, baptized Nov"" 10, 1734. Mrs. Wigmore made the Punch, &c." Minster. " 1 620, January 21 . Johanna filia Tamsin Smith Adulterina." St. Martin's, Birmingham. "1554. Joane filia populi." " 1660. The chyld of John Smith." Wadhurst, Sussex. "Baptised 17*^ Sept., 1611, Margaret, Daughter of Thomas Poot ; the Mother was a way-goer." ^ There are many blanks in this Eegister for the names of parties, even in the entries of marriages; and in several instances where infants have been baptized " Frances," a blank has been left for the sex. 96 REGISTERS OF BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS. Ringmer, Sussex. " Sept. 3"^, 1630. Was buried a way-going woman, found murdered in Mr. Hart*s barne '^ Wartlinge, Sussex. " 1702, Apr. 25. Mary y« illegitimate d. of Elizabeth, y« Wife of Tho' Vole, by John Fuller of Heathfield, as she con- fessed before Bery : Moott and Mary Fennell, w'^ it was baptized. 97 CHAPTER VI. THE REGISTERS OF BURIALS. " Nascimur, vivimus, morimur, Nascimur et morimur, quid enim fuit utile nasci. THE title of this chapter may perhaps allow some remarks on the subject of Christian burial, as practised in civilized countries. A great change has taken place within the last few centuries in this respect. In the patriarchal times we see that persons were buried in fields and caves, and in places apart from the habitation of man. In the case of Rachel this was the case, and the notice of her sepul- ture exhibits the antiquity of grave-stones and monuments. " And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth- lehem, and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, that is the pillar of RachePs grave unto this day.'^ And Jacob, too, after being em- balmed according to the Egyptian custom, was buried " in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession for a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Harare,^ as was also Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah. And of Joseph's death it is noticed, ^' So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin, in Egypt."^ In passing through the Scriptures, we find not only the time, but the place of burial very frequently recorded.^ The old Roman law of the Twelve Tables contains this clause : — " Hominem mortuum intra urbem ne sepelito, neve urito. But, subsequently, in Catholic countries. Bishops and Martyrs began to be interred in the cloisters round the outside of the churches; afterwards the Bishops entered the churches and the rich laity took the cloisters; then the clergy were promoted to the choir. 1 Gen. XXXV. 19, 20. 2 Qen. 1. 26. 3 The Soman Rituale^ Ant. 1649, says of the Burial Register : — " librum defuncto- rium in quo nomina eorum qui ex \\(ft sesculo transier unt, cum expressione temporis mortis, et loci sepulturce adnotabitJ* 7 98 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. aud the laity entered the church; then all persons entered the churchyard, the cloister, the church, and the chancel, according as their money, or the power of their relatives could be turned to the advantage of the clergy, who asserted a more unlimited autho- rity over the disposal of the dead in the Peninsula, than in any other country ; the corpses of all classes of Spaniards and Portuguese before interment were, and are, habited according to their directions ; and whatever aversion a man may have had for monks during his life, he is compelled to go to heaven, or to be prayed for out of purgatory, in the uniform of a monk after his death. Gervase, of Canterbury , relates, that it was said formerly ^' Civitas non est mortuorum sed vivorum,'^ because cemeteries were always without the cities; not only they did not at one time bury in churches, but it was not even permitted to build them, not even oratories, in places where any one had been interred. In all the Letters of St. Gregory, where any permission is granted for the building of a church, there is always this proviso, " Si nullum corpus ibi constat humatum.'^^ Many great and good men have entertained scruples on the practice of interment in churches. " The example of Archbishop Sancroft, who ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of Fresingfield, in Suffolk, thinking it improper that the house of God should be made the repository of sinful man, ought to command the imitation of less deserving persons ; perhaps it had an influence over the mind of his successor, Archbishop Seeker, who ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of Lambeth. The Bishops of London, in succession, from Bishop Compton to Bishop Hayter, who died in 1762, inclusive, have been buried in Fulham churchyard.^^2 Of the same opinion were Dr. Edward Rainbow, Bishop of Carlisle ; Sir Matthew Hale, who used to say that churches were for the living, and churchyards for the dead f Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, who " did not hold God's house a meet repository for the greatest saint;'' and Wm. Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore, who made a Canon in his Synod to the following effect : — '^ IX. Ut Corpora Defunctorum deinceps in Ecclesiis non humentur, sed nee intra quintum pedem a pariete extrorsum." ^ Menagiana, Tome iii., p. 331. ^ Cole's MSS., vol. iv., p. 100. 3 The Assembly at Edinburgh, in 1581, prohibited the burying in kirks. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 99 Sir Thomas Latymer, of Braibroke, in Northamptonshire, by his will directed thus : — '^ I Thomas Latymer of Braybroke a fals knyghte to God, &c. my wrecchyd body to be buried where that ever I dye in the next Chirche Yerde God vouchsafe and naut in the Chirche, but in the utterist Corner, as he that ys unworthy to lyn therein, save the merci of God/' Dr. Isaac Barrow, Bishop of St. Asaph, was buried in a church- yard, although, from his having generously repaired and endowed his Cathedral, he might be considered to have a claim of interment within its walls ; and Baldwin, the great civilian, severely censures this indecent liberty, and questions whether he shall call it a super- stition or an impudent ambition. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canter- bury, was the first who made vaults under the chancel, and even under the altar, when he rebuilt the choir of Canterbury, about 1075.1 But the interment of persons even in churchyards, situate in the midst of great cities and towns, has been considered unwholesome ; for, in order to prevent the further accumulation of mortal remains in the City of Paris, the Council of State, in 1785, directed the largest of the cemeteries to be converted into a square, and the bones of seven centuries to be removed; and within three years from that time, the remains of nearly a million and a half of people were deposited at the catacombs. During the Revolution, the same course was observed with respect to the other burial places, so that these vaults now contain innumerable generations. In 1790, the National Assembly passed a law, ordering all the cities, towns, and villages of the kingdom to abandon their ancient burial-grounds, and to make new cemeteries without their precincts. In consequence of this law, three cemeteries were inclosed for Paris without the Barriers, viz. those of Montmartre, of Pere la Chaise, and of Vaugirard.2 In addition to what has been already said on the irreligious and unwholesome custom of burying in churches, the opinion of the 1 Cole's MSS., vol. iv. 2 It had been well if the Revolutionists had been contented with this cliange, but in Nov. 1793, they ordered that in all Burial Places a monument should be erected, representing Sleep, under vrhich was to be placed the following inscription, " Death is an Eternal Sleep." 100 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Rev. Mr. Colbatch, in the Register of Great and Little Abingdon^ is thus expressed : — " Burial without a Coffin, 1^* For a Grave in the Church, 6'- 8^- In the Chancel, 13'- 4^^' But the most honorable grave of any man Avh at soever, is in the Churchyard, because that shows most honor to God^s House. The great first Christian Emperor Constantine, and many of his successors, were buryed in the Churchyard.^^^ The Parish Registers of Burials, as to correctness, are generally considered to be next to that of marriages. The Abstract of the Population Returns (1801), mentions these to be deficient in the following particulars : — 1. Because many Congregations of Dissenters in towns, have their own Burial Ground, as have also the Jews and Roman Catholics in London. 2. Some persons, from motives of poverty or convenience, inter their dead without any ceremony.^ 3. Children who died before baptism are not registered, and have no ceremony. 4. Negligence in small benefices, where the minister is not resident. 5. Many in Army and Navy die abroad. But for the purpose of recording the death of individuals, the erection of monuments and tombstones form a very valuable aux- iliary, although they are often much exposed to decay and destruction. The monuments and tombstones in and prior to the sixteenth century were very generally inlaid with brass-plates, on which were engraved figures representing the deceased, with sometimes his widow and children, and underneath, his name and the date of his decease, with other particulars ; over these figures were frequently representations of the cross, or some popish device or ejaculation, such as " Orate pro anima,^^ &c. At, and subsequently to, the ^ A great change has within the last ten years taken place in England. All church- yards in the metropolis have been closed, and burials in any church or churchyard, absolutely forbidden, except with the authority of the Secretary of State, which is rarely obtained.— See 13th and 14th Yict., cap. 52 — 14th and 15th Vict., cap. 89 — 15th and 16th Vict., cap. 85. 2 At Newcastle, more burials take place in unconsecrated ground called tfie Ballast Hills, than at the church and chapels altogether, and of these no Kegister is kept. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 101 Keformation^ this afforded a pretext for persons to strip them off, and leave nothing but the bare stone, with the matrices or moulds wherein the plates had been, and thus all information from that source was destroyed. Dr. Berwick, in his Querela Cantabrigiensis, notices one of these zealots. " One who calls himself John'' (it should be W"-) " Dow- sing, and by virtue of a pretended Commission, goes about y* country like a Bedlam, breaking glasse windows, having bat- tered and beaten downe all our painted glasse, not only in our Chappels, but (contrary to order) in our Publique Schools, Colledge Halls, Libraries, and Chambers, mistaking, perhaps, y^ liberall Artes for Saints (which they intend in time to pull down too) and having (against an order) defaced and digged up y*' floors of our Chappels, many of which had lien so for two or three hundred years together, not regarding y® dust of our founders and predecessors, who likely were buried there ; compelled us by armed Souldiers to paiy forty shillings a Col- ledge for not mending what he had spoyled and defaced, or forthwith to goe to prison.'' In the Churchwardens accounts of Walberswich, Suffolk, is : — '' 1644, April 8th, paid to Master Dowson, that came with the troopers to our Church, about the taking down of Images and Brasses off Stones . . . . .060" " 1644, paid that day to others for taking up the brasses of grave stones befor the officer Dowson came . 1 " This William Dowsing, it appears, kept a Journal of his eccle- siastical exploits.^ With reference to the Church of Toffe, he says : — " Will : Disborugh Church Warden Richard Basly, and John Newman Cunstable, 27 Superstitious pictures in glass, and ten other in stone, three brass inscriptions. Pray for y^ Soules, and a Cross to be taken of the Steeple {6s. Sd.) and there was divers Orate pro Animabus in y® windows, and on a Bell, Ora pro Anima Sanct^ Catharine." " Trinity Parish, Cambridge, M. Frog, Churchwarden, De- M * This Journal was published iif 1786, in quarto, and may be seen in the British useum. 102 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. cember 25, we brake down 80 Popish pictures, and one of Christ and God y* Father above." " At Clare, we brake down 1,000 pictures superstitious." " Cochie, there were divers pictures in the Windows which we could not reach, neither would they help us to raise the ladders." " 1643, Jan'' 1, Edwards parish, we digged up the steps, and brake down 40 pictures, and took off ten superstitious inscriptions." Mr. Cole, in his MS S. observes : — " From this last Entry, we may clearly see to whom we are obliged for the dismantling of almost all the gravestones that had brasses on them, both in town and country : a sacrilegious, sanctified rascal, that was afraid, or too proud, to call it St. Edward's Church, but not ashamed to rob the dead of their honours, and the Church of its ornaments. — W.C." '^ Lowestoft (1644). In the same year, also, on the 12th of June, there came one Jessop, with a Commission from the Earl of Manchester, to take away from gravestones all inscrip- tions on which he found Orate pro anima — a wretched Com- missioner not able to read or find out that which his commis- sion enjoyned him to remove, he took up in our Church so much brasse, as he sold to Mr. Josiah Wild for five shillings, which was afterwards (contrary to my knowledge) runn into the little BeU, that hangs in the Town-house. There were taken up in the middle Ayl twelve pieces belonging to twelve generations of the Jettours." It is not to be wondered that Mr. Cole's wrath should be kin- dled against this- individual, who left in Mr. Cole's native county so many marks of his devastating presence, and more especially, as monuments, &c. for the dead, were excepted in the Act under which this Wm. Dowsing claimed to derive his authority. In that year (1643) one of the Bills proposed to King Charles, at Oxford, by the Lords and Commons, enacts : — '* That all altars and rails be taken away out of Churches and Chapels before April 18, 1643, and that the Communion Table be fixed in some convenient part in the Body of the Church. That all Tapers, Candlesticks, Basons, Crucifixes, REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 103 Crosses, Images, Pictures of Saints and Superstitious Inscrip- tions in Churches or Churchyards be taken away or defaced. This is not to extend to any Image, Picture, or Monument for the Dead/' But Dowsing was not the only destroyer of monuments, for on the dissolution of Monasteries, the choir of Atleburgh, in Norfolk, (because it belonged exclusively to a College) was given by the King to Robert, Earl of Sussex, " who being of a covetous dis- position, not only pulled down and spoiled the Chancel, but also pulled up many fair marble gravestones of his ancestors, with monuments of brass upon them, and other fair good pavement, and carried them and laid them for floors in his hall, kitchen, and larder-house,^' where they were lying when the account thereof in the Register was taken. The parish churchyard-wall of Tottington, in the same county, is topped with large coffin stones, with crosses of various forms on them; they were formerly laid over the vicars, or other religious persons buried here, and have since been taken from their graves and applied to the present use. The church of St. Nicholas, at Yarmouth, has many monumental stones, the brasses of which were, in 1551, sent to London to be cast into weights, measures, &c. for the use of the town. But it is not an uncommon practice at the present day to make use of the broken tombstones in paving, &c. and provided they have not been wilfully or negligently destroyed, and the friends of the deceased do not repair them, it may not be an improper use of the frag- ments.^ It is, however, deserving of notice, that in 1809 the Parish of Camberwell advertised for families to repair the old tombstones of their friends, in default of doing which they would be removed altogether. The subject of Tombstones and their Inscriptions will be noticed again in a future chapter. Some specimens of remarkable or imperfect Registers, will now be given. Granciter. " Edwardus Ward Infans, filius Edwardi, cujus Mater c~u Ferro inhumanissimae eu interfecit, eodemq. tempore et In- * The Athenians were so strict, tffat they would not admit any to be Magistrates, who had not taken care of their parents sepulchre. 104 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. stnimento eod. seipsam vita spoiliavit. Infans in Cemetrio 10 Maii est sepultus; Mater vero quasi Christiana Sepultura indigna sepulta fuit in Agro, 1640/'^ Little Brickhill. This Register contains the names of forty-two criminals who were executed here between 1561 and 1620, the Assizes being formerly held here. *' Cecely Reves was buried the same day, burned.'^ St. Peter'Sj Cambridge. '' Mr. Thickpenny— -Mr. Betson— Mr. Archer.'' Houghton le Spring. ''Robert Green, bonesetter, bur. 10 March, 1696.'' St. Benedict, Cambridge. "Nephew to my Ldy Newell buried Nov^- 20, 1581." Torporley, Cheshire. " Richard Welde Papist & Excommunicate 20 Aug. at night, 1626." Merborough, Yorkshire. " 1696, Feb^'- 26, bur. John Fairbum, extremely wanted in the Town and Parish." Register of Westminster Abbey. " Sir W"- Bartly, who died hon*''^' in his maj^'^^* service at sea, and was embalmed by the Hollanders (who had taken y^ ship wherein he was slaine), & sent ove by y™ into Engl** at the request and charges of his relations, w* bury'^ in y^ N. He ofy^Mon^^ Aug. 1666." " Mr. Cowley, a fam' poet, wa" bur^ at y* foot of y^ steps, K. H. 7th Ch. Aug. 17, 1667." " Lodevick, Duke of Richmond, and Lennox, L*^ Steward of His Maj*y^^ Household, dyed Feb. 16, 1623, and was buried ^ Formerly a plot of ground " farre from the Parish Church, was set apart for tlio Women from the Stews in Southwark, called the Single Woman's Church Yard." —Fuller, 1545. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 105 y* next day in a little chap* on the south side of K. H. 7th's monum*, and his funerals were solemniz'^ Ap*^ 19, 1624/^ St. Giles, Durham. ''John Trotter, an Informer , bur. 2 June, 1613." St. Mary le Bow, Durham. '' Mr. Thomas Edlin, a strainger, one which taught to daunce, bur. 11 May, 3620." Granciter. " Tres Norfolciences e Collegio Corporis Christi, viz., Johes Butler, Thomas Owles, Robertus Smith, in Amne submersl ac Sepulti, 17 Maii, 1574." . " Martha Godfrey aetatis 9 annorum et Ricus Godfrey, 5 annor liberi Cutberti & Isabellas Godfrey, miserere in medio noctis moriebantur igne ac Domus consumata fuit 3 Sep. 1581, sepulti simul in uno sepulchre 4*^ die Dnico." Sockburn, Durham. " Alice, the Wife of John Conyers, of Dinsdell, Gent., depted to the mercy of God the second of November, 1637, and was buried the ffifth day of the same." Brignal, York. " 9 Sep. 1674, Alexander Willis, Cancianus dum forte calo- graphiam hie dociut variolis correptus mortem obiit." Landbeche. " 1538, 2 Nov : M. James Hutton, Pryst depted unto God." " 1539, 21 Aug : Joan, wiffe of John Sowde, depted owte of this worlde to the mercy of God." Bishop Wearmouth, Durham. " Marget, a Woman of Sunderland, bur. 2 Dec. 1590." " John, a Servant fro Farnton Hall, June 20, 1596." " A woman in the water, 8 Feb^, 1596." ''1621, Dec. 30, John, a child from the Pannes, foreswome of his Father, forsaken of his Mother." " 1622, Jan : 13, ^garbary, a poor wench that came from Suddicke." 106 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. " Three men of Hartlepoole, 27 Dec. 1596." " Jeremy Read, Billingham, in Kent, bringer of the plague of which died about thirty persons out of Sunderland, in 3 months, sepult, July 5*^ leeS.-*' " Elizabeth the wife, Richard the son, and Alice the daughter of Thomas Thornton of Wearmouth, all three burnt to death in his house that day, July 2, 1686." " Robert, daughter of William Thompson, bap. 15 Feb. 1730, the midwife mistaking the sex, ebrietas dementat." Chester le Street j Durham. " Ellis Thompson, Insipiens,^ Gul Lambton Militis, bur. 26 April, 1627." Escomby Durham. " A linger wild was bur. 2 Aug. 1676." Wickham, Durham. " A West Countryman, 4 May, 1649." ^* A man that was shot bii the Scotish Centres, in the mea- dowes, as he was comeing up the water in a boate, 3 Sept : 1644." '^ 1626, this present year one Annas Gaskell, wife to Anthony Gaskell, bore at one birth fower p^fect women children, wherof one had life and stirred after it was borne, the rest all three still borne, and were all buried in one grave 25th of March." " Rob Moores and a child that was drowned in a pitt on the fell in the time the people was in the fell in lodgeSj bur. 1647." Bishop Middleham, Durham. " A poore maide of Cornforth, having a decease in a legge, buried Maii 20, 1591." " A peregrine woman dying at Cornfourth, was buryed here, 9 Jan. 1631." " A Scotsman and souldier, dying at Cornforth, y® souldiers themselves buryed him, without any minister, or any prayers over him, y^ 4**" November, 1644." ^ The Dome.4ic Fool. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 107 Staindropy Durham. " William Joplin, a souldier slaine at the seidge of Raby Castle/ was buried in the church 27 Aug. 16i8. Mem. Many souldiers slaine before Raby Castle, which were buried in the parke and not registered." Hart J Durham. ''DecM7, 1596, Ellen Thompson Fornicatrix (and then excommunicated) was buried of y^ people/ in y^ chaer at y® entrance unto y® yeate or stile of y*^ churchyard, on the east thereof.'^ '- " FeVy 12, 1641, Old Mother Midnight, of Elwick, buried." Allhallows, Bread .Street J London. " 1643, the 6**^ of October was buried at Lawrence Poultney^s, Captain John Jackson.^ He died at Mr. Gethins of his honour- able wounds received at the fight of Newbury. Colonel Harvie, with his regiment of horse attending ; his troops, so near as they could to the place of his burial, and others his friends on foot, followed the bier. He died in the faith of the gospel. Received, \& %\" 1 No account has been preserved of this siege. — Sir G. Sharp^ p. 17. 2 "Quibus non licet dari Ecclesiasticum Sepulturam — pubUcis excommunicatis majori excommunicatione : Interdictis nominatim et iis qui sunt in loco interdicto, eo durante. Se ipsos occidentibus ob desperationem, vel iraeundiam (non tamen, si ex insania id accidat) nisi ante mortem dederit signa poenitentise. lis de quibus publico constat, quod semel in anno non susceperunt sacramenta Confessionis et Communionia in pascha, et absque ullo signo contritionis obierent. Infantibus mortuis absque bap- ti^mor— Hit. Rom. Ven., 1663. A part of the cliurchyard was sometimes left unconsecrated, for the purpose of burying excommunicated persons. In Southwark there was formerly a burial ground, called " The Single Woman's Church- Yard," in which were buried the inmates of the licensed stews, who were generally excommunicated. Henry VII I., although dying excommunicated, had his obsequies solemnly performed at Paris by command of Francis the French King. There is still a superstition in some of the northern parts of England, to the preju- dice of that part of the churchyard which Hes to the north of the church, and in some parishes this spot was unoccupied, while the other parts of the churchyard were crowded. The cause of this prejudice is said to be the idea, that the northern part was that appropriated for the interment of unbaptized infants, of persons excommunicated, or that have been executed, or that have laid violent hands upon themselves. It was sometimes called, "^Ae wrong side 9fthe church." ^ Qy. Juxon. 108 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. St. Anne's, Blachfriars. " ]579, Aug. 4, John Lacone, infamously buried, for killing himself desperately.^' '^1580, March 21, William, fool to my Lady Jerningham.'^ '' 1594, Robert Halle, servant to Tysse Cutler, who did hang himself, and was buried at the Thames, hard by Blackfriers Bridge/' *^ 1626-7, Feb. 9, Lady Luson's corpse carried away/' St. Andrew's, Holhorn, " 1641, Nov. 19, Tho^- Baskerfield, a captayne." "1642, Nov. 21, Ralph Wallcott, Gent., died at Lord Brooke's house in Holborn on 19th, being shott with a bullet at y^ fight near Brainford on the 12th : was buried in our church." " 1643, July 6, Nathaniel Tomkins, Esq., who was executed at Fetter Lane end the 5th, being found to be one of y® con- spirators against this City of London, was buried here." The Temple, London. " TT ' i/l Elizabeth Harrison and Ann Price (were , I I murther'd in Tanfield Court), and buried both p . i i^ ^^® Grave in the Temple Church Yard on j -^ Wednesday the seventh of February, 1732, 3." Ledia Duncomb was murther'd in Tanfield 1 Court on Sunday morning the fourth day of " Duncomb. J> February, and was buried on Friday the ninth day of y^ same month, in the Rounds of the -^ Temple Church, 1732, 3."^ " Richard Aske, one of the Judges of the Upper Bench, and late one of the Masters of the Bench of the Hon''^^ Societie of the Inner Temple, was buried in the Temple Church above the stepps at the Vpper end near the litle doore one Tuesday being Midsummer day, 1656." " Cheife of y® councell at the murdering of King Charles the first." ^ Sarah Malcomb was hanged on a gibbet opposite Mitre Court, in Fleet Street, for the murder of Mrs. Duncomb (an old Lady of 80), Mrs. Harrison, her Companion, and Ann Price, a Servant Girl. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 109 St. Bartholomew, Broad Street, ''1581, Mr. Francis Bowyer, Alderman, buried in St. Mi- chael's Church ; but the solemnities^ of his funeral were ministered in this, the 7 of August." " Sir Stephen White's Lady.'^ ^ Qi/. If these " Solemnities," at the church, did not consist of the Funeral Sermon, with a display of the hearse, adorned with armorial ensigns, &c., probably the wine, wafers, gloves, and rosemary, were distributed at the same time. It was the fashion to provide wafers, &c., at funerals ; thus, in the obituary of Kichard Smith : he says, " Jany 2, 1671, died M*" Cornelius Bee, buried 4 January, at S. Bartholomew's, with- out sermon, without wine or wafers ; onely gloves and rosemary." And in the Parish Register of Bruton is the following : « 1668, June 6. The R' Honor^'^ Charles Lord Viscount Fitz Harding was, between 12 and one of the clock in the night, after a sermon preached by Mr. John Randall then Minister of Brewton, buried in the vault in the Chancell, in a coffin of lead." In Whimsies^ 1631, is mentioned " Biet Breads Comfits^ Sf burnt Claret^ to wel- come in her Neighbours, now at her departing" A rare Tract of 1698, has some curious notices of the origin of the Trade of Undertakers, and they are deemed of sufficient interest to be recorded in this Volume. The writer says, " But there are several projects of late that have obtained reputation, to the pre- judice of the fore-mentioned manufacture, one whereof is the furnishing of funerals, by a small number of men called undertakers, who always keep by them all necessaries and proper materials to fit and accommodate funerals, viz. cloaks, hangings, coach coverings, &c. ; so that such persons who formerly were at great expences in mourning ior their relations and friends, may now, for a small matter, have all things fitted for that purpose ; and though, it's true, when gentlemen bought tliose things themselves, they made a less show, yet it did bring more advantage to the nation, such things being generally spent within the compass of one year : but by this invention one cloak and other necessaries do serve several years, and furnish some hundred funerals, work- ing journey-work as long as one thread will hang to another. And this is not only an enemy to the consumption of the woollen manufacture, but very injurious to many tradesmen, as weavers, drapers, tailors, glovers, &c. For these gentlemen the under- takers are good husbands, pinchingly buying all things in gross and at first hand, and tradesmen employed under them have very low rates, no better than tailors have of salesmen ; for it must needs be detrimental to our nation to diminish its number of labourers and lower the prices. * " Moreover, since the method of these undertakers have got footing, persons of ordi- nary rank, may for the value of fifty pounds, make as great a figure, as the nobility and gentry did formerly with the expence of more than five hundred pounds. The undertakers are great gainers, because one suit of mourning furniture will serve about an hundred times ; so that hence there not only happens a less consumption, but the gayety and splendour both of the nobility and gentry is hereby very much eclipsed, so that not many of them do in this «Kceed the show of the common people, except some few of the nobility, who lie a considerable time in state, so that it is vei-y clear that 110 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. St. Benedict Finkj London. " 1542, the 5 May, was buried Thomas Pickerell, a Beads- man of St. Anthony's.! '^ 1660, On the morning after the fire in Sweetings Alley, July 12, was buried a strange maid out of Edward Barbour's house, being Daughter to one who pretended to be a pro- phetess, who named herself Mima Hecres, but would not declare neither her own right name, nor the maid's ; yet, the maid being searched by Mrs. Staughton, was found to die of a fever, and so was permitted to be buried." Hartlepool, Durham. " 5 Oct. 1673. Tho : Smailes was buryed and crowned by a Jury of twelve men, and John Harrison supposed to murder him. John Harrison of Seaton was executed at Durham for murthering Tho. Smailes.'' Norton, Durham. '^ A. D. 1608, y 17th of March this yeare and daye came Will Peerckhuse, one of the household Svants of S"" Will Blakiston, Knight, and did signifye to us from hys s^ Mr. y® Yicar and Churchwardens of the p'rish of Norton, that his said Mr. wold from this day forward confyne himselfe to his Manor house of Blakiston, &c. according to the statute." "March 22, 1756, bur: the heart and bowells^ of the right honorable James Earl of Wemyss. The remains was buried with his Ancestors at Weyms Castle in Scotland, the 8*^ day of April." Denham. " Edmundus Peckham, Esq'' sonne of S^ George Peckham, July 18, 1856. On the same day was the harte of S^ Robert Peckham, Knight, buried in the vault under the Chappell." twenty or thirty of those sort of men do greatly hmder the consumption of our wollen manufacture, and consequently destroy the livelyhoods of many thousand fami- lies."— pp. 6, 7. * Some general considerations offered relating to our present trade, and intended for its Help and Improvement, by T. T., Merchant, Lond. 1678. Small quarto. Lam- downe Tracts, Lond. Inst. vol. 157, Art. 8. 1 St. Anthony's Hospital was formerly situated opposite this church. 2 An entry of a similar nature will frequently be met with. Where it was desired to remove the body to a great distance for burial, it was necessary to deprive it of its internals, which were generally buried where the individual happened to die. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Ill Wooburn, Bucks, " 1700, Cadaver Ed* Thomas, equitis aurati, hie inhumatum fuit vieessimo tertio die Junii/' Hawsted. " 1589, The Funerall of the Right Worshipfull Sir William Drury, Knight, was executed 10 March/' '^1700, M"^ Thomas Cullum, buried 27 Dec. As the said M*" Cullum was a gentleman, there is 24^ to be paid for his Buriall.^'i Egglescliffe, Durham, " 1638, Henry Nicholson, commonly called Old Harry of Egglescliffe was buried." " 1644, In this year there died of the plauge in this towne, one and twenty people : they are not all buried in the church- yard, and are not in the Register ."^ Great Durnford. " 1627. 11 Julii Agneta Cooper Vidua, in Campis." " 28 Julii Arthurus Phippes in clauso ejus.'' Sherborne, Dorsetshire. (Circ : 1538) " William Howel, Hermit of St. John Bap- tist." ^ In addition to what is said at p. 30, about this Tax on Burials, &c., it may be interesting to know how this Act came to be passed. Prior to the Revolution, the provincial Kings of Arms had visited their divisions, receiving Commissions for that purpose from the Sovereign, by which means the funeral certificates, the descents, and alliances of the nobility and gentry had been properly registered in the College of Arms, and became records in all the Courts of Law. These Commissions were refused after James had left the kingdom. The College therefore, to supply the defect, pre- sented a petition to Parliament in 1693, praying to have a Bill enacted to enable them to register Certificates of the deceases, burials, marriages, and issues of the nobility and gentry, founded upon the former usage of such Certificates taken by the officers of arms, and the discontinuance of Visitations and Inquisitions, post mortem. The Ministry, however, at that time being distressed for ways and means to raise the great demands they had for money to carry on an extensive war, instead of listen- ing to the reasonableness of the matter, made it a Money Bill to supply the exi- gencies of state ; obtaining An Act for a Tax on Marriages^ Births^ and Bttrials. — See Noble's Coll. of Arms, p. 316. 2 The circumstance of persons being buried in the fields, who had died of the plague, will, in many cases, satisfactorily account for the discovery of human bones, in the vicinity of towns and viHiges. A field at Ealing, where those who died of the plague were buried, is still called Dead Man's Field. 112 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Sproxton, Leicestershire, '' 1768, a Tom^ Bedlam, buried Dec : 22." Wandsworth, " Richard Kilshar, an Innocen buried Ap* 13 1634/^ Kyloe, Northumberland, ^'Bur Dec. 7 1696, Henry y^ son of Henry Watson, of Fen- wick who lived to the age of 36 yeare and was so great a fooU, that he never could put on his own close, nor never went a quarter of a mile off y® house, in all this space /^ Loughborough. " 1579, Roger Shepherd, Son in Law to Nicholas WoUands, was slain by a lioness which was brought into the town to be seen of such as would give money to see her. He was sore wounded in sundry places, and was buried the 26*^ day of August.'^ Barwell, " 1655, Mr. Gregory Isham, attorney and husbandman, Oct: 7:' Salehurst, Sussex. " 1683 Oct. 5, Bur'^ Peter Sparke aged 120 odd years.'' Newington Butts. " John Arris & Derwick Farlin in one Grave being both Dutch soldiers, one killed the other drinking brandy, buried Nov. 1, 1689.^' " Nicholas Lloyd, Rector & D.D. and Herbert Rogers, Clerk of the Parish, both lay dead and unburied at the same time, Dec. 1, 1680.'' Lambeth, " Magdalen Skynner, was buried Dec. 4, 1560, all her goods came to but £4 which was given to the Poor by the com- mandment of My Lord of Canterburie." Ashborn. " The first plague in Ashborne, 1594." " S*^ Edw^ Cokayn buried and 2nd plague." REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 113 '^ 1650. Buried Emma Wife of Thomas Toplis, who was found delivered of a child after shee had layne 2 houres in her grave." Ripe. '^ William Wade who died as a stranger, for whose mor- tuary/ I, John Goffe, parson of Ripe, had his upper garment which was an old coate, and I receaved for the same 6 ^-'^ " 1634. I buried Alice Whitesides Feb. 22^ who being but one weeke in the parish of Ripe, died as a stranger, for whose mortuary, I, John Goffe, had a gowne of Elizabeth her Daughter, price 10^ " Croydon. "Mary Woodfield, aP Queen of Hell, from the College, aged 90 buried Febv 18, 1788." Clovelly, Devon. " Catherine Rowe, a pattern of Industry and a good Neigh- bour, Augt 6, 1773." " Christian Meek, truly deserving of that name, Aug* 7, 1773." "Emlyn Wife of Richard Crews, eminent for a meek and peaceable disposition, Oct. 26, 1773." Misterton. " John Father of Major (who was bought off by his Father, after enlisting, and had the meanness and ingrati- tude to suffer the said Father to be subsisted many years by the parish) was buried at the parish charge, Feb^y 28, 1784." Great Wigston. " 1601. Infantula quoedam peregrini Edwardi Paylton, pictoris, nocturno tempore post festum omnium Sanctorum proxime sequente, k parentibus aut ab aliis quibusdam, et cum magno ejus vitse periculo, inhumanissime deposita et parochianarum sexentales tantummodo, cujus nomen prorsus ^ " A Mortuary was the second best quick cattel whereof the party dipd possessed." It was given in lieu of small tythes forgotten. — Fuller^ p. 83. These arbitrary exactions were forbidden by the 21 Hen. VIII. cap. 6, which, after noticing doubts as to mortuaries or corse -presents^ and that they had been levied on those who at death had no property in goods or chattels, and many times " from travelling and wayfaring men in the places where they fortuned to die ; " prohibits the taking of them from any persoiWiaving goods under ten marks value — under £30. a mortuary of 3*. 4id. to be taken ; under £40. Qs. ^d. ; and above £40. 10*. 8 114 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. ignoramus, more Christiano sepulta fuit 23" die Decembris/' "1771, June 15. Jonathan Kiss, a poor boy of Wigston, aged 11, apprentice to Hadan Dan, was buried. He got his death as supposed, by another boy^s stamping on his belly, which broke the rim,'^^ Christ chu7^ch, Hants. " April 14, 1604. Christian Steevens, the wife of Thomas Steevens, was buried in childbirth, and buried by women, for she was a papishe.'^ Alrewas. " 1644. Johannes Elison die Dominica 4° die Augusti 1644 d~u oves pascit in Campis per Militem pcussus et vulnerat in cerebro, ex quo vulnere usque ad sextum diem languebat, et tunc mortem obiit, et septimo die ejusdem sepultus est, et eodem die miles predict, apud Lichfield suspensus est.'' Waterheche. " 1679, 10 Dec. Francis Wilson, excommunicated, buried in his orchard. '^ Barnard Castle, " 1650, 10 November. Jonathan son of Mr. John Rogers, minister, bur."^ St. Mary Major, Cambridge. "1627, March 13. A boy that was anatomized at the Schools.'' St. Michael's J Cambridge. " 1573. Father Freer, Feb^ 1." " 1590. Pagrave of Keys, Aug. 20." " Mr. Bendley of Keis Coll." ] " Mr. Bolt of Keis Coll." Wo dates. " Mr. Bogin of Trin. Coll." J Bassingbourn, Cambridge. "Mr. Kettle, the King's falkner, bur. 5 June, 1654." " A Soldier, a young man with a red coate and blacke hayrd of Norfolke, died and was bur, 22 Dec. 1644." ^ Diaphragm. 2 A Brass in the Chancel says — " He peep'd into the World, where he could see Nought but confusion, sinne and misery, Thense scap'd into his Sav'or's amies, thus hee Gott heaven, for fourteen days mortality." REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 115 Sandwich. " John Stokkers loove. (widow.)" Burnhaniy Bucks. "The Queen's Footman's Child, 24 Aug: 1570.'' "The Queen's Launder, 3 Nov'' 1575." " Snow's wife, 30 March, 1584." " A Runagate Wench, 4 Jan^, 1587-8." " Maude the childe of a Roague, 9 May, 1586." Chesterton, Cambridge. " 1570. Mother Corie was buried, 21 Dec : " Croft, Yorkshire. "Jane, a Stroler, bur. 9 Jan. 1738." Litlington, Cambridge. "Roger Storton, buried July 1, 1704, Mortuary paid 10'^." Trinity, Cambridge: "Dr. Bowlton's cousen was buried in the chancel, July 16, 1693." Stathern, Leicester. "1713. Sarah Trentham, Roberti Uxor, Septimana circiter spatio, nupsit, parturiit, obiit, sepulta, est." Enfield. " Nicholas Bret, servant to Sir George Villiers, was killed in the chace by a buck, in hunting with King James, sepult September 23, 1615." Bridgnorth, Salop. "A poore cripple woman was buried the same day, 1628." Davington, Kent. "A poore child kept in the parish, Jan. 3, 1640." Great Bur stead.. " Elizabeth Wattes, widdow, some tyme the wyffe of Thomas Wattes, the blessed marter of God, who, for his treuth, suffered his marterdom in the fyer at Chelmesford, the xxij day of May, in the an° dni 1555, in the reign e of Queene Mary, was buryed the 10 day, 1599, so she lived a widdow after his death xliiij yeres, and fro' the 22 of May to the 10^*^ of July, and made a good end, like a good Christian woman, in God's name pased." 116 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Kensington. " 1648. A Lieutenant, was shot by William Parr, his name not known, 21»* December/^ Coienham. '' 1606. Old M"- Russell/' " 1625. Mr. Langham." Thorrington, Essex. "A Mayde from the Mill.'' "A Tinker of Berye in Suffolk." "^"Goodwife Lee, 1719." In another Parish (mentioned by Mr. Bigland) . '' Black John." « A Prentice of Mr. Kitford." Burham, Kent. " Mr. Ward buried a man." St. John, Newcastle. " Seven poor things out of the Warden close, bur. 1 Dec, 1636." Uokinton. " 1768. Ric Cole felo de se, buried as such." St. Mary's^ Suffolk. ^'1577. John Fuller and Adam Walker, slayne in the tempest in the belfry in the tyme of prayer, upon the Lord's day y* iiij^*^ day of August."^ Buxtedj Sussex. " 1666. Richard Bassett, the old clarke of this Parish, who had continued in the offices of clarke and sexton for the space of 43 years, whose melody warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone, was buried the SO**" of Sept., 1666." Parham, Sussex. " 1594. Widow Duke on the Common, being excommuni- cated, was laid in the Churchyard, Nov'^* 4." 1 An awful storm.— See N'otes and Queries, 1857, p. 314. This occurrence gave rise to the wonderful legend of " the black dogge of Bungay." — " This black dog, or the divel in such a likenesse (God he knoweth who worketh all !), running all along down the church with great swiftnesse and incredible haste among the people, in a visible fourm and shape, passed between two persons as they were kneeling upon their knees and occupied in prayer, as it seems, wrung the necks of them bothe in one instant clene backwards, insomuch that even at a moment where they kneeled, they strangely dyed."~See the Eev. W. Suckling's Collections /or Suffolk— Narratives of the JReformation, by J. G-. Nichols, F.S.A., p. 51. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 117 Weedon Becky Northamptonshire. " William Radhouse, the elder, dying excom*^, was buried by stealthe, in the night time, in y® churchyard, y*^ 29**^ day of January, 1615, whereupon y® church was interdicted a fortnight.'^! Lamesley, Durham. " 1678, Anne Marley, wrapped in sheepskins, bur." Hokinton. ^^ Wee, Frances Norris and Anne Stonnaxe, of the Hamlet of Westwick, do make oath, that Matthew Lynton, of West- wick, buried 13 Oct., 1678, was not put in, wrapt up, or wound up or buried, in any shirt, shift, sheet, or shroud, made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold, or silver, or other than what is made of sheeps' wool only ; nor in any coffin lined or faced with any cloth, stuff, or any other thing whats^, made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold, or silver, or any other material but sheeps' wool only. Dated 18 Oct., 1678. Thos. Buck." Gay ton, Northamptonshire. '' 1708. M^^ Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5 , in Linnen, and the forfeiture of the act payd fifty shillings to y® informer, and fifty shillings to y® poor of the parishe."^ 1 In the accounts of the churchwardens of St. Mary's, Cambridge, is a charge of 8<* ob : " for the new hallowing or reconcyling of our church, being interdicted at the buryall of Mr. Bucer, and the charge thereunto belonging, frankincens and sweet per- fumes for the sacrament, and herbes, &c." — Sari. MSS. 7044, p. 184. In 1630, persons were excommunicated for non-payment of fees, thus — "John Smythe, Nicholas Wakeley, with 11 persons more, were unduly ex- communicated, and were demanded 3^ 2S^/. Mary-le-BoWj Durham. " Christopher Bell, Gent., was lapped in linen, contrary to the late act, Dec, 1678.'^ The Register of Ramsay ^ Huntingdonshire, mentions 400 people who died there of the plague, in or about February, 1665, and that it was introduced into the place by a gentleman, who first caught the infection by wearing a coat, the cloth of which came from London : the tailor who made the coat, with all his family, died, as did no less than the number above mentioned. But the ravages made by the plague in London, about 1665, are well known : it was brought over from Holland, in some Levant goods, about the close of the year 1664 : its progress was arrested, in a great degree, by a hard frost which set in, in the winter; but as the spring of 1665 advanced, its virulence advanced. Infected houses were shut up and red crosses painted on the doors, with this inscription, " Lord have mercy upon us.'^ Persons going to market took the meat off the hooks themselves, for their own security, and for the Butchers', dropped their money into pans of vinegar ; for it was supposed that even their provisions were tainted with the infec- tion. In the months of August and September the greatest mor- tality occurred ; for the deaths of one week have been estimated at 10,000 ! It may be supposed, that no great accuracy existed in the Registers, to afford a correct estimate ; for, in the parish of Stepney, it is said they lost, within the year, 116 sextons, grave-diggers, and their assistants; and, as the disorder advanced, the churchyards were incapable of holding more bodies, and large pits were therefore dug in several parts,^ to which the dead were brought by cartloads, collected by the ringing of a bell and the mournful cry of " Bring out your dead.^-* Add to this, that these carts worked in the night, in a Brussels lace head dress, a holland shift with tucker, and double ruffles of the same lace, and a pair of new kid gloves. — Notes and Queries, 1861, p. 94. ^ St. Nicholas^ Durham. — " Twentie-seven buried at Shawwood, from the second daie of September untill the seaven daie of October, 1645 ;" and at WhickJiam is an account of those who died " in the plague in lodges upon the fell." REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 119 and no exact account was kept, as the clerks and sextons were averse to a duty exposing them to such dangerous consequences, and often themselves were carried off before such accounts as they had taken were delivered in. All the shops were shut up, grass grew in the most public streets, until about December, 1665, when the plague abated, and the citizens who had left their abodes for the country, crowded back again to their residences. The computation is, that this horrible disease carried off 100,000 persons in London ; it is singular, that the only parish quite exempt from infection was St. John the Evangelist, in Watling Street. St. Giles, Durham. " Ann Ourd, wyffe of Christopher Ourd, bur. 25 Jan., 1604. So aU the hole household dyed in the vicitacion^ at this time, and so y^ plague ceased.'^ Wadhurst, Sussex. " 1678. Damaris, the wife of Robert Gower, was buried Nov. 1**, 1674 (sine exequiis sepulta, non ob malum morale, sed ob infectionem morbillorum) , a good Christian.^^ St. Peter^s in the East, Oxford. *' William Merith, a Cornishman, a Stranger and Shirurgeon of the King^s Artillery, buried January 18, 1642.^' ''William Moore, a Captaine, buried February, 1642.'' " Richard Pricchard, a Liuetenant, bur. July 3, 1643.'^ a Liuetenant, buried July 13, 1643.'' " Mr. John Morgan, a Captaine, buried July 14, 1643." " Thomas Winter, Liuetenant, buried August 1, 1643." " Nicholas Sherman, one of his Maiestie's Servants." " A Cannonneer buried Octo. 6, 1643." " A Captayne buried Octo. 6, 1643." '' Anthony Harding, Captayne, buried 16 (Octo.), 1643." " Roger, Lord Vicount Rannalayh, was buried October 30, 1643." " Richard Lydall, Knight, buried December 16, 1643." " Captaine George Garnett, buried Apr. 15, 1646." St Ma7'y*s Reading. Burials. — " 1630, Jan. 10. Kathren Roose, apprehended for a wich." _ ______ ^ This word seems often used iu reference to the plague. 120 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. "1631, Aug. 11. Symon Wilkes, Gent'man, executed uppon p^sompson of murder ; but he denied it to death." '' Sir Edward Clarke, Knight, Steward of Eeading, his bo wells interred in St. Marie^s, his body carried to Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Jan. 11." St, Lawrence, Reading, Burials. — " 1635. A Stranger, choaked while he wished the same." '' 1642, Nov. 29. A Soldier." " 1642, Dec. 20. A Captaine's wife, who died at the Lower Shippe." " Jan. 13. A Soldier." " Jan. 23. A Soldier." Selborne. In the Register of this Parish is a regular entry made, twice, of the funeral of Thomas Cowper, Bishop of Winchester, as if he had been buried at Shelborne ; yet this learned prelate, who died 1594, was buried at Winchester Cathedral, near the Episcopal Throne. Little MarloWj Bucks. " Mary, the wife of William Borlase, July 18, 1625, a gra- tious ladye she was, dyed of the plague, as did 18 more." "Sir William Borlase, Sen'^-, died upon Friday, Sept. 4, buried the 10t^ the celebrating his funeral Oct. 6, 1628."^ West Wycombe, Bucks. " 1643. Homo occisus et sepultus fuit, Nov. 1." Mayfield, Sussex. " March 29, 1602. At two of y^ clock in the morning died that famous Prince,^ y^ peaceable and glorious mourning mother of the Church in her daies Queene Elizabeth." Saffron Walden. " 1716, Nov. 18. The oulde girle from the Workhouse was buried." ^ In the Middle Age, when persons of any consequence died, service with a corpus fictum, standing Hearse, &c. was performed in churches with which they had connec- tion, and many entries of such, as actual burials, occur in Parish Regrs , although the persons were interred elsewhere. Queen Ehzabeth was thus buried in all the churches of London. It was a Eoman custom.— jPo*5. JE'wc, 626. - This word was formerly used without respect to sex, and in an Act of Parliament, about 1700, Queen Anne is called King. REGISTEKS OF BURIALS. 121 Croydon. " 1604. A Waggoner's Child/' "Dec. 7, 1596. Old Megg.'' Esher. "Dec. 1, 1772. Bacchus, alias Hogtub_, alias Fat Jack, alias John, from L"^ Clive at Claremont, bur^.'' Cheshunt. Old Plod.'' Old Half-head." Barberry, an old maid, bur*^." "Feb. 7,1660. "July 25, 1716. "Oct. 24, 1692. Putney. " Nov. 30, 1622. "Feb. 2, 1623. "Ap. 28, 1630. " Oct. 3, 1648. Old Father Bromley." Mother Gammon.'^ Goodwife Young." Old Goodman Grove." Newington, Butts. " Mar. 1660. A Child of Adam Earth." " Nov. 9, 1695. Rich'^ Budds, a? Whistling Dick." Barnes. " Oct. 16, 1657. Old Honesty, al« Juett's Wife." Twickenham. "Mar. 17, 1593. The Cobler's chrisom child, bur^." Eltham. "A sucking man-child, bur^ Ap. 16, 1606." From Bigland's Observations are copied the following entries of burials : — Burials. A childe of the Earl of Northum- Old Mother Pummell berland Thomas Rawling's Wife Dorothy Giffard's Daughter A Londoner's Child A Sucking Child A Child of the Windmill Dr. Johnson's Lady Old Father Beadle A Nurse Child . Goodwife Goodall Mother Studdy Gammer Smith Old Good Wife Lewes Farmer Browne Tipling Tomlinson "The Widow Mitchell from the Ames H " (Alms House) Old Father Eritage " An oul man from the W. H." (Workhouse) 122 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Wart ling, Sussew. " 1659, Apr. 28. William Peckham, a very godly sufficient househiolder.'' Beckenham, Kent. " Anne Isted, a child, killed by the careless discharge of a pistol at the distance of 337 yards ^^ ! ! Great Staughton, Hunts. "1571. Sepulta fmt Margareta Pigrina barhata, 14° die Januarii.^^ " 1618. Sepulta Jana Poole, anicula 20 die Januarii.^' " Lucy Cosen, widdow, was married to Jo. Cosen (brother to her former husband) the 15th daie of December, 1659, at St. Neots, by the Mynister of the Towne, and at seaven of the clocke in the nighte.^' Hunstanworth, Durham. " 4 Nov^^, 1 709, Ann, Daughter of James Colling, who was 1 8 years of age, and never chewed bread, of stature not above a three years old child, the thickest part of her arms and legs not exceeding the thickness of a man's thumb.'' Medomsley. " 1622, John Stephenson, innosant buried the 20 De- cember." Richmondj Yorkshire. " 1705, Buried M' Matthew Hutchinson, vicar of Gilling, worth £50 year." Flamborough, York, " Lady Dorothy Fenwyke, the wife of Rob. Constable,^ Esq., bur. 23 Sep. 1583." St. Benedict Fink. " 1673, April 23, was buried M^ Thomas Sharrow, Cloth- worker, late Churchwarden of this parish, killed by an acci- dental fall in a vault, in London Wall, Amen Corner, by Paternoster Row, and was supposed had lain there eleven days and nights before any one could tell where he was, Let all that read this take heed of drink.^' St. James's, Clerkenwell. " 1585-6, Feb : 18, M^ Palmer, Esq : " ^ The notorious spy. — See Sadler's State Papers. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 133 " 1723, Oct. 1, M'' Michells brother in law carried to the Chapel (Q; an juste ?)''i St, Giles's, Cripplegate, " 1569, Alls Walsay, a nonne, was buried 3** June.^^ " 1604, Feb. 9, William Fox, Son of William Fox, Myn- strell."2 '^ 1607, June 8, the daughter of Richard Michell, Aquavity- man.^' ^ " A person was buried this month, accompanied by this note (from Abbots, a glover), a Quaker wiU not let it be searched." St. George'Sf Hanover Square. " 19, Henry Boyle Walsingham, O:' * Allhallows, Thames Street, " Jan. 20, 1631-2, Richard Clarke, a hopefull gentleman, Sonne to M^ Humphry Clarke, deputy of this Ward." St. Botolphj Bishopsgate, " 1692, March 27, Ann Lofthouse, aged 35. Fratrem soror sequitur quasi cursus semula; nos utrumque sequamur ad cailos." " 1703, April 17, Son of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, (stillborn)." St. Mary, Aldermanbury . " 1632, Dec. 3 and 15, buried two children of Sir Richard Saltington^s." Camberwell. " 2 June, 1687, Robert Hern and Elizabeth Bozwell, King and Queen of the Gipsies." 1 " For I seide I nolde Be buried at hire hous, But at my parisshe Chirche. For I herde ones How Conscience it tolde, That there a man were cristned Be kynde he sholde be buryed ; Or where he were parisshen, Right there he sholde be graven." — Piers Plowman^ line 6701. - N.B. — A great many Minstrels resided in the parish at this period. '^ Aqua Vita was made and sold by Barbers and Barber Surgeons. — Fosb. 362. ** C, a child under twelve years of age. 124 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Hartlepool. " Francis Heron, King of y® Faws, bur. 13 Jan. 1756." St. Martin's, Ludgate. '^ 1615, Feb : 28, was buried an anatomy from the College of Physicians." St. Gregory by Pauls. " W^ Tracy^ a yonge gent, who was slaine in the uprore betweene Paules and Ludgate the eight of February, buried 10 February, 1600." " Captayne William Wayte, who was slayne in resistance to the Erie of Essex and other his assotiates, the eight daye of February, 1600, buried 12 February, 1600." " Edward Nevet, Servant to S^ Christopher Blount, who was wounded in the uprore the eight of February, 1600, buried 16 February, 1600." ^ " One of the Bishoppe of St. Asaph, his men beinge slayne at Pawles Chayne, buried 14 March, 1580." ^ " Lawrence Middleton, Gent., who had his deathes wound in the Churchyard, was buried 29 April, 1589." " Morgan Aubry, slayne at Pawles Cheyne, buried 2 June, 1592." " Francis Bourd, Gent., slayne in St. Pawles Church-yard, buried 3 October, 1594." '^ John Pendringe, Gent., who receaved his deathes wound by Poules Cheyne in y^ street, buried 25 February, 1594." " John Bartlet, serving-man, slayne at the west ende of St. Paules Churche, buried 29 August, 1595." " John Fitz Williams, Gent., Servant to Sir Edward Dym- mocke. Knight, slayne in a Tavern, bm'ied 14 February, 1610." " A Woman, killed by the Lord Windsor's waggon horses, 9th Dec. 1586." " A Rogue against my Lord of London's Gate, 19 July, 1575." " Dr. John Hewytt, a Minister, 9 June, 1658." 3 ^ Vide the Account of the Earl of Essex's Rebellion in the Kistory of England. 2 Pauls Chain was a public walk, and the scene of frequent mortal encounters. 3 He was Rector of this parish, and was beheaded on Tower Hill on the 8th, for issuing Commissions in the service of Charles II. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 125 "Marye, y^ daughter of the Honourable Ladye Marye Hewytt, Widdow, 20 Oct. 1658.'^ St. Andrew, Newcastle. "The 21 day of August (1650) thes partes her under named wer executed in the Town mor for Wiches, — IsaV Brown, Margrit Maddeson, Ann Watson, Ellenor Henderson, Ellenor Rogers, Elsabeth Dobson, Mathew Bonner, M^^ Elisabeth Anderson, Jane Huntor, Jane Koupling, Margrit Brown, Margrit Moflfet, Ellenor Robson, for stellin of silver spownes, Kattren Wellsh for a Wich, Aylles Hume, Marie Postes." " The same day, prisoners executed on the town mor belong- ing to the hy Kastel and Jane Martin, the miliars wif of Chattin for a wich.^^ " Mr. John Fen wick of Bock, stabd Mr. Ffardinandoe Foster, Esq. parlyment man for Northumberland, the twenty-second day of August, 1701, betwixt the Whitt Cros and the Thorn- tree.'' " Mr. John Fenwick, of Bock, was hangd the 25th day of Sept. 1 701, for stabing Ffardinandoe Foster, Esq. of Bambra, a parlement man.'' " Elizabeth Harper, who lived in Sidgate, rip open her owin belle with a par o' sesers ; the wound was six enches long and her pudens cam out and lay on each sid of her, and was bur. 8 Aug. 1703." St. Leonard, Bhoreditch. " N° 20, ^ Eight persons buried from Thomas Boire's house ; 1575. J viz., his Wife, two Children, Servants, &c. Oct. 1." The very general terms in which the burial of these individuals (male or female) are recorded, are the more remarkable, as it does not appear that there was any particular sickness or disease pre- valent at the time. Great Carbrook, Norfolk. {Nata mori cur es, simul orta et mor- tua? Curheu! Natalis funis Venter et Urna fuit ?" "Mary, daughter of Edward Cathedral, minister of Carbrook, and Faith, his wife, died the 9*^ of August." ^^ fMuortua nascor. Ego periissem, ni periissem ; Kespons. ^j^jf^^^g^ ^^^^^^ Tumulus Alvus erit." 126 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. " Tho' in this Book of Death thou bee*st recorded Thy part i^ th' Book of Life, thou art awarded.'' ^' 1625, Oct. 23, Mary, wife of Tho. Gaudron, a woman rich in good works and almsdeeds, died." *^The Book of life agrees with thy life's story, And by theise Bookes thou judged art to glory." " Moerens composuit Edwardus Catherall Minister, ut illam memorse consecraret, et amoris sui superstitem Tessarem reiinquat." Morden College, Blackheath. The Register of the Chapel of this College commences in 1702, and contains the notice of the burial of all persons upon the foundation ; and, whether interred in the burial ground attached to the chapel, or elsewhere. Before the marriage act, marriages were solemnized in this chapel, the fees for which were divided by the Chaplain of the College, with the Rector of Charlton. East Mailing, Kent. "1722, Feb. y« 18, buried Eliz*'' Shepherd, singlle body." Shorne, Kent. " 1543, Elisabeth Chapman, Gent." " 1546, Richard Stevens, found slaine at Gad's Hill foot.'^ " 1625, Martin Caesar's Daughter's sonne, nurst at Good- wife Pollard's." " 1629, Stanton the Fruiterer, his man was buried." " 1626, A Butcher lying at Widow Brownings." Staines, Middlesea;. a ]y^rs Tersill and two children -» M^ Colman L buried, Dec. 8. M^ Lawrence J "All these, and one more, carried into Hampshire, were drowned at New Year's Bridge, in the parish of Staines, Dec. 5, 1768, being passengers in the Exeter coach." "Buried, March 25, 1791, a man, unknown, of some parish in Cambridge, whose death was occasioned and hastened by the improper treatment of William Seymour, farmer of the poor, for which a bill was found against him, and he confined in Newgate a year and a day." St. Alkmund's, Derby. "1720, buried, Jane Cressop, who was killed by the coIo- REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 127 quintada, or bitter apple, which she took to procure an abortion. Grod give others better grace.^' ^ Alnwick. *' 6 Nov. 1692, Edward Hoodspith, Fidler, excellentissime." Berwick. "Henry Liliie, Translator, bu. 29 July, 1660.'' " 19 Aprill, 1668, Ann, dau. of Geo. Smith, Translator." Clovilly, Devon. '^ 1776, Catherine, Wife of Richard Parrott, her second Hus- band, by her own express order, buried entirely in white, and her grave covered with flowers in the 70th year of her age.'* ^ Holy Island. "16 July, 1691, William Cleugh, bewitched to death/' Berwick-upon- Tweed. "15 P'eb. 1577, Robert Pole, hanged and quartered." All Saints, Newcastle. " Dame Whittingam,^ murthered by hir Husband, bu. 17 Ap. 1604." St, Nicholas, Newcastle. "Margrat, th.Q grave wife, bur. 11 June, 1627." " Infant Crippill, bur. 23 Nov. 1628." "Infante Foxe, bur. 23 Feb. 1623." "Thre denisons, for murder, bur. 19 Aug. 1628." " [Seventeen prisoners, bur. 13 Aug. 1632."] Westminster Abbey. "The Princess Anns Child a Chrissome* bu. in y^ Vault, Oct. 22, 1687." ^ In the Burial Kegister of Boxley, in Kent, are added, for a considerable period, the diseases of which the persons died, and some of them are stated very particularly. The practice of stating the disease, in the Eegister of Burial, is recommended by Dr. Burrows, in his Strictures on the use and dejects of Parish Registers^ 1818. 2 This whim gave occasion to the following distich : — " Under the Turf poor Kate is laid, Who married twice and died a maid." 3 Sir Timothy Whittingham is reported to have slain three wives. " There are more ways," says Mr. Surtees, vol. iii. p. 326, " to break a woman's heart, than one, and the expression must be taken, I presume, cum grano salis.'^ — Sir C. Sharp, p. 104. ^ The Chrisom was a white cloth put on the head of a child at Baptism. After the 128 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. St. Margarefs, Westminster. " 1557, June 5th, M"* Thomas Holies of an ague and surfet/' " 1557, 20 Nov'' Xtian Pagett, 18 yrs,of the new sickness/' Stepney. " William a dumb man, who died in Ratcliffe Highway, buried Sep. 24, 1628, a fortune teller.'^ Teddington. " James Parsons, who had often eat a shoulder of mutton or a peck of hasty pudding, at a time, which caused his death, buried March 7, 1743-4, aged 36.'* Westham. "April 16, 1690, Peter Paine and his wife, and his son Peter, and the parson and his maid, was blown up all in one day."i Heme J Kent, and Hinckley, Leicestershire. " 1567, Ould Arnold, a Crysomer, buried February 8.'' " 1583, Agues filia Bartholomoei fornicatoris, bapt. 26 Jan.'*' " 1627, one Crysome, base, of Rebakca Dunning, March 16.'' Dr. Johnson defines " Chrisom " to be a child that dies within a month after its birth. The above entry must record the burial of a child of " Ould Arnold," it being very common, at that period, to baptise " to John Smith a daughter," or to bury " William Adams, his son," &c. &c. Great Paunton. " 1632, M'^^ Eleanor Ayscough, aged 114, she could remember the finishing the tower, buried March 10." " Mem : our tower was builded from the ground by M*" EUys, merchant of the Staple." usual Immersion in Water, the priest made a Cross on its head with the oil, then the Chrisom was put on, the priest asking at the same time the child's name, and saying, — " Receive this white pure and holy vestment which thou shalt wear before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ that thou mayest inherit Eternal Life. Amen." It was to be worn seven days ; after the Reformation, however, the use of oil was omitted, and the Chrisom was worn by the child till the mother's churching, when it was returned to the church. If the child died before the churching, it was buried in the Chrisom, and hence it may be that the child itself was called a Chrisom or Chri- somer. — Vide Douce. Tlie oil was to be renewed once a year, and the church of Gravesend accordingly paid 9d. Chrisme Rent to the mother church of the diocess. ^ This was an accident by gunpowder. REGISTERS OP BURIALS. 129 St. Mary^s, Lichfield, '^ June 28, 1574, Alicia Milne, seipsam suspendebat." St. Michael. "Margarett, who kyld herselfe with a knayfe, was buried 15 June, 1603/^ '^Dec. 1, 1632, Andrew, the sonne of William Burnes, buried, with a coffin.''^ ''May 12, 1722, John Yates, an Oxford Scholar, travelling homeward/' Highgate ChapeL " Gulielmus Lisle, hinnulus ad Matrem, sep 28 Mail 1636.'^ Totteridge. ''March 2a, 1802, buried Elizabeth King, widow, for 46 years clerk of this parish, in the 9P^ year of her age, who died at Whetstone, in the Parish of Finchley, Feb^ 24^^. N.B. This old woman, as long as she was able to attend, did con- stantly, and read on the prayer-days, with great strength and pleasure to the hearers, though not in the clerk's place ; the desk being filled on the Sunday by her son-in-law Benjamin Withall, who did his best." St Peter's in the East, Oxford. " Gulihelmus Baylie a man aged centesmum tertiu' sepultus fuit vicesimo tertio Septembrig Anno 1615,'' Cathedral, Durham. " 1627, 12 April. Robert Grinwell, Lutenist, bur." " 1779, 17 June, Mrs. Dongworth, Old Virgin, bur." St. Nicholas, Durham. " John Haward, Saltpetre Man,^ bur. 9 Sep. 1602." ^ In the Eeign of Queen Elizabeth, it was the custom to bury merely in a winding sheet, without any coffin, as now in use. 2 Before the discovery and importation of rough nitre from the East Indies, the supply for the manufacture of gunpowder was very inadequate. Charles I. therefore, issued a proclamation that no dove-house or stable should be paved, but lie open for the increase of saltpetre, and that none should hinder any saltpetre-man from digging for saltpetre ; great annoyance was caused by this absurd system, and in 1627, another proclamation was issued, stating that a patent had been granted to Sir John Brooke, and Thomas Kussell, Esq., for manufacturing the article, and the King's subjects are commanded to keep all human urine during the year, and as much of that of beasts as could be saved, to be collected by the patentees once in twenty-four hours in summer, and once in forty-eight hours in ^inter. This system failed ; and thereupon, a Com- mission was granted to the Duke of Buckingham and others to break open and 9 130 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. St. Margaret's, Durham. " Christopher Pattison vulga diet' y* TVise Man, bur 14 Meh 1724." St. Mary-le-Bow, Durham. ''Brian Pearson, the Ahhey Dog whipper, bur 6 April, 1722." " James Graham a felon, he was hanged y* same morning just after, Bap, 30 Aug. 1732." Bowes, Yorkshire. " Rodger Wrightson Jun. & Martha Railton, both of Bowes, buried in one grave ; he died in a Fever and upon tolling his passing bell she cryed out ' My heart is broke ' and in a few hours expired, purely as was supposed from Love, aged about twenty years each, bur 15 Mar 1714."* Peterborough. " 1578, February, Thomas Talbot, the singing man, was buryed the vi day, and was striken by death very sodaynly and strangely." '' 1587, August; the Queene of Scots was most sumptuously buried in the cathedral church of Peterbargh, the first day of August, who was for her deserts beheaded at Fotheringay, about St. Paules day before.'^ *' Anthony More, one of the children of the Queen's Maties kitchen w^^ followed at the Funerall aforesaid of the Queen of Scots was buryed the iii day." " 1592, September, William, that was slayne with a mast of a Kell was buryed the xix day.". " 1606, September, Michael Pickeryng, gentilman, was work for saltpetre. In 1634, another proclamation issued, giving powers, but except- ing the houses, &c., oi 'persons of quality. During the Commonwealth, an act passed " that none shall dig within the houses, &c., of any person without their leave. ^^ For other curious particulars, see Notes and Queries^ 1853, pt. i. pp. 376, 433, 460, 530, pt. ii. 225, 399. ^ The melancholy fate of these lovers is immortalized in Mallet's beautiful ballad of Edwin and jEmma^-— " I feel, I feel this breaking heart, Beat high against my side, From her white arm down sunk her head, She shivering, sigh'd and died." — See Chronicon Mirahile. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 131 slayne by John Morton, Gent, in a challenge near Borough Berry, and was buryed the 23 day.^^ " 1606, December, Henry Renoulds was buryed the 16 day." (in the margin.) " Henry Renoulds came from London where he dwelt, sicke of the plague and being receyved by William Browne, died in his house, the said William soon after fell sicke of the plague and died, so did his sonne, his daughter, and his servant ; only his wyfe and her mayde escaped with Soars. The plague brought by this means to Peterburgh continued there till September following." "1611, January, Bartholomew Barnabye, anould Faulkener, buryed the 5 day, above an hundred years old." ^'1613, Novemb., Mistres Luce Hacke , the WyfFe of Mr William Hacke a gentlewoman of good presence, yet not quoze, of a sharpe and quick apprehension, yet no Scoffer ; personable and full of favour, yet most chaste, died in childbed the 24 of this present, and was buryed at Wyttlesey, the 25*^ daye, whose death was much lamented in Peterbor : Juno, Minerva, Venus, terrse tria Numina quondam Unice pro tribus his elucet nostra Lucya." Chart, next Sutton Vallence. '^ 1648, Joseph, the son of Thomas Daye and An his wife, who was wounded at Maydston fight,^ P Junij, was buryed the eleventh day of June." " Tho : B dying excomunicat was bury'd with out y^ service of y® church, January y^ 10*^ 1691." Staplehursty Kent? "The iij daye of March, 1539, there was buryed one John Howtheland, syngilman." ^^Ther was buryed John Joyse, by occupacyon, mason." " Ther was buryed John Turner thelder, whose sowle Jesu pardon Ame," '' Ther was buryed thee sonn off Thomas Roberts the youngar, called Henry uppo whose sowle 1 py God have mcy." '^ There was buryed the honest wyffe of Peter Dran, full of almes and good workes whose name was Alyce." 1 Between Lord Fairfax and the Kentish Forces. 2 The Register of this parish is in excellent preservation, it commences in 1538, and contains much curious matter. 133 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. '' There was buryed Robert Swan and Ann Brydge^ Wedow, poore folkes botbe/' " 1546, There was buryed Richard the So of Hery Malyns, which bego to lerne rede, whose Soil Jhv. pdo.'^ '^1548, There was buryed Jamis Brageland, an honest ma and a goode householder who soule Jhv pardo. and brig, to eternal rest/^ " 1563, There was buryed Alyce Wattes, wydow of the Pyse of Goudherst, who was betroughted to Thomas Batherst,^ of this Pyse, Clothier/' " 1556, 16« Junii tumulabaf Johannes Dynknall/' "17 Nov : humatu corpus Stephani Aste/^ " 4P Maii Sepeliebaf^ JoanaTomset pva NichiNubery/' "6*^ Sep: Mandabat terrae corpus Eleonere Hylls vidue/' *' 4*^ Ed 6*S the ix of Apell. There was baptised and that at home by the testimonye of good women. Thorns, the sone of Gregorie Rutting, and after psented in the Temple, receiving other Rites accordinglie, and was buried the next day before none/' "1553, the vij*^ daye of Septembre, was buryed John Meryell my lovynge frynd, upon whose soule I paye God y^ Father for Christ's sake, and through hys bloude to be mercifull in y^ yere aforesaid p me Robertum Stocton tunc . . bm pastorem." " The fourthe daye of Octobre y* yere aforesaid, was buryed John Nepeker Smythe. And also y* same daye was buryed Martyn, the Sriint of Goodman Daye, wch Sriint dyed soden- lye and unknowen to any man in the hey streytt of Stapleherst, as some save of y* palsey." " Buried Katryn Pyckenden, widow, a very auncyent old woman." " 1565, March 3, Ther was buryed the sonne of John whiche dyed imediatly as he was borne, being named Creature." "21 Ap', 1569, There was buryed Robert Baker, a poore innocentlye boye of thage of xvj yeare." " 1587, the XV day of November, was buryed a base-borne chylde namyd Jone y* Margaret Foord, y^ hoore browght from London, as she dyd saye." ^ Qy., An ancestor of Lord Bathurst. REGISTERS OF BUIIIALS. 133 " 1579, A poore olde wenclie/' " 1578, Thei^ was corny tied to the earth the body of one Johan Longley, who died in the highway as she was carryed on holyback to have been conveyed from officer to officer, tyll she should have com to the pishe of Rayershe/' SL Peter's in the East, Oxford. ''1563, Julij 17, BaptizatafuitinaedibusM" Humfrey, filia eius quae nominata fuit Creatura Christi/' '' 1563, Creatura Christi filia Laurentii Humfredi,^ sepulta Julii 17.'^ '' 1561, the iiij*^ day of Septembre. There was buried Joanne, dawghter of Thomas Mountcastell, baptized at home/' " The vij of the same. There was buried Joanne, the Dawghter of the same Mountcastell, chrisned also at home, beinge bothe of one Burden/' '' 30 Junii, the chylde of God ^ filius Ricd. Stacy." " Octavo Febr. obijt Joanna Taylor sine sacmentor receptor et crucis signo sup corpus vel sarcophagu quo deputabat nil duodecima et pena hora nulla satisfactione facta." ^ " 9° Febr. obijt Thoms. Fuller filius Willi sine crucis signo sup sarcopha." " 12° Febr. obijt Lawrence Austry more ecclesiastic© in . . . . . . deportatus." ^ Qy. If not the Dean of Winchester — died 1589. 2 This has been said to mean an illegitimate child ; but it is more probable that it was a chrysom. 3 I have been unable to explain the meaning of these and the seven following ex- tracts ; the date of the year is not inserted in the Kegister, but in the margin there appears the following memorandumj inserted subsequently to the entries: — "lOtli of Eliz." They have no doubt a reference to some ceremony of the Eoman Catholic Church, though a Bishop of that church in his Letter to me observes, " that they can hardly be referred to the time of Queen Mary, as they are not in the usual style of the Catholic Church, nor conformable to the Kubrics of the Catholic Rituals of tliat period." The Rituale has the following direction in the Burial Service : — " Et aqua benedicta ad locum ubi sepeliendus est mortuus et signo crucis signet locum et postea aspergat aqua benedicta Deinde accipiat Sacerdos fos- sorium vel aliud instruraetum et aperiat terrain in modum crucis ad longitudi- nem et latitudinem corporis defuncti, dicens — ." And in another place : — " Finitis Orationibus esf outor officii terram super corpus ad modum cruets ponat et corpus thurificet et aqua," &c. 134 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. '' Obiit James Lede deportatus sine crucis signo et intro- duche in templu no admissus lege Divinia neq. Regia more ecclesiastico/^ " 14° Febr. obiit Henricus Bede cuius pr noluit eu in ecclia introduce/' '' 21° obiit Robert Willerd, shomaker, sine crucis nihil/' " Eodem obiit Isbell Berry sine crucis signo/' " Obiit Stevyn Austrye, nihil solut ne denario quidm un sal. sepultus horae prima in qua hora m. . . .ter expectabat." '^ Ultio Febr. obiit Margaret Byshop obstetrix^ nihil soluto." ^' 1550^ the v'^ day of November_, Ther was buried Creature, the daughter of Agnes Mathews, syngle woman, the seconde childe." " 1562, ther was buryed, Pnell Startby, a symple wenche." "1591, the iij of Februarye, was buryed an harlott namyd Anys Hynge." " James Usborne, ' a lustie Yongman/ " " 1568, there was buryed Alyce the Wiff of (a naughtie fellow whose name is) Mathew Manne." "17 June, 1569, There was buried Wyllyam Willes, a hous- holder, who was by misfortune kylled withe the Whyle of his owne Weyne." " 1624, was buryed Thomas Bedford, a travayling Shoo- maker, borne at Sane in Wilsheare." "1624, buryed y^ weedow of James Joiles whitch lay beethred seven yeeres (which in Queen Marie's dayes fled with her father and mother beyond sea, for fear of the persecution that was then for the truth) ." ^ Do these entries relate to Excommunicants? The language of the Process for absolving from Excommunication is, " facta satisfactione, aut prsestita cautione," &c. Dying without confession and the Sacrament was formerly considered ignomi- nious. A Writer in the JEssex and West SuffolJc Gazette, of the 4th January, 1856, goes very fully into the examination of these entries, agreeing with the Author that they relate to the few years of Queen Mary's reign, and to the ceremonies of the Eoman Catholic Church. Of the burial of the Duchess of Norfolk, Bishop Parker (the Exile), writes to Pox the Martyrologist, telling him in his jocose way, " All things were done honorably, sine crux, sine lux at non sine tinTcling — There was neither torch, neither taper, candle^ nor any light else beside the light of the Sun, ringing there was enough." — Strype, Oxford Edition, vol. i., part 2, p. 44. » I do not identify her with any of the Exiles at Geneva, Francfort, &c. — J.S.B. REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 135 Berwick -on- Tweed. "22 May, 1609, Sir Henry Guavara,i Knt/' " 6 May, 1676, James Taite, sed non rex sabinorum." "27 June, 1778, George Lindsay (Jack Ketch)." Etton. "1617, A Daughter borne to John Wallas, of Woodcroft, and buried Ap"" 23. Sine nomine, as St. Jerome said of David's child, that is, sine circumcisione, as this, sine baptis- mate.'* Helmsley. The Duke of Buckingham, who succeeded the Duke who was assassinated by Felton, is buried here, and is thus noticed in the Register: — "Burials 1687 April 17*'* Georges vilaus Lord dooke of bookingham.'' Lamesley, " 1616, 16 March, John Heath, y® great Archer of Lamesly, bur." Brentford, Middlesex. " Captaine Preston and an other Captaine, Richard Storie leftenant and leftenant Daniell, John Whitaker, Richard Alderton, and divers others which weare slaine on the King's party, Nov"* 30*^ 1642." " December, Thomas Wade, a Soldier from Sharpens, the 10*^; Leftenant Court, Richard Mills and others, one y^ parle Cirencester. "1688, November the 12th, Bulstrode Whitelock, Esq., died at the King's Head when my Lord Lovelace was taken prisoner." ^ Cherington, Gloucestershire. " (1642), Tho. Jelf dyed in prison in Oxon, being taken at the Siege and Winning of Cirencester." Eton, Berks. " 1647, Jan. 28, Rich^ Wright and his sucking daughter." " 1730, Mar. 6, M"^ Edw^ Cockran Scholar, murder'd by * Grandson of John Guavara, of Segura in Spain, the only Spanish family that settled in England on the marrkge of Philip and Mary. 2 See Macaulay, vol. ii., 499. Burn's History of Henley-on-Thames y 1861, p. 280. 136 REGISTERS OF BURIALS. Thomas Daltou his Schoolfellow (w° stabVd him w*^ a pen- knife)." Richmond, York. '^Eur. 9 Sep. 1558, Richard Snell, Vrnt.^' The following note by Archdeacon Blackburne is appended to this entry : — " Concerning this matter, Mr. John Fox, the Marty rologist, writes thus : ^ There were two of the Snells taken up for their religion. One, after his toes were rotted off by lying in prison, by order of Dakins, the Bishop of Chester^s Commissary, and so went upon crutches, at last went to mass, having a certain sum of money given him by the people ; but in three or four days after, drowned himself in a river called Swail, by Rich- mond. The other Snell was burned.' " "17 Nov. 1611, Frances Beckwith, medwyff, buried at Langhill, a recusant.'' " 12 Jan. 1613, John Conyers, belman, hanged." " 30 Aug, 1688, Cuddy with spoons.'^ St. Oswalds, Durham.'^ " Duke Hyll Hogge Holyday_^ >ini< "Semynaryesi to Papysts I hyr Tretors [ Mages- and Rebels J tye were hanged and quartered at Dry- burne for there horryble offences the 27 day of May ^ 1590.^1 Eastwell, Kent. The Register of this Parish (beginning 1538) is " a beautiful and curious book." It contains the Protestation, dated February 23d, 1642, signed by 29 persons; the Vow and Covenant of 1643, signed by 32 persons; and the Solemn League and Covenant, dated February 25, 1643, signed by 19 persons. It has also an Entry of the Burial of Richard Plantagenet — " Ano domini 1550. " ^ Rychard Plantagenet was buryed the 22*^ daye of De- sember Anno ut supra." ^ ^ See Memoirs of Missionary Priests^ 8vo, 1741, for a statement that a brook, near the gallows, ceased to flow at their execution, and thence called Dryburne. And see Sir Cuthbert Sharp's Chronicon, p. 10. - The mark -y/ occurs before every subsequent entry in the old Register where the person recorded was of nohle blood. A Letter from Dr. Brett to Dr. W. Warren, published in Peck's Desiderata Cur., vol. ii., lib. vii., p. 249, contains a long account REGISTERS OF BURIALS. 137 Cranbrookj Kent (1559). " In this year following, 1597, began the great plague in Cranbrook, the which continued from April the y*" afs*^ to July 13, 1598. 1st, it was observed that before this infection that God, about a year or two before, took away by death many honest and good men and women. 2. That the judgment of God for sin was much before threatened, especially for that vice of Drunkeness which abounded here. 3. That this infec- tion was in all quarters of this Parish except Hartly quarter. 4. That the same begun in the house of one Brighteling, out of which much theiving was committed, and that it ended in the House of one Henry Grynnock, who was a pott companion, and his wife noted much for incontinence, which both died excommunicated. 5. That this infection gott almost into all the Inns and Suckling Houses of the Town, places then of much misorder, so that God did seem to punish that himself which others did neglect and not regard. 6. Together with this infection there was a great dearth at the same time, which was cause also of much wailing and sorrow. 7. This was most grievous unto me of all, that this judgment of God did not draw people unto repentance the more, but that many by it seemed the more hardened in their Sin." " Now also this year others of the plague who were buried near to their several dwellings, because they could get none to carry them into the Church, for it was the beginning of this infection, so that none would venture themselves. The certain day of their burials one could not learn." of this individual, who appears to have been chief bricklayer to Sir Thomas Moyle, when he built Eastwell Place, and who learnt that trade immediately after the battle of Bosworth Field, on the eve of which he had an interview with Kichard the Third, who acknowledged him as his son, and directed him, if the victory wason his side, to come to Court, if on the contrary side, to keep his parentage a secret. See The Last of the Plantagenets 8°, 1829. 138 CHAPTER VII. THE REGISTERS OF MARRIAGES — SPONSALIA — CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES AND LAWLESS CHURCHES. " Here with an infant, joyful sponsors come, Then bear the new-made Christian to its home. A few short years, and we behold him stand To ask a blessing, with his Bride in hand : A few, still seeming shorter, and we hear His widow weeping at her husband's bier." — Crahhe. BEFORE treating of the Registers of Marriage j it will be in- teresting to notice a ceremony which frequently preceded Marriage, and was recorded in the Parish Register. — This was called, Sponsalia. This term sometimes signified " Love Gifts and Tokens ; ^' some- times the portion of goods given in consideration of marriage ; and at other times the feast or banquet prepared for the celebration of the marriage. It often was used for the ringj the very " arraboy' or assured pledge of a perfect promise. On other occasions, the term was applied to certain contracts entered into by persons en- gaging to become man and wife at a future day, and it is in this latter sense that the term is introduced as a title to these remarks.^ Swinburne's Treatise of Spousals, published in 1686, observes, that the custom of spousals was then in a great measure gone out of use ; and the Marriage Act of 1753 enacted that no suit or pro- ceeding should be had in any Ecclesiastical Court in order to compel a celebration of any marriage ^'^in facie Ecclesise,'' by reason of any contract of matrimony, whether '^ per verba de prsesenti,'' or ^' per verba de futuro.^' The marriage ceremony of the Church of England still retains both these last-mentioned contracts, — thus when the Priest says, " Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife ? " he replies, ^* I will," this is a contract de futuro. And when the man says, " I, M, ^ They were written originally for the Collectanea TopograjpMca et Qenealogicat vol. iii., 1835. ETC. 139 take (or, do now take) thee, N, to my wedded wife," this is a con- tract per verba de prsesenti, and the marriage is then complete. Espousals might be entered into by either sex at the age of seven years, and marriage might be contracted by the woman at twelve, and by the man at fourteen.^ In an ancient manuscript (No. 1042 in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth Palace) the methods of contracting espousals are thus described : — " Contrahunt« sponsalia iiij modis — Aliqu'^ pmissione, aliqu*^ datis arris sponsalitiis interveniente anuli subarracoe, aliqu<* interveniente juramto. Nuda promissione cum dicit vir, Accipiam te i mea nxorem, et ilia respondet, Accipia te in meii maritu. Vel alia verba equipollencia, et ista st vera sponsalia qndo sit p vba de futuro cont^huntur/^ The Espousals confirmed by an oath were called " Jurata Spon- salia," or " Sworn Spousals." Public Espousals were, upon pain of excommunication, to be in an open place, and before divers witnesses in public (Lind. 271). It does not, however, appear to have been necessary to the validity of these contracts, that they should be made at church.^ '^ Espousals in facie Ecclesise are but pro honestate publicanda, if there hath been formerly a contract

e Parish Accounts of Hackney for 1663, J^at it was the custom to make collections at the church door upon the marriage of paupers, and they were so considerable that the 164 THE REGISTERS OF MARRIAGES — SPONSALIA — Uxbridge, '^599, April, Henry Batty, of Thame, and Sarah Turno^ of this towne the 30 day. Memorandu that the same daye Henry Reddinge, one of the executors of Raffe Tumor late of Pynner, dyd paye to the said Henry Batty and Sarah his wief, in the house of Robte Winstone her father in lawe, at the Cocke in Woxbridge, Twentye pounds in money, One Fyne towell, two paier of Fyne Sheets and a pyllouse beeve, as of the Gyfte of the said RaiFe Turner her uncle by his last will in writinge, in the pnce of George Battye, Robte Wynston, John Edlyn, Willm. Gatton and Sundrye others/' All Saints, Derby. " Sept. 21, 1653, Richard Bennett and Sara Sales were married together by me Joseph Swetman, according to the ancient Law of the Land." Feltham, " The names of theese followinge are registred by ther pa- rentes and freindes, as neere as can be called to minde, and soe recorded in the yeare of Grace 1648, by reason that the olde register was burnte att the fire in this towne.^' '^ Roger Foote and Maria Ride weare married the seconde day of Februarie, an dom : 1637, Sainte Greg oriels Church, by Paules.'^ " Edward Mortemore and Elizabeth Hawkins were married the 26*^ day of Januarye att Ashforde.'^ '^ Francis Roys and Sarah Hericle weare married the seconde day of March 1646, the Ladye Day followinge was 1647.^' The Temple. '^ George and Sarah two persons of quallaty were mar- ried in the Temple Church Feb. 14 by Mr. Rawlins, 1674 — Two married unknown.''^ collectors gave security, that the couple for whom such collection was made, should not become burdensome to the parish. — Lysons. At a much earlier period it was customary to make offerings at marriages ; thus, in the Privy Purse expences of Henry VII. " 1492, May 20, For offring at Master Scrops mariage, 6s 8"^." " „ June 2, For offring at Sir Charles Somerset's marriage, 6s 8<*." « 1494, May 26, For offring at the four marriages, £1 6g 8'^." At Northwich, Cheshire, a whimsical privilege is ascribed by the Charter of that church to the senior scholar of the Grrammar School, namely, that he is to receive marriage fees to the same amount as the clerk, or in lieu thereof, the brides garters. ^ The names, since interlined, are " Lord Castleton " and " Fanshaw." CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES AND LAWLESS CHURCHES. IbO Btaplehursty Kent, /^VeS:- " The v*^ day of Maye Ther was maryed Willm. SvBlg? and Mgaret Blacke vgyn/' V^Q: "1568, Ther was maryed John Chaplyn (base) anoSaE^do;; Curden, basberer/' " 1568, there was maryed John Pyckenden (the base sonne of Agnes Basoke) and Elsabeth Kytchynam yonge folke/'^ " 1579, 19 July. There was marryed John Haffynden and Creature ^ Cheseman yong folke/^ " Vicessimo f Mag'^ Richard Beseley sacre Theologie Pfes- quarto die -{ sor ac serenissimi et illustrissimi felicis martii. L memorie principis henrici octavi nup regis strenvissimi et metuendiss^ Sacellan° necno Rector huius Ec- clesie et eccliastes Janam Lenarde orphanam virgine pavpenlam, pvdicam, et honesta matrimonio rite solemnizato sibi accepit in coniugem." Croydon, Surry, '' Copulati sunt matrimonio John Thorne and Eliz : Matchell/' Heston, Middlesex, "Aug. 27, 1561, William and Agnes Huccher contraxerunt matrimoniu — This man was servant to Goodman Nicoles of Sutton, he would not confess his name, he deflored a virgin and when he had married her in the face of the Church, he ran away, he did confess he did it with good will to make amends. Witness Th^ Bounall, Vicar. John Nicoles, her Master.^' St. Pancras, " George Newton ^ Gent, and M'^^ Anne Walker married by ^ " The marriage of a young woman and a young man is of God's making, as Adam and Eve ; of an old man and a young woman, of our Lady's making, as Mary and Joseph ; but of an old woman and a young man, by the Author of JEvil'^ — Old English Proverb. ^ Vide a note in page 93. 3 Greorge Nevill succeeding to the Title 1695. The late Daniel Lysons, in a Letter to the Author in 1830, says : — " I suspect that many of the extraordinary names which I collected from the Registers of some of the populous parishes near London were hoaxes, or used for the purpose of concealment — such as Methusalem Youth and A§e — Lovely Easy Charlotte — Lucy Prettyfoot — Jenny Barelegs — &c." 166 THE REGISTERS OF MARRIAGES — SPONSALIA — licence (I understand since that this was my Lord Abergavenny^ but he did not own his quality) Ap. 10^ 1697/^ Debtling, Kent. " 1647, Kobert Turner, Clericus Coelebs et fana Smith virgo conjuncti fuere, Bannis p more ter publicatis Julii 9"" ano supradict." Barmingj Kent. " Edward Green of Ditton, solus, and Anne Avery, sola, were married April 21, 1681/^ Etton, 1587. " 1613, Henry Smithe and Rose Faule were marryed Apr. 27, 1613. George Denham and Winifred Wright were married the same day, Apr. 27. Two marriages in one day, never so before in Etton." Bunbury, Middlesex. " Samuel Turner and Margaret Sease, widow, was married sitting in a cheare, in her house, Feb ; 7, 1663.^' >Si/. Mary Minster, Kent. In this Register the surname of the woman is frequently omitted, and the entries are made thus : — '^Anno, 1558, Mail 10. Nupt erant Johannes Andrewe et Agnes Uxor eius." Birchington, Kent, " 1610, November 12 Thomas Kemp sibi duxit Vxorem Auiciam Cage duodecimo die Novembris 1610." Aylesford, Kent. The Register of this Parish commences in 1653 : there is nothing particular in it, except the great number of mar- riages of persons living in the surrounding villages, and especially at Rochester and Chatham. This may be accounted for, by the circumstance of the village of Aylesford being very beautifully situated on the Medway, and commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country. To this must be added the circumstance, that formerly the communication between Maidstone and Rochester was by passage boats, which made Aylesford one of their places of landing and taking in passengers. This mode of conveyance has been long discontinued. Sea Salter, Kent.^ " John Ponney, of Canterbury, huntsman to that ancient ^ These entries were by the eccentric Mr. Patten, described in Grose's Olio. There are others in the same style, but some are said to have been obliterated. CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES AND LAWLESS CHURCHES. 167 Corporation of Cuckolds, & Elizabeth Jolinson_, daughter of the Devil's Vicegerent, commonly called a Bailiff, were trammelFd at the Cathedral of Sea Salter, April 26, 1734/' " John Housden, Widower, a gape-mouthed, lazy fellow, and Hannah Matthews, hot-'apon't, an old toothless wriggling hag, both of Faversham, were tramelPd by licence at the Cathedral, Sea Salter, June 6, 1744, A Caspian bowl of well-acidulated Glimigrim/' " Old Tom Taylor, the great smoaker of Whitstable & a deaf old woman called Elizabeth Church, were married at Sea Salter with two rings, Oct 29 1734. Si quis ex successoribus nostris hoc forte legat, rideat si velit." Granchester. " Edmundus Bysshippe Vicarius duxit in Uxorem Aliciam Kidman 14 July, 1570." St, Andrews, Newcastle. " Thomas Blacket mar. the 23 to his Dame Marie Green (she did love him in his masters time) Sep. 1641." Wilts, " John Bridmore and Ann Selwood both of Chiltern All Saints were married Oct^ 17, 1714. The aforesaid Ann Sell- wood was married in her smock, without any clothes or head- gier on."i Easington, Durham, " 7 April, 1608 John Conyers & Francis Graves did acknow- ledge that with their owne most willinge consent, as alsoe with the consent of their parents Christopher Conyers, Esq, John Hedworth Gent & An his Wife the sayde John & Francis were solemnly married at Yorke about towe years before the registering hereof. In the presence of us wit- nesses of this acknowledgement, as alsoe of the givinge and reciviuge oi one piece of gould^ for the further confirming ^ See ante p. 154, as to marriage in a shift. 2 The Canon of Edward VI. says " the man shall give unto the woman a King and other tokens of Spousage, as gold or silver, laying the same upon the Booke." Dr. Eock, in The Church of our Fathers, quot.es, "Tlire ornaments longe princi- pally to a wyfe, — a rynge on her finger, a broche on her breste, and a garlonde on her hede." In some parishes, accordingly, there was kept a coronal, &c., called the " Bride Gear," and it was let on hire " to marry may dens in." — See Chaucer's ClerTce's Tale^ Coate's Bist. of Eeadinff— Burn's Hist, of Henley p. 188— iV: and Q., 1858, p. 8. 168 THE REGISTER OF MARRIAGES — SPONSALIA of this acknowledgement. Thomas Bainbridge Cuthbert Conyers/' &c. Maidstoney Kent. In this Register are memoranda of two ex- ceptions to marriages, they are thus entered. " Publications and marriages. '^Abraham Hawkes, of East Farleigh, servant to Thomas Scultup of the same Free mason, and Mary Emoett of Bough - ton Monchalsey, was published in the markett place, in Maid- stone upon May the 4'^ the 11'^ and the IS***, 1654. See an exception page y^ 8^^.^^ " Page 8. Lambard Godfrey, Esq^" doth make exception to the proceedinge of the marriage of Abraham Hawkes and Mary Emyot, for that the said Mary Emyot doth seem to be not of competent understanding to dispose of herself in marriage. ^^ *^ The exception made by Lambert Godfrey, Esq''® against the proceeding to marriage of Abraham Hawkes and Mary Emeot above said being heard before Lambert Godfrey aforesaid, Georg Duke Richard Beale Esq'"^^ and Justices of the Peace of this County, is satisfied and discharged and the marriage of the said Abraham Hawkes and Mary Emeot afores"^ was solemnized before the Justices aforesaid, the sixt day of July 1654. Lambarde Godfrey Geo. Duke Richa: Beale." " Jane Sutton of Maidstone did the 5*^ day of December 1655, except against the pceeding to marriage of Henry Robins and Katherine Solmon for that as she saith the said Henry . Robins did solemnly promise her the said Jane Sutton to make her his wife and upon the 12*^^ day of January 1655 he the said Henry Robins had carnal copulation w*^ her the said Jane Sutton, whereby as she saith she the said Jane is w*^ child .'^ In the fly leaf of the Chartulary of St. John of Jerusalem,^ from 1492 to ] 500, is the following entry of Marriage. " Memory The iij"** day of Novembre the xviij yere of Kynge Henry the Eight, w4n the howse of Sancte Joh~ns Clerkenwell in the Buttery of the same my Lorde Thomas Docwra Prior ^ Lansdown, MS. CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES AND LAWLESS CHURCHES. 169 tlier beyng the same tyme present John Docwra son and heire of Thomas Docwra of Kyrkeby Kendall, in the countie of Westmland, gentilman beyng of the age of xviij yeres and more and Margaret Turpyn second doughter and heire of Edward Turpyn, now departed of the Countie of Leyceyter gentil- woman, beyng of the full age of xiii yeres and more, of ther mere fre will and mynde w*oute fere, drede or compulsion of any man the said Joh~n toke vnto his wifFe the forseid Mar- garet, and the seid Margaret toke unto hire husband the for- seid John and thereunto each to other plighted and gave ther feythe and trewthe desiryng and requyrynge witnesse for the same Thomas . . anie . . . Elizabeth Chomley Rowland Brae Thomas Chicheley John Docwra Thomas Larke and Willyam Bardesey with divers others at that tyme beyng present.^ * The Bitual requires the names of the witnesses present to be inserted in the Register. 170 CHAPTER VIII. THE MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS OF PARISH REGISTERS. Alas human vanity ! Grand epochs are within a few pages of each other. In the short tale of Birth, Marriage, and Burial, the whole of Life is there comprised, and the most active or important man passed to his long home, missed but a little while, and soon buried in oblivion ... or the churchyard. ADMITTING the conjecture which has been already adduced, that the first account taken of Births, Marriages, and Burials, were memoranda made in the private Journals or Diaries of the Parochial Clergy, it will be readily seen, that entries of other matter in Parish Registers, such as the appointment of churchwardens and overseers, notices as to tithes, moduses, &c., are by no means sur- prising. Indeed, it were to be wished that these particulars had been more frequent ; the description of particular lands, liable to tithes or moduses, or tithe free, and so forth, might have tended to prevent many suits which have subsequently existed between the clergy and their parishioners, which, from the nature of the evidence necessary to be adduced, are generally very expensive, and besides Avhich, those suits are by no means calculated to excite or preserve the reciprocal feelings of respect on the one hand, and attention to the welfare, both spiritual and temporal, on the other, which should exist between a pastor and his flock. In some old Register Books, the several entries of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, have been huddled together promiscuously, just as they happened. In some parishes there has been but one book ; but it has been begun in different parts for the respective entries, and when the part allotted to one particular class was filled, the book was turned up and begun at the end, and from thence carried to some other part ; and the result was, that it very soon became a mass of confusion, and could not be searched with cer- tainty, without incredible trouble. A very sad practice also existed, and may even continue, in some parishes to the present day, that of having but one large book for each class of entries, which of course lasted a great many years, and the constant thumbing and MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS OP PARISH REGISTERS. 171 use of it, made it, by the time it was filled, not only greased and dirty, but in some places illegible, by tbe constant friction of the hand or fingers. At present, the printed forms for the several entries of baptisms, &c., pursuant to the last act, preclude the mention of any other particulars. It might, perhaps, be useful to have a column or a small blank, in each of the printed pages, for " Remarks.^^ In the Parish of Barming, the Register is replete with biographical remarks, which, though not evidence, may lead to it. The following entries will serve to show the various particulars which have from time to time been recorded in Parish Registers ; and may also, in many instances, show the singular customs of the periods to which they refer. In the Register of Fordham, Cambi^idgeshire, " 1604, upon Wednesday y^ 27 of Febr y^year above written y® High and Mighty Prince James by y^ Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of y^ Faith &c. did hunt y*^ hare with his own hounds in our Feilds of Ford- ham and did kill six near a place called Blackland and after- wards did take his repast in y^ same Feilds at a Bush near unto King's Path.'' FrocesteVy Gloucestershire. "Hoc anno 1574 die Laurentii Martvris, serenissima Regina mea Elizabetha hoc meum oppidatura accesit et invisit in eoq; in sedibus Georgii Huntleii Armigeri Comiter, benigneq et suma cum huraanitate tractantis pernoctavit indeq : Barkleyum Castellum concessit. Tho. Tullio Vicario de Frocester." Wolverton. " Licence given to Sir Tho: Temple Kn* and Bart, for eating flesh on days prohibited, on paying 13^ 4"^." ^ Bow Brickhill. '^ Franc Bradford agrees to keep the church in repair of glass for 3« 4^^ annually." ^ The keeping of Lent was enforced by proclamation, and an office for granting licences to eat flesh in any part of England, was established in St. Paul's Church- Yard, and advertised in the Gazette^ 22 Sept. 1687, No. 2279 j but much relaxation obtained at this period by givifig money to the poor instead. 172 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS In the Register of the Parish of Strathem the names of several Quakers are registered, and some bigot has underwritten. " Qui supra scripserint anathemate magis quam fide digni." The Reply of some later incumbent is — " Qui supra scripserit reprehensione magis quam laude dignus." It was a frequent custom to insert occurrences of a memorable or historical nature, or of local interest ;} and the omission of such events has been censured by some writers. In the Hist, of Naseby, by the Rev. Jno. Martyn, Vicar of Naseby, p. 116, is the following passage : — '^ June 14, 1645 was fought in this Field a decisive battle between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians which deter- mined the fate of these Kingdoms and in the sequel lost the King (Charles) his life. Very little tradition of it is left in the village, no7' does the Register of the Parish make mention of it, an omission utterly inexcusable in a resident clergyman.'^ St. Mary's, Newington, Surrey. In the Register is a licence to eat flesh but, "provided alwaies that during the time of her sickness she eats no beife, veale, porke, mutton, or bacon.^' Eynesbury, Hunts. "Whereas by a Statute made in the 5^^ yere of the Queues Majestye^s Raygne that now is, called the Statute of Navy- gacyon, y* is granted that persons notoryouslye sycke may be lycensed by the parson of the paryshe where the partyes dwell to enjoy the benefyt of eatinge of fleshe on the daies pro- hybyted by the saide Statute, for the recoverynge of theyre healthe (yf y^ pleasith God). Let y* be knowne to the Seere hereof that Jhon Barton, of the paryshe of Eynesburye in the Countye of Huntingdon being verye sycke, ys lycensyd to eate fleshe for the Tyme of his Sycknes ; soo that he enjoyeinge the Benefytt of the Lycence his Sycknes contynewing 8 dayes, do cause the same to be registered into the Register Booke in the same Paryshe accordynge to the tenor of the Statute in ^ This practice existed in ancient times in all the parishes in the diocese of Cambrai, and history has been greatly benefited by it. We are told of a curate, whose Parish Register has been most useful in clearing up several passages in the History of the Country.— Tablet, 24 Feb., 1855. OF PARISH REGISTERS. 173 that behalfe, and this Lycence no longer to endure than his sicknes doth laste By me Wyllyam Samuellj Parson of Eynesburye." St, ManfSy Leicester. "1618 Licence to Lady Barbara Hastings, to eat Flesh in Lent on account of her great age/^^ Barrington Parva, Gloucestershire. "The Proclamation of King James 2*^ ordering thanksgiving for his Victory over the Rebels, which were headed by James Scott, formerly Duke of Monmouth, and Ford, once Lord Grey, together with the Service appointed for that day, were used and performed in the Church of this Parish on the 36*^ of July, 1685. Thomas Lambe, Vicar/^ " Mem: that on Oct: 6, 1695, 1 payd my Butcher 5' 5% my Baker 1^ 10% my Brewer 1^ 10% all in gold, taking in change 9^ O Bare Parson Tom/' St. Oswald's, Durham. Upon Monday beinge the xii**^ day of August A'' pMicto, the Right Honorable Earle of Huntingdon, Lord Presydent under o~ Most Gracyous SuJQferayne Lady Queue Elyzbethe caused a generall muster to be upon Spenymore of all p'sons within th' age of xyj & Ix yeares onely, w'thin the byshopryke & no further; whenweare assembled on Spenymore y® same day to y« full number of xl thousaMe men, redy to s've hyr Magesty when the should be called, whome God pres've longe to rayne ov^ us a mother in Israel. Ame' '' The Register of Badminton Magna, in Gloucestershire, contains a very full account of laying the corner stone of the new church, and its final erection and consecration, in 1785, which ac- count is signed by the nobility and gentry, who assisted, or were present, on that occasion. In the Register of Frampton upon Severn, is a long detail of damage done by a storm on the 18th of February, 1662, which, in ^ In the History of Henley ^ 1861, is a list of persons presented (38 Eliz.) for eating flesh in Lent : — " Bobt Chamberhn for rosting a pigg in his howse the xxiij'* of Marche, wch was spent at Thomas Seywell's house, the cobbler." " Henry Waular for seetiiing ij pee of bacon." 174 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS the space of four hours, destroyed 12 barns, 1 dwelling house, and rooted up 357 trees, chiefly in orchards. The account is subscribed, '^ John Barnsdale, Vicar/^ Boughion Register contains the particulars of the recovery, in 1606, of the Town Land, which had been in a wrongful possession sixty years ; and Gayton Register, the particulars of the setting out of the "Towne Grounde,^^ in 1600; and Coldingham Register, of the building of a seat in the church, " for the youth of the parish j very decent and fitt." Scotter, Lincolnshire. " Ecclesia Parochialis de Scotter comitatu Lincolniae dedicata est Beatis Apostolis Sancto Petro et Sancto Paulo ut apparet in antiquo Scripto viduae Loddington de Scotter viz in testa- mento vltimo Thomse Daly son Gen de Scotter qui obiit Junii 19^ Anno Domini 1495. GuL Carrington, Rector Eclia, ibid.^^ In that of Rodmarton is the following entry, made in 1649 : — " In the Windowe by the doore of the South Isle adjoyning to the Chancel, was a little picture in the glasse, of one praying in the habit of a minister cum baculo pastorali and under- written, ' Richardus Exall ' which was broken by Children, perhaps he was att the charge of that window. There is also upon the West side of Cotes Towre in stone, ' Orate pro ani- mabus Ricardi Wiat & Ricardi de Rodmerton, it may bee it was this Richard which did joyne with the person of Cotes to build that towre." The Register of Buckland, Gloucestershire, contains an account of the plague which raged there in 1606, by which the Rector, John Maltbee, lost six children in one month. Upon the appointment of Lay Registrars in 1653, they sometimes began their entries in fresh books, while others had their appoint- ments registered in the Register Book then in use, and continued to make the entries therein : this will appear to be the case at Hokington where the Parish Clerk was appointed Registrar. The memoranda there are as follows : — '^ 1643, Thes year the clarkship came to me, Thomas Waiman.^' *' 1653 3 Nov: Thomas Wayman chosen by the parishioners OF PARISH REGISTERS. 175 of Okingtoir to be parish Register, is approved of and sworne for the due execucon of his office, before me Talbot Pepys^' He was however a most wretched officer and Scribe the entries being jumbled together in a most extraordinary manner and abominably written during his Registrarship. Manceter, Warwickshire. The return of the Register Book by the Lay Register appointed under CromwelFs Act, in 1653, is thus mentioned in the Register : — '^ This Book was returned by A¥illiam Wilson late Register of Ansley to me Francis Bacon Vicar pf Anseley, April 24, 1661." Hartlepool J Durham. " 1697 Mem: that the collectors for the Royal aid Sess in the year 97 cheated most abominably the Town of Hartinpoole, gathering the value of y* where it was not due.^' Whitworthy Durham. " 1635, The church-yard walled, being before a hedge." " 1636, The Church repaired in Seats flagging leading and other particulars." " 1667 the Church was Leaded by the parish and the Chancel by the Dean and Chapter." Holy Trinity Parish, Dorchester. "1651 Aug 2.2 At night there was great thunder and lightning such as had not been known by any living in this age and there fell with it a great storm of hail, some of the stones of which were seven inches about with abundance of rain, and it continued all night and great part of next morning till 8 or 9 of the clock — That same day were M^ Love and M' Gibbons beheaded." The Register of Radipole, in the same county, contains an ac- count of the perambulations made by the parish officers periodically for the purpose of ascertaining the bounds of the parish.^ And Boys were formerly taken, in order to be flogged at the boundaries, for the purpose of infixing them in their memories. Thus, in the Churchwardens accounts of Chelsea, are the following entries : — " 1670 Spent at the Perambulation Dinner . . . 3 10 Given to the Boys that were whipt . . . .040 Paid for poynts for the Boys 2 0" There is a custom still prevalent, of bumping the boys against the trees, stones, &c., which mark the boundaries. 176 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS OF that of Dalton leDaUy a form of public penance for offenders guilty of fornication. Great Stretton, Leicestershire. "April 27 1708 Paid for a Carriage for the Queen from Harborough to Deventree £2 — charge going to hire it 1« — £2 1 0/' Scraptofty Leicestershire. " To redeem Thomas son of Mr. Owsley Rector of Gloos- ton, taken by the Algerines £\ 11 3 (28 July 1679)." Scatter, " May 27 1677 — Johanna Johnson absolved from the sen- tence of exco'munication and did her penance ylday & the 29*^ of May following for co'mitting fornication with one Rob* Knight of Morton in the parish of Gainsburgh." "Excommunicated Jan 25 1677 these following: — Mary Hornby Thomas Hornby Anne Taylor William Storks & his wife (and 26 others) All these were presented by Mr. Smith when he was Church Warden att that visitation when every parish were enjoyned to give in the number of Conformists and Non Conformists." " Mathew Whalley of Scawthorp was excommunicated March 24 1667, p' non solvendo taxat' eccliae.^i Quorndon, Leicestershire. " An Excommunication against Anne Turlington the Wife of Thomas Turlington in not sending an Inventory by order of the Ecclesiastical Court in Leicester was published this 4"" day of Feb. 1749—50 by me Moor Scribo." " Memorandum April 25 1730 George Collingwood gave to John Chapman the foremost pew belonging to him the said ^ " Memorandum that on Septuagesima Sunday being the 19*^ day of January 1667 one Francis Drury an Exco'municate person came into the church in time of divine service in y^ morning and being admonisht by me to begon, hee obstinately refused where upon y^ whole congregation departed & after the same manner in the afternoon the same day he came againe & refusing againe to goe out, the whole congregation againe went home, soe yt little or noe service p'formed yt day. I prevented his further coming in y* manner as hee threatened by order from the Justice upon the Statute of Queene Elizabeth concerning the molestation & disturbance of publiq preachers. W" Caeeington, Kector. O tempora, O mores." OF PARISH REGISTERS. 177 George Collingwood in the Church of Quorndon for his own proper use.^ Thomas Allen Clerk Edward Earn ham/' Everley, Wilts. "In perpetuam rei infamiam Sub-STpaTO%paT/flj Oliveri Cromwelli qui sectione, dolo^ sanguine, proditione, turn aliorum, turn sui praesertim principiis, hujus regni imperium rapuit, homuncio quidam, effrictas fruentis, Gulielmus Eastman (Vulgo Tinker appellatus, occupatione vero faber mrarius) in parochise hujus Rectoriam ingestus erat ; et hisce graculis per quinquen- nium concionabatur, multos novatores et infimse sortis plebeios in suam traxit dissimulationem (now erased). Carolo Secundo restaurato expulsus est, non sine magno asseclarum suorum condolio, Sep. 30 1660 ; sed, meliorum convinciis et su'matibus abunde proscissus, abiit cum pannis. Exit Tinker, let all men henceforth know A thorne was planted, where a vine should grow, . Down went St. Paul, Apollo, and Cephas, For Silver Trumpets, here was sounding Brass. Thomas Ernle, Rector hujus Ecc'ae de Everleigh, 29th Sept, 1660. Plurima in hoc libro confusa, ac indigesta sparguntur, sive uUo ordine vel methodo ; a prsedicto tamen semper invenias cor- rectiora. Tho. Ernle.^' Syston, Leicestershire, "1605 Paid for the entertaining of a Counsellor in the Cause against Sir George Bellgrave 105.^^3 " 1605 Kings Arms in the Church defaced." Loughborough, Leicestershire. " 1551 June — The Swat, called New acquaintance, alias Stoupe, Knave, and know thy Master began the 24th of this Month."3 1 An old entry in a Yestry Book, stating that a pew had been repaired by the then owner of a messuage, has been admitted evidence of the right of a person claiming under him. — Price «. Littlewood, 3 Campb. 288. 2 In the reign of Mary, lO*. was the fee for consultation.' — Vide Fosh. Uncy. 376. * The plague was also called the posting sweat " that posted from towne to towne throughe England, and was named ' stope gallant ' for hytt spared none, for ther were dawncyng in the cowrte at 9 o'clocke that were deadd or eleven o'clock. In the same swett also at Cambredge died too worthy impes, the dewke of Suffolk hys son Charells and hys brother." — Narratives of the Reformation^ p. 82. In the Eegister of tJffculme, Devon, it is called " the bote sicltness or stup gallant." 12 178 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS " 1673, Brief for rebuilding the Theatre Royal in London/' All-Saints, Derby, " October 1593 About this tyme the plague of pestilence, by the great mercy and goodness of Almighty God stayed, past all expectacion of man for it ceased upon asodayne, at whyche tyme it was dispersed in every corner of this whole p'she, there was not two houses together free from it, and yet the Lord bade the Angel stay as in Davide's tyme, hys name be blessed for y". Edward Bennett, Minister/^ Trinity, Chester. Burials. — "John Brookes Mason who poynted the Steple 1610 and made many showes and pastymes on the steple of Trinity, and also on the toppe of St. Peter^s Steple as many thousands did witnesse, dyed 10 July and bur 11 July in the Church Yard (1614) broke his neck goinge downe a payre of Stayres by the Church.^' Burbach, Leicestershire. " William Townsend, Baker, planted a young elm-tree near the Stocks in December 1706.^' This tree is mentioned by Mr. Nicholls in his History of Leices- tershire, to be still growing there. Bitteswell, Leicestershire. In the Register of this Parish is an entry showing the feelings of the parson or clerk towards some unfortunate female ; whether it has any connection with the pre- ceding one or not, does not however appear, they stand thus : — " 1638 Mary Sutton Daughter of Bobert Sutton and Isabel his Wife was baptized Nov. 4." "Mary Snelson is starke nought, stinking naught. Blot not this not.'^ Mr. Castel a former Vicar of this Parish, and who took great pains with the Register, has entered in it among other things a Table of " Customes '^ which perhaps has already, or may hereafter prove of great service, as well to his successors as their parishioners. " A Transcription of Customes for all tythings due to the Vicar of Bitteswell, rates and others, as have been recorded by M^ Edw. Duckminton who was Vicar of the said parish about the yeare 1630 By me Geo : Castell, present Vicar 1665. "Imprim. Pro domo 2^''— that is for the house 1^^ for the hearth V, and for the garden \ to be paid at Easter. For man OF PARISH REGISTERS. 179 and wife, offerings 2"^, for Servants and children If at Easter," &c. &c. &c. Merstharrij Surrey, " Certificats to his Ma*y about touching for y* evill, signed by y^ Recf^ and Churchwardens of Merstham." '' To prudence y« Daughter of Will : Lovell Octob : 6^—73— " To George Palmer y« sonne of Willia^ Mar 5°-— 167f/' " the father and Son having toucliM before." Hambleden, Bucks. '' 1685 May 17 Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King for a disease called the King's Evil." Alrewas, Staffordshire. " 1767 Edward Hall who was touched and cured by his Majesty King Charles the Second for the King's Evil, was buried Jany 19*^ Aged 110 years." The practice of touching for the King's Evil is well known, but few perhaps are aware to what an extent this superstitious idea once prevailed. In the course of twenty years, between 1660 and 1682, no less than 92,107 persons were touched for this disease; and in the reign of Charles II. a proclamation issued (9th January, 1683,) appointing the times at which the touch would be administered, " and all such as shall hereafter come or repair to the Court for this purpose shall bring with them Certificates under the hands and seals of the Parson^ Vicar, or Minister, and of both or one of the Churchwardens, testifying according to the truth, that they have not at any time before been touched by His Majesty, to the intent to be healed of their disease. And all Ministers and Churchwardens are hereby required to be very careful to CKamine into the truth before they give such certificates, and also to keep a Register^ of all certificates they shall from time to time give. 1 This was rendered necessary, in consequence of persons coming two or three times, merely to get the money. The Hon. Daines Barrington, in his Observations on our Ancient Statutes, p. 107, mentions an old man who was witness in a cause, and who stated that when Queen Anne was at Oxford, she touched him while a child, for the Evil ; Mr. Barrington asked him whether he was really cured, upon which he answered with a significant smile, that he believed himself never to have had a complaint, that deserved to be considered as the Evil, but that his parents were poor and had no objection to the bit of Gold. In the London Gazette of September 22, 1687, is the following notice : — " His Majesty having been pleased in the late progress to Touch for the Evil above 5000 persons ; His Majestie's Sergeant Chyrurgeon hath observed a great 180 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS The Registers,, therefore, of parishes in the neighbourhood of the Court will frequently be found to contain entries of these certificates, although our Kings and Queens were accustomed to touch for this disease while in their progresses, and so dispense to persons residing at a distance from London, the healing which was supposed to be possessed by " The Royal Touch/^^ The afflicted used to attend at court, and during a religious ser- vice for the occasion,^ receive a piece of money with a hole in it, which was hung round the neck by a ribbon. It was a state trick for superstitiously confirming loyalty in the lower orders. In the reign of Henry YII., each person touched was presented with money, thus, in his Privy Purse expenses, is : — " 1491 December 24, For heling of a seke body this day '' 1493 Jan 26, To one that gave the King a Touche 4«/' In the Privy Purse expenses of Henry YIII., is : — ^^ (1530) Itm paied to the same maister Walsh e for so moche money by him paied to ij pouer folke, the whiche the kinges grace heled xvs/^ Bermandsev, Surrey. " 1604 "The forme of a solemne Yowe made betwixt a Man and his Wife, the Man havinge been longe absent, through which Neglect in the Minister of the several Parishes, in not keeping (as they ought to do) an exact Register of those for whom they hare certified in order to their obtaining Tickets to be touched ; for want whereof, several abuses hare been committed : And many that have been Touched before, producing Certificates, as if it had not been so, have had new pieces of Gold given them, contrary to the establish'd Order, whicli the respective Ministers therefore are required to be more careful in for the future." 1 The first English Monarch who refused to touch for the King's Evil was William III,, but the practice was resumed by Queen Anne, who officially announced in the London Gazette^ 12 March, 1712, her royal intention to receive patients afilicted with the malady in question. It was about that time doubtless, that Johnson was touched by her Majesty upon the recommendation of the celebrated physician Sir John Floyer, of Lichfield. King George I. put an end to tliis practice, which is said to have origi- nated with Edward the Confessor in 1058. — Notes and Queries, 1861, p. 72. 2 Vide Forma Strumosus Attrectandi in Liturgia seu Liber Precum, Londini 1713. Melalion, en forme de Journal, du Voyage et Sejour que le serenissime et tres puis- sant Prince Charles II. Roy de la Grande Bretagne afait en Holland, depuis le 25 May,jusque au 2 Juin 1660. A la Haye, IQQO.—Genfs Hag., 1829, p. 499. ArcJiceolog. Journal, Sept. 1853. — Nicholl's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. ii., p. 499. OF PARISH REGISTERS. • 181 occasion the Woman beinge maried to another Man tooke her againe as foUoweth : — "The Man's Speach " Elizabeth^ my beloved Wife, I am right sorie that I have so longe absented my sealfe from thee, whereby thou shouldest be occasioned to take another man to thy husband — Therefore I do nowe vowe and promise, in the sight of God and this Companie, to take thee againe as mine owne, and will not onelie forgive thee, but also dwell with thee, and do all other duties unto thee as I promised at our Marriage. " The Woman's Speach " Ralphe, my beloved husband, 1 am right sorie that I have in thy absence, taken another man to be my husband ; but here, before God, and this Companie 1 do renounce and forsake him, and do promise to kepe my sealfe onelie unto thee, duringe life, and to perform all duties which I first promised unto thee in our Marriage. " The Prayer '^Almightie God, we beseech thee to pardon our offences and give us grace ever hereafter to live together in thy feare, and to performe the holie duties of mariage one to another accordinge as we are taught in thy holie word, for thy deare Son's sake, Jesus, Amen. "The first day of August 1604 Ralphe Goodchilde of the Parish of Barkinge in Thames Street and Elizabeth his Wife weare agreed to live together, and thereupon gave their hands one to another, making either of them a solemn vowe so to doe in the presence of William Stere, Parson Edward Coker, and Richard Eire, Clark." Alreivas, Staffordshire. The Register of this Parish is, for several years, a most complete Journal of weather, storms, floods, and other parochial occurrences. The following is copied from it: — " 1617 Jacobus rex noster rediebat apud Whorescrosse xxx"'" die raensis Augustii, et illic remansit die Sabbati, Dominica, et Luna abiit." Woo dmanst erne, Surrey, " They whom it may concern are desired to take notice that the Chimny in the Hall-Chamber of the Parsonage house hath a Summer not far under one Corner of it, soe that it may 183 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS safely be used for any ordinary occasions for a small fire in a Chamber^ but it is not fit for soe great fires as the Parlour Chimney— 1675/^ Hearne says the figure of the key of the west door of the church was put down in the Register, a thing frequently practised by the ancients at the delivery of the church keys to the Ostiarii. Great Easton. " Matthew Tomlinson curate of this parish^ left Feb. 1 , 1730:— TO MY PARISHIONERS. Farewell, dear flock, my last kind wish receive The only tribute that I now can give. May my past labours, claim a just regard Great is the prize, and glorious the reward Transcendent joys, surpassing human thought To meet in heaven^ whom I on earth had taught.''' Ashborne. " 1645 K Charles was at Ashborn Church/' Empingharrij Rutland, " 1663 Memorandum sit et notandu posteris quod tredecim mares (nulla interveniente puella) hoc anno in oppido hoc Empinghamise, nati fuerunt ; quorum undecirn baptizati sunt ; reliqui duo, ut pote' filii anabaptistatum, baptizandi supersunt — Carolus Twickent ibid : Vicarius." All-hallows, London Wall. " The last Marriage is FeV 2 1580-1 the next April 30. 1581 Here eiideth the yeare of our Lorde 1580, and hereafter foFoweth the yeare of our Lord 1581, and is, as is in the next leaf is to be seen — So that there is no more marriages than ye here see; and therefore doth make they are so to end, and the other so to begynn ; not that begynnyng and endyng of the yere is so, but that the one is the last that was in that yere, and the other the first that was to begynne the other yere, which is as foloweth 1581 Exce."^ Narburghj Norfolk. " 1709 Maria filia Francisci Legate et Elizabethae uxoris ejus baptizata fuit 30 die Aprilis/' ^ An explanatory note. OF PARISH REGISTERS. ^ 183 " Mary Daughter of Francis Legate and Elizabeth his Wife buried 4 May 1709/' " Huic Marise h pectore ad femurusque, secunda fuit adunata Filia mortua quidem_, sed ejusmodi inter banc et vivam Com- municatio ut hac Spirante,, in illius Corpore visibilis dabatur motio ; Biceps fuit hie foetus, cujus Capita, quatuor sustenta- bant Humeri totidem annexis non tantum Brachijs, sed et manibus, h Pudendis etiam (quae fuerunt Duplicia) in quatuor fermora, totidemque dividebatur Crura, necnon et Pedes omnino perfectos/' Brewton, Somerset, " 1621 King Charles heard a Sermon preached by the Bishop of Bath and Wells in Brewton Church, text. Psalm ^' 1644 King Charles with Prince Charles was at Brewton/' St, Pancras, Soper Lane, London. " 1593 This year the plague was very quick in London, Ostie par la pyte Fire de Dieu enflamme k Penconter la Ville." St. Andrew^ Sf Holborn. , " 1563 July 23 Here began the great plague." '' 1563-4 Feb : Here, by God's mercy the plague did cease; whereof died in this parish, this year, to the number of four hundred four scour and ten." Chapel Royal Register. " His royall Highness's two daughters Lady Mary and Lady Anne were confirmed by the Deane of the Chappell on Sunday Jan 23. 1675 after Evening Prayer." " Monsieur Martin Breton a priest and preacher at St. Pauls Church at Paris made his recantacon in the Chappell after Evening Prayer imediately before the Grace of o"^ L** Jesus X* &c. on Nov'' 19. 1676 He declared his unfeigned sorrow y* he had bin so long detained in the Ch of Rome and promised as long as his life should last he would bee a true Son of the Church of England. In testimony whereof he gave it under his hand openly, to the Ld Bp of London then Dean of the Chappell." "On Maundy Thursday April 16 1685 our gracious King 184 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS James y« 2^ wash'd wip'd and kiss'd the feet of 52 poor men w*^ wonderful! humility. And all the Service of the Church of England usuall on that occasion was performed, his Maty being psent all the time/' " July the 24*^^ 1689 This morning about four a clock her royall Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark was safely delivered of a Son. The Queen was present the whole time of her Labour w'^'' lasted about 3 hours and y* King w*^ most of the persons of quality about the Court, came into her Royall Highnesses Bed Chamber, before she was delivered." St. Helen's, Aukland, " 1646 4 Feb. George Cumming and Jennel Hodgson mar- ried. And the same night our gracious King Charles laid at Christopher Dobson's house in Bishop Aukland/' Bishop Middleham. " 1667 4 June, George Litster and Anne Law both of this parish mar.'' '^ Feare of an Invasion from HoUande." " Postridie intempestio erat." Aycliffe, Durham, "1599 A publycke admonition gyven the xxiij day of December, for all Maysters and Dames to put away such servants and sojourners as wyll not usually come to churche." St. Oswald, Durham. " Mem that on y* 27th Nov 1703 was y'' greatest hurricane & Storme that ever was known in England ; many churches and houses were extreamley shattered and thousands of trees blown down ; thirteen or more of her Maj'tyes men of war were cast away and above two thousand seamen perished in them. N.B. the Storme came no further north than Yarmouth." Rodmarton, Gloucestershire. " 1636 Hoc anno in agris in loco Hocberry vocato dum sulcos aratro ducunt discoperta sunt . . . tessallata pavimenta, tegulse quibus ferrei clavi infixi subrutse, nummi quoque aerei Antonini & Valentiniani imp : In colae mihi dixerunt se aereos & argenteos nummos ssepius ibidem reperisse nesciente quid rei essent a patribus autem audiisse Rodmerton ab illo loco . . . translatam olim, ubi nunc est positam esse OF PARISH REGISTERS. 185 apparet autem statiouem aliquam Romanorum ibidem ali- quando fuisse/' ^ Huntorij Kent, '' 1746 Ou Midsummer-day this year happened the greatest storm of Thunder & Lightening Wind and Rain y* was ever known in the memory of Man." ^•' 1763 On the ninetenth day of August this year happened a much greater storm of Thunder Wind Hail & Rain than that in the year forty six The hail stones bein Six and Seven Inches round." Crowhursty Sussex. " A Blazeing Starre appeared in y^ Kgdom in y^ yeare 1680 it did first shew itselfe 10*^^ of December y* yeare 80 which did stream from y® South west to y^ middle of y® heaven broader y" a Raine Bow by farre and continued till y' latter end of February." East Hoathlyy Sussex. " A parhelion on each side of the sun was seene by many, with a bow over the true sun, with the ends upwards in the morning in this forme." ^ Christ Church, Newgate Street, Lotidon. " 1 764> According to an order of the Court of Kings Bench made on Wednesday May 6 1761 the Bodies of Robert Mun- den and Anne Horsley were buried in the passage on the North Side of Christ Church, to ascertain the right of burying in that Ground to the Parishioners, by Rowland Sandiford Vicar." " 1790 July 30 Discovered a vault belonging to the parish of Christ Church under the old vestry door with a flight of 17 steps and breadth 8 feet length 13 depth 7 leading from the upper step of the North aisle." Framlingham Earl, Norfolk. " 1588 The 19 of Nov : was a day of Thanksgiving to God for the great and wonderful Overthrow of the Spanish Navy which came to fight the Pope^s Battle against this Island for their gospel, at which overthrow, the very enemies were so 1 This site was explored, and the particulars published, in Lyson's EeliquicB Britan- nico Somance. « - The Rector here gives a representation of the appearance of the suns and bow. 186 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS astonished that some of them said Christ had become a Lutheran, and all that saw it did say that it was the Lord's Work so this day was appointed by our Church to be spent throughout the realme, in preachinge, praying, singing of psalms, and giving thanks for a thankful memorial of the Lord's merciful mercies yerelie." Wadhurst. "Exit annus 1639. This yeare was the great sea BattelP neare unto Dover, betwixt the mighty Armado of Spaine riding near our Coasts neare Deale, and the Hollanders, wherein the mighty Armado, consisting of great shippes was vanquished by the Hollanders. The winter was exceeding windy and tempestuous, and therefore there was much shipwreck." St. Saviour's, Southwark. " 4 May 1595 a search was made for the burial of Francis Blunt Gentleman, by one whose name was Thomas Earnley, who, when the thing was found seemed miscontent that it was not noted who the man was, being buried in the Evening obscurely, and therefore desired that it might be added that he was Uncle to Charles Lord Mountjoy then living that so it might after appear of what place and state the man was, but whether his information were true or no, this Book can be no warrant. True it is that one of that name was buried.'' Framlingham, Suffolk. " The 21^* of Januarre Ano 1614 ther was sutch a Water at the Mill Bredge as the like was neuer scene in any man's tyme then lyueynge, and the next daye begane the great Snowe, wch laye full seaueu weekes." Hillingdon, Middlesex. " 1682 This year on Easter Day was Low Sunday 300 persons received the communion, alarmed to their duty by an order from Henry, Lord Bishop of London." Twickefiham, Middlesex. At the beginning of the earliest Register are the following entries, showing a mode of settling diflPerences without recourse to law or equity : — "The fourth day of Aprell in 1568 in the presence of the hole paryshe of Twycknam was agreement made betwyxt M"^ Packer and hys Wyfte, and He we Rytte and Sicylye Daye, ^ Van Tromp's Action. OF PARISH REGISTERS. 187 of a Slander brought up by the sayde Rytte and Sicylye Daye upon the aforesayde M'^ Packer." " The 10 daye of Aprell 1568 was agreement made between Thomas Whytt and James Heme, and have consented that whosoever geveth occasion of the breaking of Christen love and charyty betwyxt them, to forfeit to the poor of the paryshe 3^ & 4'^ being dewlye proved/' ^ St. Michael, Derby. On the cover of this Register is the fol- lowing : — "May 17*^ 1722 Hannah the Daughter of Henry Burton Junior was born neither by Land nor Sea/' St. Alkmund's, Derby. The Register of this parish is exceedingly neat, and the writing in places beautiful. It has the following entries : — " Incipit pestis pestifera.'' " Obiit mortem Margeria Cotes Feb 2, prima ex peste.'' " 1593 Octob 4 Hie destinit pestis pestifera, Sit Deo gratia." " 1606 Sepultus puer inventus parvae bestrise in agris." " 1624 Mense Augusti Campanarium Sanct' Alkmundi denuo reconditum est, et Campana quarta refusta. Henrico Coke Ministro, Thoma Burne et Samuell Storer (Economicis, Roberto Caddow et Josepho Reeve Operariis, et finitum est opus integrum decimo qaarto die ejusdem mensis Augusti 1624, quo die Rex Jacobus una cum Carolo Principe, Villam Derbeyam in progressu intraverunt et duas noctes in eadem villa .... t antes." Eckington, Derbyshire. " 1666-1695. Omnia falce metet tempus. " Our Grandfathers were Papists, Our Fathers Oliverians, We their Sons are Atheists ; Sure our Sons will be queer ones." 1 It was an ancient custom, that the making up of great quarrels should be entered in the Church Books. Thus, in the proof of the age of John de Insula, 37 Ed. III. — " A great quarrel between John de Insula, the Father, and Richard Brokere, was made up on the following Sunday, and is enrolled in the Missal at Easthorne.^^ " A dispute on that day betwein him and John de St. Clere was settled on that day, and enrolled in the MissaV^ 188 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS St. Mary Beverley} " July 1642, King came to Town y^ 7*^ day. Hull Mills burn y® 11*'' day/' '' Sep. 1642, Great danger of y^ Kingdom and parliament.'^ " Jan. 1642, Lord Newcastle, rogue/' "April 1643, Wakefield redeemed 21 day." " June 30, 1643, O''" great scrimage in Beverley and God gave us the victory at that tyme, ever blessed be God." "Thirteene slaine men on y^ Kings party was buried y*" XXX* day of July 1643. " All o'^ lives now at y® stake Lord deliver us, for Christ his sake." " Scotts at Newcastle 1643." "Newcastle and Newark besieged March 17, 1643." " Newark forces taken, y*' 21 day." " June 1644 York besieged by the Scotts." " 21 June, We wait for Yorke." " July 1644, York yielded up b. g. p. h."^ " June 1645, Sir John Meldrum, dyed." " 14 June 1645, Nazebie Victory, b. p. g. h. t. be given." "Aug. 1646, Kingdom now quite doubt ful of y^ treatie broken of, the King and Prynse threaten sore: y^ Lord prevent y""." " Nov. 1646, Dublin in distress, Lord deliver it for Christ his sake." " July 1647 Great debate betwixt y« Parliament & the Army, Lord cease it." " Dec. 1647, RoVd 8«- 4^^-, Lord restore it J' " Oct. 1648 Gods hand sore in Pocks." " June 2 & 3 1653, God gave o'^ Navey a great Victory over and against y^ Hollander." Uxbridgey Middlesex. " 1 728^ N B July 7 Unity Winch did penance at morning service for May 26, on the 26 of May is an Entry of the Bap- tism of the illegitimate child of Unity Winch." 1 " For several years after 1641, the Minister has rioted the principal events of the time in a cypher, which is not difficult to read, as he gives the first five numbers to the vowels, and the consonants generally remain unchanged." — Chronica Mirahile. .. 2 Blessing, glory, praise, honour. OF PARISH REGISTERS. 189 All-Saints f Derby. '' 1642 The 22"^* of this August 1642 erectum fuit Notting- hami3& Vexillum regale Matt xii, 25/' " October Rot at Kinton 23 day/' " Nov Rot at Branford 12 day/' Rot at Swarston Bridge 5 day." " 1643 Jan : Ashbie 17 day." Wadhurst, Sussew. " 1633 11"^ June, Anne Diplock was whipped for a rogue." c{ j^Qth Dec., John Palmer and Alice his wife were whipped for rogues." ff23rd Thomasina Hemming, John Ballard, Margery Giles, Robert Spray, and John Sargent whipped." Brentford, Middlesex. " Alice and Elizabeth Pickering, wandering children were whipped according to Law and sent with a Pass to Shrewsbury, the place where they were born, Feb. 26, 1698." Mentmore, Bucks. '^ Memorand. A Beggar woman of Slapton whipt at Ment- more July 5"^ 1698." Seaham. " The Reverend Richard Wallis late Vicar of this Parish, presented a drawing in poker by him of the Salvator Mundi, after Carlo Dolce' which hangs in the Church as an altar piece, according to his wishes and at the desire of his three daughters —Seaham 5 July 1827." St. Nicholas, Durham. " 29 Jan 1686 M^^ Mary Fenwick of Durham Widow relict of William F late of Newton Garthis deceased, gave a silver chalice w*^ a silver pattin." Tottenham. "M" Elizabeth Husbands was buried April 1754 in my middle Chancell of whose executor M^ Poston I demanded and received £4„10„0 viz £4 for the breaking up the ground in my said middle Chancel and 10^ for performing the service on the occasion, and this from a full conviction that the Register of this parish gave me an undoubted right to demand and receive said fees." • 190 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS Wadhurst. " 1688 Nov 4^^ The Prince of Orange invaded England and landed at Torbay nigh to Dartmouth/' " Feb 13^^ William and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen of England; a thanksgiving day for deliverance from papacy and arbitrary power." Llanasaphj Flintshire. " Charles the first (being King of Great Britain and France and Ireland) was beheaded at London near Whitehall the 30*^ day of Januarie about two of the clocke in the Evening 1648." Market Rasin, Lincolnshire. " Memorand™ That Jn'' Watson on Feby 1 4 attempted with- out my consent to sett up a Belfey on y^ little piece of ground adjoyning to M" Bennit's House; whereuppon I discharged him, in vindication of y® right of y^ Church, as my predecessor M^ W"^ Bennit has done severell times formerly. Ita Testor Wmus Carrington." 1693 " Mem : I let Jn° White, Mercer in the Town, to build the Pew in the Chancell, joyning to my reading Desk, by my leave and consent, in the yeare 1693 ; and I give him leave to set in it as long as I please. Fra Smith." 1708 " Mem : That by tradition, Tith Ale hath been paid in y« Town about 500 yeares. It was first laid uppon the Town by ye Prior of Sixhill, for y^ Prandium of his Supper." (not signed.) Witton Gilbert. " Letter from Mr. Richard Watson to the Inhabitants of Witton Gilbert, dated 3 July, 1626, ' from my house in Colman Street. I do remember at my goeinge to Cambridge, in the month of Maye 1594, I received as a testimony of your loves, the somme of six shillings and eight pence, which gifte I have imployed this two and thirtye yeare, and being desierous to make some returne of thankfullnesse, I have restored unto you your lent noble and thirty two nobles more being the in- crease if it, — twelve pounds in all, as an addition to my Brother William, his ten pounds." OF PARISH REGISTERS. 191 St. Peter's, Sandwich. "The 13^^ of October 1661 S* Peter's Church fell down. That day the same year was a Sabbath day, there were two sermons preached there that day, and it fell down within six or seven hours after the people were gone home, presently after one quarter of an hour past eleven o'clock at night. Had it fell at the time when the people were there, the chiefest of the Town and Parish had been killed, and buried under the rubbish, and stones and timber ; but the Lord was so gracious as to shew a miraculous mercy in that judgement, for there was no man, woman, or child killed or hurt, and very few heard it. The Rubbish was three fathom deep in the middle of the Church, the bells underneath it; two or three rods long it lay.^^ N.B. — This was the fall of the Steeple which demolished the South Isle and it has never been rebuilt. Youlgravej Derbyshire. " A Memoriall of the great snow.'^ "This year 1614-5 Jan. 16 began the greatest snow which ever fell uppon the earth, within man's memorye. It cover'd the earth fyve quarters deep uppon the playne. And for heapes or drifts of snow, they were very deep, so that passengers, both horse and foot, passed over yates hedges and walles. It fell at ten severall tymes, and the last was the greatest, to the greate admiration and feare of all the land, for it came from the foure p*^ of the world, so that all c'ntryes were full, yea, the south p'te as well as these mountaynes. It continued by daily en- creasing untill the 12^^ day of March, (without the sight of any earth, eyther uppon hilles or valleyes) uppon w^"^ daye, beinge the Lordes day, it began to decrease ; and so by little and little consumed and wasted away, till the eight and twen- tyth day of May, for then all the heapes or drifts of snow were consumed, except one uppon Kinder-Scout, w^'^ lay till Witson week. " Hyndrances and losses in this peake c'ntry by the snowe abovesayd. 1 It hindered the seed tyme. 2 It consumed much fodder. 3 And many wanted fewell, otherwise few were smoothered in the fall or drowned in the passage; in regard the floods of water ^re not great though many. 192 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS " The name of our Lord be praysed." "There fell also ten lesse snowes in Aprill, some a foote deep, some lesse, but none continued long. Uppon Mayday, in the morning, instead of fetching in flowers, the youthes brought in flakes of snow, mv^^ lay above a foot deep uppon the moores and mountaynes/' " 1615 a dry summer. " There was no rayne fell uppon the earth from the 25*^ day of March till the 2^^ day of May, and then there was but one shower, after which there fell none tyll the 18^^ day of June, and then there fell an other ; after y* there fell none at all till the 4^^ day of August, after which tyme there was sufficient rayne uppon the earth ; so that the greatest p* of this land, especially the south p*^ were burnt upp both come and hay. An ordinary sumer load of hay was at 21. and little or none to be gott for money. " This p* of the peake was very sore burnt upp, onely Lan- kishyre and Cheshyre had rayne ynough all sumer ; and both come and hay sufficient. " There was very little rayne fell the last winter but snowe onely .^' Wadhurstj Sussex. " Exit annus 1623 — This year fell the greatest snow which was in man's memory ; it did abide from the end of January till April.^' "Exit annus 1626 — This yeare was so colde and wett that harvest was not in while Hallowtide." St. Andrew's Newcastle. "The Sun and the Mune was in the clips betwixt nin and ten in the morning and was darkish abut three quarters of a nour— Sep 13 1699.'^ St. JSicholas, Newcastle. " Darke Satterday ^ was 25 Feb 1597." Brignalj Yorkshire. " 1 652 Mar 29. The darke Monday the sunn beinge eclipsed 1 It seems to have been usual to call the day a dark or hlacJc day j thus, in Hart Register is the following : — " John Pasmore departed this life one Sunday, and was buried on hIacJc Monday, 29th March j there was a star appeared in the south east, y* sun was eclipsed 1652." PARISH REGISTERS. 193 10 in 12— that is ten parts in twelve darkened, so that the day seemed as twilight/' Firmingley, Notts. " These are to certify, that I, William Romley, of Burton in the County of Lincoln, was parish clerk of Firmingley, when the Rev. Mr. Barnardiston was Rector of the same, and was an eye witness of the following Transaction which happened as I remember in or about the month of July in the year 1707, viz : " Zachariah Bolton riding with his gun on Mr. Barnardiston's bay horse into ' Auckley Colt Field,' found five stags herded, about 200 yards west from y* bottom of the ' Long Hedge/ He fired amongst them, and disabled one in the hinder parts ; then quitting his horse, he caught the stag by the hind leg, and called to Jarah Wood and myself, who were not far off, for help, but the stag struggling and braying, the horse took him by the neck, and beat him with his fore-foot till he lay still, then we took him alive, laid him on the horse and carried him to the parsonage house at Firmingley, into the little court yard before the kitchen door, where he was killed and drest, by the order of John Harvey Esq'" of Ickwell Bury, who was there present, and had before given us an order to go about the said transaction. " The truth of this I am ready to attest upon oath, if so re- quired; Witness my hand this 25*^ day of June 1737. W" ROMLEY." ^ St. Nicholas, Durham, "1592. Simson, Arington, Fetherstone, Fenwicke, and Lancaster, were hanged for being Egyptians.''^ *^ April 1683 It is ordered that Simon Lackenby is to keep in lieu of his Entercommon Ground, one sufficient Bull for the ^ Peck's Baivtry and Thorn. 2 The 22nd Henry VIII. (1530), cap. 10, is " An Act concerning Outlandish People, calling themselves JEgyptians" " using no craft or merchandize, but deceiving people, that they by Palmistry 'bearing them in hand ' can tell men's and women's fortunes and so cheat people of their money, and commit many heinous felonies and robberies." It enacts that no such persons should henceforth come into the realm, and that those already here, should depart within sixteen days, or forfeit their goods. In 1554 another Act passed (1st and 2nd Philip and Mary, cap. 4) making iifelony without benefit of Clergy or 'privilege of Sanctuary to remain in the realm after twenty days from Proclamation of the Act. A proviso is however made for such Egyptians " as shall leave that naughty idll and ungodly life " and serve some honest householder. 13 194 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS OF use of the City and Borough Kyne, for three years next ensuing ; and to give ten shillings towards a silver plate for a Course." '^ 1568 Mdm. that a certaine Italian brought into the cittie of Durham the 11*^ day of June^ in the yeare above-sayd a very great strange and monstrous serpent in length sixteene feete, in quantitie and dimensions greater than a horse ; which was taken and killed by speciall pollicie in Ethiopia within the Turkes Dominions. But before it was killed it had devoured (as it is credibly thought) more than 1000 p'sons, and destroyed a whole countery.^' WhorltoYij Durham. " Mary, dau of Rob Johnson bap 4 feb 1643 w^^ was the day y* all men were warned to goe against y*" Scotts and y* day was y*^ beacons set on fire to warn all y® Country.'^ St. Mary4e-Bow, Durham. " Baron Hilton's money was by Richard Baddely and John Simpson Churchwardens for the years 1676-1677 recovered • for the poor of this parish, six pound p. ann. which was wrong- fully deteined from the said poor by the Maior and Aldermen of the citty of Durham, and charged 8^ they drunke in blew clarett to the poores accompt.^' Croft, Yorkshire. "Jane Buttrey, of Darlington was sect in the Stoxe at Crofte and was whipte out of the Towne the 3 day of Jan 1672.'^ Aldingbourn, Sussex. " The Vicarage of Aldingborne is not to pay^ any procura- tions to the Archdeacon ; neither was the glebe lands or the tythes belonging to the Vicarage ever taxed, within the memory of Man, to any payments, saving in this year 1635 vj^ viij'' to the Shipping. " Teste Daniel Thompson '' Vicar.'' " By an order from my Lord's Grace of Canterbury the persons living in Aldingborne were numbered, May 26 1676 and found to be 329 living souls ; of these, two were suspected to be Papists and two more received the Communion, as it is enjoined by the Church of England. " Thomas Phillips " Vicar." PARISH REGISTERS. 195 Worldham. ''1621-2 Mem: That at this present viz: June 9*^ there are in Worldham parish ten women living who have had buried 15 husbands, of which women two are married again and 8 remain widows, which 8 have had buried 13 husbands and might perhaps have had buried many more, if they had had them, but all the men in Worldham Parish, at this time living have had buried but 3 wives/^ " 1622 George Fay born as himself saith 1563 was buried Allhallows day. At this time there are so many women dwell- ing in Worldham Parish as have buried 15 husbands but all the men now dwelling in Worldham have buried but one wife." North Mundharrif Sussex. In this Register is a document rela- tive to the extent of the parish, and the ancient method of measuring land. " 1633 A land scot " (rate on land) " made for the west part of the parish of North Mundham, 14 yard-lands and 8 coats " (i.e. 2 yard-lands) " Fishers 14 yard-lands and 8 coats. Brim- fast 6 yard-lands. Sum total 42 yard-lands and 1 coat." " Runcton 20 yard-lands and 1 coat. Sum of all the parish 62 yard-lands and a coat. The land scot is made for the Church." St. Mary's, Lichfield. " Aug 16 1572 Hoc die Johannes Bagshawe admissus est in ludim'rum." Isham. " 1620 This was a cheap yeare of all grain — ordinary Wheat at 18^ the stryke — Rye at 16' and after at 12 — Barley at nine and ten pence and mault at 15^ and 16' a strike." ''1621 A very dear yeare of all manner of Come, and about the end of 1622 Wheat 4' and more. Barley 3' Mault 4' and the prices of all these some market daies more." " 1630 This yeare was a great plague at Cambridge, so that ther was no Stirbyshe Faire kept, and this was a dear yeare. Wheat at 8' a strike Pease 6' and Mault at 6' 8^ — Pease at 5' never so deare as at this time." Barton Segrave, 1609. fU>^ " Memorandum ifl perpetuum. King Charles the Second 196 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS OF (after twelve years exile) was by a miracle of mercy restored unto his three Kingdoms his undoubted right May 29*^ 1660. « Soli Deo Gloria " W. H/' East Peckkam, Kent. " 1637 This yeare was the Communion table rayled in by the Appointment of D'' Ryves Dean of Shorham Deanery and Chancellor to the most Reverend Father in God, William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury who commanded this uniformity to be general throughout the kingdom." TFest Farleigh, Kent. The Register of this Parish contains much curious information, together with an agreement made between the Vicar and the Parishioners, Feb. 15th, 32d of Elizabeth, of the sums payable for Church Fees, Tythes, &c. &e. Sutton Vallence^ Kent. *' Memorandum November 25—17. (1717) " On which day Eliz Stace did publick penance for y* foul sin of adultery committed with Tho Hutchins jun^ in Sutton Vallence Church as did y« abovem*^ Anne Hynds for y^ foul sin of Fornication committed with Tho : Daws above written Sa: Prat. Vicar/' Stockton, Wilts. This Register was for twenty years kept by Thomas Crockford, Ludimagister. The entries were in Latin, and when the person was of any note he stated particulars of the family, &c., with great minuteness. But for the following sentence in the entry of the Burial of Mrs. Mary Topp, the pedigree of Topp would most probably have been now inexplicable. " Tres filios reliquit superstites ; Johannem Seniorem Juvenem — Johannem Juniorem Adoloscentem, et Edwardum Puerulum.*' St. Margaret, Westminster. " 1553 the xix day (July) was my Ladye Mary her Grace proclaimed Queue in London & the xxi day in Westm*".'^ Trinity the Less, London. " Alice Meleche the daur of John Meleche xyened being the dale that Kinge Phillipp came from beyond the seas and landed att Greenwich att five o'clock att night." ' The Eegister contains the names of all the Vicars, from 1558, with biographical notes. PARISH REGISTERS. 197 St. Oswald's, Durham. "Thys yere A° 1587 the pryce of corne was as foUoweth and y^ greatest part of last yeare beforegoinge, so y* many poore peple weare supposed to dye for lack of bredde, riotwith- standyng greate store in the handes of hard harted carles y*' styll raysed the p'ce untyll harvest at the which tyme y* price of corne begane to fall. The p'ce of Ryexiij' iiij*^ the bushell. Wheat at xvj' iiij"^ the b'shell, haver at v^ ix** y* bushell, grotes at iiij^ y pecke, pese at xij^ y* bushell, byg, at vj^ y* bushell, halfermalte at v^ vj** y^ bushell, but the next somer wheate was at iij" iv** the bushell, rye and pays at iiij^ y® bushell, otes ij' y« bushell, byg at 3« ^'^ y« bushell/' The Registers of Hanbury, Staffordshire, commence in 1574, and the arms of the principal families in the parish are beautifully and very accurately emblazoned. Staplehurstj Kent. '^ 1549 The ninthe daye of June. This day being Whit- sonday (wherein the Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rite and Cere- monie of the Churche after the use of the Churche of Englande begon to be executed) ther was first baptized Marie the dawghter of Richard Beseley ps~om of this py*she Churche borne the last Thursday hora fere quinta ante meridiem of his lawfull Wif Jane who were maryed the year before and in the first day that the holly comvnion in the English tonge (after thorder that now is was here mynystered), ther bothe w*^ others most humblye and devoutlie comvnicating the same. The psone Christined his owne Childe.^' In the Register of this Parish is also noticed at one period the Churchings of "Women, thus — "the xii day of May was churched Wyllyam Bassoke's Wyffe and Willyam Poller's Wyffe.^'i Boxleyy Kent. The Register contains a note of the Will of * Sermons were sometimes preached at the churching. It appears also to have been the custom recently in use at Dunton in Essex, and also in the Isle of Thanet, for a woman at her churching to give a white cambric handkerchief to the minister as an offering. — Morant's Essex V« 1, p. 219. Lewis's Thanet. This maj be a substi- tute for the crisom cloth. — Vide p. 109 ante. 198 MISCELLANEOUS CONTENTS OF PARISH REGISTERS. "William Kember sometymes a poor Child of Boxley touching the Guyfte of xxx' by y* year to the poor of Boxley."^ PoyningSj Sussex,^ "The xviij day of April, 1608 was buried John Skerry a poore man that died in the place stable, and being brought half naked with his face bare, the parson would not burye him soe, but first he gave a sheete and caused him to be sacked therein, and they buried him more Christian like, being much grieved to see him brought soe unto the grave ; and at this time did one Thatchar dwell at the place." St, Olave^s Jewry y London. " 1591 Mem'^ that I William Corsse & Mary Corsse do here in the pish of St. Olave in the Jury in London, this present day being the %^ day of May a.d. 1591 in the presence of us whose names are here underwritten, Willingly, Freely and Voluntarily give our son Pasfeld Corsse unto John Callcock of London Grocer as freely as it pleased Almighty God to give him unto us the 14*^ day of Feb'^ 1586 being Ash Wednesday, he being five years old & better, and having been with y* said John Callcock now one year. And we promise further not to have to do with our said son Pasfeld during the life of the said John Callcock, otherwise than to be humble petitioners unto Almighty God for the health of our said dear son and the pros- perity of John Callcock his said master. And in witness of the truth unto these premises we have put our hands the day and year above said, viz. " WiUiam Corsse " Mary Corsse " W" Davies, Vicar " Nych^ Cokson " St, Pancras, Exeter, " On the 19th of JuUy 1727 between foure and five of the clocke in the morning, al the houses in Exeter did shake with an Earthquake that people shakt in theire beds from one side to the other, and was al over England and in some places be- yond sea, but doed but little damage : tis of a certain truth. * This practice is frequently met with in Eegisters, and has been of service to the Commissioners for inquiring into public charities, as the only notice of ancient bene- factions. The Rev. G. Beard, who died in 1786 Rector, is said never to have preached but from two texts, "Simon the Tanner" and " Felix trembled."— Horsfield's Sussex, p. 177. 199 CHAPTER IX, THE Acts and Ordinances which have been noticed in these pages, evince the desire of the legislative authorities not only to compel the registry of Baptisms, &c., but that the record of them should be handed down to posterity; hence the direction that a correct Transcript should be forwarded to the Bishop of the Diocese; — a most excellent provision, which, in case of fire happening in the Parsonage House, or any other accident or circumstance destroy- ing the Parish Register, would still afford the same evidence as if the originals had been extant ; besides providing a check to any altera- tion, erasure, or forgery, which a record of so much importance as a Parish Register is subject to. Although the Act of Parliament passed during the Commonwealth, did not provide for this trans- mission of a Transcript to the Bishop, yet it directed that the Clerk of the Peace should enter the Certificates of Marriages, '^ to be kept amongst the records of the Sessions." In a cause which occupied the attention of the Court of Chancery for some time. Lord Chancellor Eldon remarked, that none of the Parish Registers had been kept until then, according to law ; that in the Chandos case, in the House of Lords, one Noble Lord was disposed, on that ground, to reject a great number of them, as not having been kept according to the Canon. ^ The House, however thought that the subject having fallen into so loose a state, could not in that instance be taken with such strictness ; his Lordship also remarked, that from what passed in that case, there was since considerable security for the authenticity of evidence of pedigree in future, as partly upon his (Lord Eldon' s) suggestion, the Bishops, came to a determination to require the annual transmission of the duplicates. What the result of this determination has been, will be presently seen. 1 In the cause of Huet «. Le Mesurier, 1 Cox, 275, Lord Kenyon rejected a Eegister of Baptism in Guernsey, on the ground of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction not extending to that Island, and required further evidence in proof of the Petitioners haying attained twenty -one. • 200 These Transcripts, as already stated, were first ordered in the year 1597, and subsequent ordinances have not omitted to direct their punctual transmission.^ It is, however, certain, that in some Dioceses no attention whatever has been paid to the subject, and in no single Diocese are the Transcripts perfect. Dr. Prideaux, in his Directions to Churchwardens j in noticing the order for transmission of a copy to the Bishop's Registry, remarks, that it is — " The foundation on which bills indented of all Christenings, Marriages, and Burials, are given in at every Easter Visita- tion by the old Churchwardens on their going out of their office, although through the neglect of the officers, the said Bills are never sent into the Bisphop's Registry, but usually after the Visitation is over are thrown by and no more taken care of, whereby the intent of the Canon is wholly defeated, which was, that a Register should be kept in general for the whole Diocese in the Bishop's Registry, in the same manner as in every particular Church for the Parish belonging thereto.'' The First Report of the Committee on Public Records (1800), states that — " The importance ^ of a regular transmission of the Copies of Parish Registers, in every Diocese, to the Diocesan or his Chancellor, which, by the Canons of 1603, ought to take place annually, having engaged the attention of your Committee, they directed inquiries to be made upon this head, and although they have the satisfaction to find that, upon an average of the last ten years, these copies have been regularly transmitted annually, by nearly all the parishes in 1 6 out of the 26 Dioceses in England, and triennially in two or three Dioceses, yet it * It has been lamented, that the Canons have never been confirmed by Parliament. •The Canons of 1603 were made by the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation, convened by the King's Writ, and afterwards confirmed by the King under the Great Seal j but Lord Hardwick, in his celebrated Argument in the case of Middleton v. Crofts, gave the opinion of the Court of King's Bench, that although they bound the Clergy, they did not propria vigore bind the laity. 2 In France, two copies of every entry of Birth, Marriage, and Burial, are made, and every leaf signed by the President of the Tribunal of First Appeal, and at the end of each year the Registers are closed by the Mayor, and one copy is deposited in the Archives of the Mayoralty, and the other at the Register Office of the Tribunal of First Appeal. 201 appears that a very large proportion of the parishes in each of the remaining Dioceses have neglected to comply with this salutary regulation, which, considering the great utility that may be derived from it, in guarding the evidences of title and pedigree from spoliation or confusion, ought in all instances to be completely and punctually enforced.'^ In the districts of Bath and Wells, there was lately a deficiency in the annual returns of 430 out of 480. In that part of the Diocese of Winton, in the County of Surrey, containing about 142 parishes, there are only 20 duplicate Registers for all those Parishes from 1597 to 1800; and as every Parish ought to have annually remitted a copy of its Register for the previous 203 years, there is a deficiency, in this district only, of 28,806 Registers.^ The Return of the Registrar of the Diocese of London, to the Commissioners on Public Records (1800), is: — "Also I hereby certify that it is not the custom within the Diocese of London for any return to be made to the Bishop^ s Registry of either Burials or Baptisms." ! ! In the evidence of Sir Wm. Betham, Ulster King at Arms, before the Committee in 1832, it appears that he had occasion to search at York for Transcripts of Registers, and found them " lying unarranged and unconsultable " in the office. And was told that this was so, because the Act of Parliament gave no directions about fees? * Grimaldi, Orig. Geneal. 2 Upon reference to the Act it will be seen that it is not correct, for it directed the Bishops to recommend a plan for remunerating the Registrars. May not the real reason be, that as the Registrars are enjoying a sinecure of many thousands a yejir, they are unwilling to be disturbed in their rich repose by any public duties ? 202 bishops' transcripts. The following Table from Mr. Grimaldi's Origmes Genealogicce (p. 289), was compiled from the Returns in 1800, but by some over- sight the Transcripts at Canterbury are not noticed : — Date of earliest Trans- cript. Parishes in Diocese. Number of Parishes transmit- ing Duplicates in 1800. Dean and Chapter of York . London 1660 90 perfect It has not been the custom for many years, for the Clergy of this Diocese to transmit Dupli- cates. There are, however, a few odd Transcripts of early date. 147 Durham 195 324 *231 480 129 142 252 323 434 1227 101 204 95 156 262 '214 330 Winton nearly perfect ditto ditto nearly complete 50 perfect ditto Lichfield and Coventry . . Lincoln County .... Leicester Archdeaconry . . Bath and Wells .... Chichester Archdeaconry . . Lewes ditto 1660 1587 Worcester 181 Hereford Salisbury 1660 323 9 or 10 Norwich C the returns are to 4 arch- ( deaconries 101 Carlisle Bristol Rochester 1731 perfect 7 Ely Chester Gloucester Oxford 1600 1650 1571 nearly perfect perfect nearly perfect 150 Peterborough Exeter 225 Bedford Archdeaconry . . Huntingdon Archdeaconry ") in Huntingdonshire ) Ditto in Hertford .... Eichmond Archdeaconry . . . , 120 92 77 84 nearly perfect 85 74 84 In 1831, a Parliamentary Return (No. 298) was made by the several Dioceses, in answer to inquiries whether the directions of the Act of 1812 had been complied with — namely. What Transcripts had been sent since 1813? — What report the Registrar had made to his Bishop thereon ? — What Alphabetical Lists had been made ? — Whether the Transcripts were kept in places secure from fire ? — And whether the Transcripts and Lists were perfect from 1813? BISHOPS TRANSCRIPTS. 203 The following Table, compiled from this Return, shows the imper- fect and insecure state of Bishops^ Transcripts in 1831 : — 1813 to 1829. Number of Average defaults Bemarks. Parishes per annum. Canterbury . . . , . . Nearly perfect York 8 or 900 sent annually^ (subject to fire) CIii 1826, 192 defaulting parishes. (^ (depository subject to fire) TjondoTi 618 J^V/U\UvrXX • • • • Winchester . . . 304 13 Surrey 131 11 Durham .... 190 11 Each parish charged 2«. for filing Bangor 177 3 /■ Of those sent, many not fairly writ- \ ten, nor correctly spelt, and not at v. all formal Bath and Wells . . . 139 Bristol Very few sent regularly Many informal Dorsetshire . . . 444* '25* Carlisle .... 129 • • C Nearly perfect, only 8 defaults in 17 X years, (subject to fire) Chester .... , . Defaults inconsiderable ^ Lewes Archdeaconry . 142 , Perfect Sussex (West) . ' . 147 15 (Subject to fire) ^ Ely 102 8 Ditto Ely Archdeaconry . 54 • ( Only ten sent in the first four years, (1813-1816 Exeter 670 18 Gloucester .... 330 27 (Very much subject to fire) Hereford .... 365 7 Lichfield and Coventry 606 7 Lincoln * . ' , . . 589 103 Bedford Archdeaconry 122 . Very nearly perfect Bucks 211 , , More than half not sent Huntingdon . . . 77 7 Ditto ( Not tabulated in Eeturn. (subject to Ifire) Leicester Archdeaconry 243 30 (Subject to fire) Llandaff .... 226 , Only 3 deficient each year Norwich .... 1212 5 Expected to be made fjnite perfect Oxford 238 9 (Subject to fire) ^ Peterborough . . . 328 7 Rochester .... 132 9 (Subject to fire) St. Asaph .... 127 6 St. David's . . . 480 . Imperfect, (subject to fire) Sarum . 15 (Subject to fire) Worcester .... 264 31 539 deficiencies in 17 years 1 A great number sent by coach, and also subject to postage from being informally directed, and therefore refused by the Bishop's Eegistrar. IFor Notes 2, 3, 4, and 5, see neat page. 204 But if the same calculation as that made by the Commissioners on Public Records with respect to the Diocese of Winton, be ex- tended to all the Dioceses in the kingdom, the result will be a de- ficiency of perhaps not less than 275,860 transcripts ! ! If this transmission of copies be a troublesome and useless provision, let it be discontinued, and let every Parish Register be open to the inge- nuity and devices of evil-disposed persons, without the chance of check and detection, (which this law, if complied with, afiPords) let the Registers themselves perish, and their valuable contents be irre- vocably lost to posterity. But if the provision be prudent and use- ful (and this all who give the subject consideration must admit), how deplorable is it that it should become a dead letter ; that a regulation of upwards of two hundred and fifty years standing, and so excellently adapted for the public good, should be disregarded with impunity ; and that measures should not be immediately taken to cause it to be universally and strictly observed.^ It seems, however, that even if Government should interfere to compel the Transcripts to be sent in, the object of the Canon of 1597 will not be attained unless the Transcripts, which have for so many years been neglected, should also be transmitted -^ for so 2 The copy of the Manchester Register is nearly as large as a Church Bible. 3 Soon after the passing of the Act, the Registrar " called the attention of the then Bishop of Chichester, and of the then Custos Rotulorum," to the 13th Section, " loth of whom declined doing anything thoreinP The Bishop of Lichfield (Cornwallis) was the only prelate who complied with the direction of the Act, and made a Survey and Report. ^ It will not be surprising that Lincoln is deficient if the following is correct : — " The Duplicate Parish Registers are tied up in the parcels in which they were sent, bundled into boxes, and those which had been written on parchment Moere regularly cut up for binding modern WillsJ'^ — Household Words. * The present Bishop of Oxford has since erected a fire-proof Depository. ^ The only penalty imposed by the Act of 1812 is that of transportation for four- teen years : and by a subsequent clause, it is enacted, that one half of all penalties shall go to the informer^ and the remainder to the poor of the parish^ or to charitable purposes ! ! ! A penalty of £5. for every year's delay in sending a Transcript would be much more efficacious. There must, however, be some power which the Bishop, if so disposed, might exercise, as by the table at p. 203, it appears that the Transcripts from 1813 to 1829 are nearly perfect at Canterbury, Carlisle, Bedford, and Norwich, and quite perfect at Lewes. At the latter place the late Registrar " applied himself and his influence to supply the omissions subsequent to 1700." 2 This completing of the Bishop's Transcripts was noticed in a pamphlet published in 1784, intituled, a " Plan for carrying into execution a General Register^ to be esta- blished in London or Westminster, of Births, Marriages, Burials, Letters of Attorney, Seamen and Soldiers' Wills, and Powers of Attorney ;" and the writer does not seem 205 long as this is not done there cannot be that which Dr. Prideaux alludes to, viz., " a Register in general for the whole Diocese in the Bishop's Registry, in the same manner as in every particular Church, for the Parish belonging^ thereto/' It is true that in large parishes the expense of prep aring these coies would be conside- rable, and might be considered as an useless tax upon the parish funds ; but it should also be considered that the parish would only be doing now what it was their duty to have done many years since, and to which their attention has been called by repeated Acts of Parliament, Canons, and Injunctions, and also by the Charges which have from time to time been delivered by the Bishops to the Clergy. In the Chandos Case, a marriage was proved by the Transcript from the Archbishop of Canterbury's Registry, of the Register of Owre in Kent, the original Register having been lost; and the Committee of Privileges not being satisfied with the appearance of the Register of Maidstone for the year 1603, required the produc- tion of the Archbishop of Canterbury's transcript of the Register, which was found to correspond; but in the claim of Charlotte Gertrude McCarthy in 1825, to the Stafford Peerage, the duplicates of the Registers were called for, and forgery in the original thus discovered.^ In the case of St. Bride's Register, a woman cut out two leaves, hoping to destroy all proof of her marriage. Fortunately, the Register was after 1812, and there happened to be a Transcript in the Bishop of London's Registry, and so the marriage was proved. In the Angell case, where an agricultural labourer established his to hesitate in imposing on the pariah the expense ; and when (in addition to the other reasons before stated) it is considered that such Transcripts will be preserved for the benefit of the descendants of those persons named in such Transcripts, it will be seen that the parishioners are only paying for that which it is their interest to pay for. N.B. The writer of this pamphlet (Mr. Box) appears to have been the individual who suggested the tax on Births, Marriages, and Burials, which in 1784 gave so much offence, and in 1794 was repealed. ^ It must be noticed here, that under the Marriage and Registration Acts, the dupli- cate of the Marriage Register is sent to the Registrar G-eneral, so that now Bishop's Transcripts consist only of Baptismt and Burials. In a few instances, however, the Transcript comprises the marriages also. ' Vide minutes in the Stafford Peerage case ; where it will appear, that the Parish Register was allowed by the clergyman to be taken away by a person who came to search for entries ; that he requested permission to examine them in private, which was granted (although even his name was unknown to the clergyman) and he wa» absent with it an hour. 206 bishops' transcripts. claim to property valued at a million of money, the Attorney Gene- ral obtained a rule nisi for a new trial, on the ground that the Registers produced in Court had been tampered with, as was proved by comparing them with the Bishop's Transcripts. The original entry was the burial of Margaret Ange, which had been altered to Marriott Angell. In the Leigh Peerage Case, the agent opposing the Claim had searched the original Register at Wigan for a certain baptism, but without success, there being a general chasm at the period (1658). When the House of Lords had nearly concluded the hearing, the agent wrote to the Registrar of the Bishop, at Chester. The letter arrived a little after eight in the evening of the 4th of June, 1829. The search was made, the Baptism found, and com- municated the same night. On the following Thursday the docu- ment was produced, and decided the case against the claimant. — Parliamentary Return j No. 298, 1831. Reference was also once made to the Registry of Sarum, upon a suspicion that a Parish Register of that Diocese had been altered ; when, upon comparing it with the transcript, it appeared that the true name had been altered to another, by an erasure of two letters, and by inserting upon that erasure three other letters instead. For many years, the usefulness of these Transcripts has been fully proved, they having been repeatedly produced in the courts of law, as evidence of forgeries of entries in the original Register.^ In the author's copy of Sir Ralph Bigland's Observations on ParocJiial Registers is the following memorandum in the hand- writing of the Rev. J. Dallaway : — " A late Vicar of Lechlade, in a fit of intoxication or despair^ threw two Register Books of that Parish into the fire." There are many parishes whose Registers have been lost, and yet the parties interested are not without evidence of the contents of them, in consequence of Transcripts having been transmitted to the Bishop. When the subject is well considered, the necessity of in- » This was the case in the case of Doe dem. King and White v. Farran, tried at Chelmsford, at the late Lent Assizes, 1829. A true bill was afterwards found against an individual for the forgery, but he left the country, and no conviction took place. In the cause of Oldham and Eborall, an issue was tried before the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, on the 18th July, 1829. The Transcript of the Register of Bir- mingham from 1711 to 1714 was produced to supply a defect in the Eegister occasioned by some liquid having obliterated three entries. BISHOPS* TRANSCRIPTS. 207 flicting a penalty upon parishes which neglect this duty, will be ap- parent, especially when the fact is indisputable, that it is stUl aeg- lected.i ^ ^ ; The Act requires that the Transcripts shall be made on parcjnnent, in the same form as prescribed in the schedules annexed to the>4^ct, but it does not enact that they shall be of the same size and entered in the same way. The consequence is, that the Transcripts sent in, are some on paper and others on parchment^ some entered on parch- ment of one size and some on another, some written lengthways and others crossways ; all these varieties, together with the very bad writing of a few, tend to augment the difficulties which other- wise present themselves in any endeavour to arrange and preserve these Transcripts in uniform order. This is the more necessary, as the 12th clause of the Act, requiring that the Registrars shall make correct Alphabetical Lists of the names of all persons and places mentioned in the Transcripts, has not been complied with. So far indeed from this, that in some dioceses, the Transcripts are piled one upon another, in bundles containing the Transcripts of the re- spective years,^ so that a search for the Transcripts of the Register of any given parish, would be a work of time and trouble, without taking into consideration the trouble of finding any particular entries in such Transcripts when collected. The expence of receiving^ the Transcripts at the Bishop's Registry, ^ At Canterbury, for a period of a few years, there were two visitations in the year, at each of which a Transcript of the Eegister for the whole of the preceding year was sent in, so that there were two Transcripts of the same entries during that period. By the fire which destroyed Lewisham Church, on the 20th of December, 1830, all the Registers from 1550 were consumed. Of these 280 years, there are, in the Bishop's Office, Transcripts for 24 years only I ! In 1839, the Author purchased at a book-shop the Bishop's Transcripts of fifly-eight parishes in Kent, for the year 1640. Fifteen of these parishes have now no Eegister of so early a date as 1640. 2 This is stated from personal observation. Bigland also mentions having seen in the Cathedral Church of , under a staircase, in a place on the north side of the north aisle, upon the damp ground, without the security of a door, a promiscuous heap of Transcripts from different parishes, and exposed to destruction, either from damp or other casualty. 3 The Transcripts, jpropcrZy directed, were formerly received postage free j but when the parishes neglected the formal direction required by the Act, the postage became chargeable, in which case they were refused by the Bishop's Registrar, aud taken back to the G-eneral Post Office. At this Government office there was a large accumulation of these Transcripts which were eventually committed to the flames ! — Bishop's Tran- scripts are no longer privileged to be free of postage. The Postage Act of 3 and 4 Vict. cap. 96, s. 56, declares that* except in the cases therein specified, all privileges whatever of sending letters or packets free of postage should cease. 208 and of afterwards arranging, indexing, and preserving them, is not provided for by any allowance to the Bishop, or by any fee pay- able by the parishes on sending them in ; neither are the fees for searches at all sufficient for this purpose, for in many dioceses they do not exceed a few pounds. Add to this the defect in the Act of 1812, which does not give the Bishop the power of compelling the transmission, nor provide a penalty for the neglect of it,^ and it will not be at all surprising, that the intentions of the Act as regards the Bishop's duplicates are far from being complied with.^ It has been urged, that no provision is made for the expenses occasioned to the Bishops in preserving the Transcripts : the Act of 1812, however, provided for the remunerating the officers in each Registry, " for their additional trouble and expense in carrying its provisions into execution,'^ ^ and directed that the Bishop and Cus- ^ There seems for a long time to have been a disinclination to inflict a penalty on the clergy for neglecting to make and transmit a copy to the Bishop. The Act of 1837 for Civil Registration, imposes a penalty of £10. on persons omitting to send copies to the Registrar General, and this enables that officer to make his returns complete. A similar penalty would enable the Bishop's Registrars to complete their Transcripts. ' Sir Thomas Phillipps, in his address in 1833, says — " Parliament leaves it to the Bishop, the Bishop to the Rural Dean, the Rural Dean to the Registrar, and the Registrar does not like to embroil himself with the Clergy of his Diocese." N.B. — This evasion of responsibility might be extended from the clergy to the churchwardens, and from them to the clerk, who, if he makes an indifierent copy, will perhaps keep it year after year, till he can get the clergyman or churchwardens to sign and pay for it, aud such a case is within the author's knowledge. Without referring to the period antecedent to the passing of the Act in 1812 (up to which time none of the parishes in the Diocese of London had been accustomed to send Transcripts to the Bishop's Registry), it is believed to be a fact, that the populous parish of St. Luke has not sent any Transcript since 1815 ; the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, since 1821 ; and the parish of St. Matthew, Bethnal Green, has never sent any Transcript whatever ; and the Bishop's Registrar has not the means of compelling it or of punishing the neglect. The churchwardens of St. Luke's provided parchment for the Transcripts for the years 1813, 1814, and 1815, and the parish clerk transcribed the Register, but as he could not obtain any remuneration for his trouble (although he only required five guineas per annum) he has discontinued to transcribe, and the consequence has just been stated. It should be observed that the entries of baptisms, marriages, and burials, in the parish of St. Luke, amount together to nearly 2000 annually. Those at St. Leonard, Shoreditch, must be still more numerous. The parish of St. James, "Westminster, pays the clerk 30 guineas per annum for a Tran- script of the Register. The clerk of St James, Garlick Hithe receives 2 guineas. 3 It was calculated, in 1829, that there were about 576 parishes in the Diocese of London, with a population of about 1,500,000, and the entries of baptisms, marriages, and burials, about 60,000. If, therefore, the churchwardens, on the transmission of the annual copies, paid to the Registrar a fee of 2*. 6d., and 2d. for every entry con- tained in the copy so sent, it would produce a sum of near £600. per annum, which would be ample for the purpose of carrying the intentions of the Act into effect. 209 todes Rotulorum of the several counties within each Diocese, and the Chancellor thereof, should, before the 1st of February, 1813, make a survey of the places where the Registers were kept, and report their opinion to the Privy Council upon the most suitable mode of remunerating the officers employed in each Registry for their additional trouble and expense in carrying out the Act. Application was made by the author, to the Privy Council Office in 1828, and it was stated that no such survey and report had ever been made ! ! ^ About the year 1 830, Sir Charles Young (then York Herald, now Garter King at Arms), Archdeacon Hale (then Chaplain to the Bishop of London), and the author, prepared a statement of the *' Defects in the Act of 52nd Geo. III. and proposed Amendments.^^ A number of these were printed and sent to all the Bishops, as well as to several other influential persons. Interviews were had with two or three reverend Prelates, who felt the importance of the subject, but failed to take any means to remedy the evil. It would occupy too much space in this work to give the whole of the document thus prepared, which set forth the defects in one column, and the proposed remedies in the other. The following is an outline of the amendments proposed, but the whole document was embodied in a Draft Bill, which was appended to the first edition of the History of the Fleet Registers ^ (8vo, London, 1833, p. 107.) REMEDIES PROPOSED BY A NEW BILL. That there should not be so long delay allowed in making entries in Registers — the delay allowed by the present law being an en- couragement to the practice of making rough entries in a clerk's book from which the Registers are transcribed, and which is the source of innumerable errors and mistakes. That the Registers shall in all cases be kept at the Church, as the surest protection against loss by fire, and that Parishes be bound to provide a proper place in the Church. ^ Since this was written, it appears by the Parliamentary Returns as to Transcripts of Parish Registers (298) ordered to be printed 25th and 30th March, 1831, that one Report was made, viz., from the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, which recommended that the remuneration to the officers employed in each Registry for their trouble and expense in carrying the provisions tf the Act into execution, should be paid out of the county rate- 14 210 AS TO TRANSCRIPTS. To empower the Bishop of each Diocese^ or persons to be ap- pointed by him, 1. To inquire into the causes of any neglect of the provisions of the Bill. 2. To summon the minister or churchwardens to appear, and bring with them the Parish Register ; their expenses being paid out of the church rate. 3. In case of disobedience of the order of the Bishop, to proceed against the parties by monition from the Ecclesiastical Court, for the recovery of the penalties to be named in the Act. 4. To enforce returns of copies which have not been transmitted under the existing Act. That the Bishop shall examine the cathedrals and buildings belonging to their Registries, and appropriate the fees to be made payable under the proposed Bill, after deducting the actual expenses incurred, for the purpose of procuring and fitting up suitable Registries. As the arranging and indexing cannot be done without much expense, that every parish, upon sending in?^he annual copy, shall remit to the Registrar the sum of 10s. and also a sum not exceed- ing the rate of 1 d. for every entry of baptism, marriage, and burial contained in such copy. These fees to be recoverable in the Eccle- siastical Court. PROPOSED NEW ENACTMENTS. 1. Entries of marriage to be made in duplicate,^ both books being signed by the parties married, by the clergyman, and by the attesting witnesses. The book transmitted to the Registry, will thus be an original document, instead of (in some cases) an imper- fect copy. The power of comparing the entry in the Parish Regis- ter with the second original deposited in the Bishop's Registry, will be an efiectual bar against fraudulent alterations ; and the execution of the entries in duplicate at the time of marriage, will supersede the laborious practice of making copies for the Registry, at the end of every year. Such copies, it must be remembered, being very imperfect transcripts, owing to the difficulty attendant upon decipher- ing original signatures. 2. That the witnesses to the entry of marriage shall be two in • This recommendation is now carried into eiFect, 211 number (exclusive of any parish-clerk or sexton, or other officer of the church who may sign the same), and they shall add their place of residence and description. 3. Entries of christenings and burials to be made in duplicate as soon as possible after the rite is performed. Each entry in the duplicate books to be signed by the clergyman who performed the rite, except in cases where the minister of the parish has received a certificate of the performance of any rite by any other minister. 4. It is proposed to abolish all fees for registering baptisms, it being found in many cases that payment of fees at the time of bap- tism prevents poor persons from receiving baptism at the hands of their lawful ministers, and causes children to remain unbaptized. 5. Indexes to entries to be made. 6. That the Registrars shall not demand more than Is, for a search in such copies,^ nor more than Is. for a copy of an entry. 7. The fees paid under the new Bill to form a fund, at the disposal of the bishop or the persons aforesaid, to be applied in remunerating the Registrars for their trouble, and in carrying into execution the general purposes of the Bill, such as binding, indexing, &c. &c. 8. That a copy of every inscription on any monument, tombstone, or tablet affixed in any church or churchyard, shall be entered by the clergyman in a book to be kept for that purpose, with the registers of his parish, and the copy attested to be true by his signature, for which a fee of 55. shall be paid if in the church, and 2s, 6d, if in the churchyard.^ In the Parliament of 1833, in consequence of the petitions of certain classes of Dissenters, a Committee was moved for by Mr. Wilks, the member for Boston, to consider the state of Parochial Registration ; the Committee was appointed accordingly, and took evidence on the subject. Upon the Committee^s Report, followed the Act for Civil Registra- tion, and the Commission^ for inquiring into the Non-Parochial Registers of England and Wales. Bishops^ Transcripts were, how- ever, left unnoticed, in their neglected and insecure condition. * This proposal for regulating the fees is also now carried out by the Legislature. 2 The importance of this suggestion has been admitted by the Society of Antiquaries. Vide Index, " Monumental Inscriptions." ^ Noticed hereafter, p. 254. 213 CHAPTER X. THE ^^ LIBER STATUS ANIMARUM." AMONG the general canons set forth in some old Rituals, is a direction for four books to be kept by the clergyman in every parish ; one for baptisms, another for marriages, a third for burials, and the fourth, the Liber Status Animarum — " in quo singulas familias suae parochiae, cum omnibus qui in ea vivunt diligenter conscribat, annotabitque qui ad Com- munionem apti, qui ad scholam catechisticam aut Confirma- tionem. Hunc autem librum saepius evolvet, ut particularius in singularu' mores & necessitates intendere possit, &c., &c. No book containing all these particulars can be referred to now — the one best answering the description is the Register of Cogenhoe, Northamptonshire, which contains an alphabetical list of all the families in the parish in 1640, with their Christian and surnames. There are, however, several Registers which contain the names of the principal parishioners, comprised in lists of subscriptions for various objects, lists of signatures to the Vow and Covenant, and other protestations during the Commonwealth. A specimen of these will now be given — Wrotham, Kent. " A Note of what is collected in y^ Parish of Wrotham from House to House towards y^ rebuilding of the Cathedrall Church of St. Paul London according to y^ direction of his Maties Letters Patents in y® case issued forth unto us. In prmis John Rayney Barronett ... 00 2 00 John Williams Vicar 00 5 00 Elizabeth Johnson Mayd Servant ... 00 00 6 Elizabeth Brickwall Mayd Servant . . 00 00 6 Robert Ware John Ware and Robert Ware his Sonns contemptuously refused Edward Morgans als Hills 00 00 1 Widdow Terry at y« Pond 00 00 1 Thomas Tomlyn contemptuously refused Thomas Caterly contemptuously refused alledging y* was a Nursery of Popery LIBER STATUS ANIMAllUM. Regnald Peckham_, Esq'^^ Thomas Tomlyn Gentleman Thomas Dallender Gentleman Nicholas Miller, Esq"^ . . Widow Godden^ .... And 31 others. 213 00 2 6 00 01 00 02 6 00 03 00 00 00 6 Crowhurstj Sussex, " The names & sirnames of y® Inhabitants of y® Parish of Crowhurst in y^ C of Sussex, with y^ severall Sumes of money given by y"* tow"^^ y* rebuilding of y^ Cathedrall Church of St. Pauls in London is as followeth — Given by Mrs. Joanna Busbridge ten shillings Mr Anthony May five shillings Mrs Mary Alchorne five shillings M'* George Baker two shillings sixpence Samuell Crumpe one shilling William Wimble one shilling Robert Goland sixpence John Farmerer sixpence William Taylor sixpence Abraham Fuller sixpence Thomas Perkins servant one shilling Robert Saunders servant sixpence Richard Scrivens servant sixpence Thomas Collins servant twopence Collected from House to House by us M Wing Rect ibid Oct. 8, 1678 STber^Xeman } Churchwardens. Horley. — This Register contains a list of 52 inhabitants who con- tributed in 1671 towards the redemption of English captives in Turkey. ^ The Parish of Wrotham is one of the most extensive in the County of Kent, although no more than £1. 7*. Qd. was collected in it for this purpose. It will be seen that five of the parishioners refused contribution, they had no doubt been of Cromwell's party, and were not to be moved by the appeal to their generosity con- tained in the briefs, notwithstanding "It was ordered" (1677 Dec. 6) "that the preamble of the Briefs be as pathetically penned as the occasion requires, to move people to liberality upon so pious and charitable a Work." The Churchwardens' Accounts of this parish, contain much curious matter. 214 LIBER STATUS ANIMARUM. Renfieldj Sussex. '' 1669 Jan 3. Bur* Joseph Tysehurst a Boy who on Whit- sunday morning fell from climbing a mag pye nest and was smothered in a pond of mud his heels sticking upright/^ This Register also contains a List of the Inhabitants of the Parish in 1681 with their trades, &c.^ Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, In the Register of this Parish is a copy of the ^' Protestation made by the House of Parliament, to be taken of every one of the age of 16 upwards, A.D. 1641, Feb. 27." It is signed by 144. persons who had taken the oath. The Vow and Protestation in 1644 is entered in the Register of Trinity the Less London, with 217 names subscribed. Eastwellj Kent, — This Register contains the Protestation dated February 23rd, 1642, signed by 29 persons; the vow and covenant of 1643, signed by 32 persons ; and the solemn league and cove- nant, dated February 25, 1643, signed by 19 persons. Children after confirmation were usually '' houselled ;'^ that is, they received the Sacrament. In several parishes there remain re- cords of the " Housling People," not only the numbers but some- times the names. In 1537 there was published a book called A Dialogue and Communication betweene the Curate or ghostly Father and the parocheane or ghostly Chyld for a due preparacion vnto the Howselynge, The Chantry Rolls also contain the number of housling people. In the Harl MSS. (2177) is a List of the parishioners of Trinity parish, Chester, with their '^ quartadges " at Easter, 1547 — gr ^iiim Norreys K* 5* M'^ Weyne M^ Tho Massey 4^^ Ux Rob* Aldersley Ux Hen Gee vd Lists may also be met with under the Poll Tax Acts, temp. Car II. and W. III.— '^ Particular of names of the several persons within the same Lordship under the sum of £5. to poll for according to the Acts of Parliament:'— N, & Q. 1850, 231. ^ And see ante p. 194, the numbering of the Parishioners of Aldingbourne in 1676. 315 CHAPTER XI. THE REGISTERS OR KIRK SESSION RECORDS IN SCOTLAND. THE REGISTERS IN IRELAND. REGISTERS of Baptisms and Proclamations of Marriage in Scotland, were instituted by the 14th Canon of the Provincial Council of the Scottish Clergy, held at Edinburgh in 1551,^ and it was declared that these records should be preserved among " the most precious treasures of the church.'^ On the 10th December, 1616, the Scottish Privy Council ordained : — " That in euerie paroche of this kingdome, thaire sallbe one famous book and register maid be the minister of the paroche, and presentit be him, afoir ony thing be written thairintill, to the bischope of the diocese who sail nomber and mark with his awne name the haill leafis of the said Register, and the same being so markit and redelyuerit to the minister, he, or the reider, be his directioun, sallbe haldin, be vertew of this present Act, to insert thairintill the tymes and names of the persones to be maryed, and of the bairnes to be baptized, within the said parochinC; with the witnesses of the saidis bairnes, as alswa the names and tymes of personis deceisand within the same. " And it is declared that this Register shall be repute and haldin as famous and authentic,^ and mak faith in all and qi someuer judgementis within this Kingdome.'^^ By the Population Abstract , published in 1801, it is stated that out of the 850 parishes in Scotland, that made returns to Govern- ment, only 99 were in possession of regular Registers, the rest ^ Wilkin's Concilia, vol. ir., p. 71. — Seton's Sketch, p. 6. This fourteenth Canon did not extend to the Eegistry of Burials : it ordains, " ut singuli curati deinceps habeant Kegistrum in quo nomina infantum baptizatorum in- scribantur, una cum nominibus personarum, quse talium baptizatorum parentes com- muniter habentur et reputantur, nee non compatrum et commatrum, cum die, anno, mense, adscriptis etiam duobus testibus notent ; quod etiam ipsum in bannorum pro- clamationibus servetur, quas prsesens conventio in ecclesiis parochialibus tarn viri quam mulieris respective, si diversarum fuerint parochiarum fieri mandat ; quse quidem regis- tra interpretiosissima ecclesise jocalia conservari vult et prsecipifc, quodque decani in suis visitationibus desuper deligentem indaginem faciant, et deficientes ad commissa- rios referant, ut graviter in eosd^ animadvertatur." — Wilkin's Concilia, vol. iv. 2 See Seton's SJcetch, p. 10. 216 REGISTERS IN having made only occasional entries therein, or keeping no Register whatever ; and as to marriages, they were sometimes entered in many Registers, and sometimes in none. The report of the deputy clerk Register of Scotland, to the Com- missioners of Public Records in 1810, '' as to the parochial Registries of births, marriages, and deaths throughout Scotland,^' remarks, that ^' These are nearly coeval with the present ecclesiastical esta- blishment of the country, and of their great utility and importance, there is, and can be, but one opinion, either in reference to private individuals whose rights and interests are often dependent on the information they afford, or on public grounds, in illustration of the progressive population and political state of the kingdom. It is, however, I believe, a matter of great and general regret, that the regular formation and safe custody of these small local Records have been hitherto so little attended to, and so imperfectly provided for. They are committed to the immediate care and superinten- dance of the Kirk Session of each pari&h, consisting of the minister and certain lay elders, and the Sessions Clerk (who is usually the established parochial schoolmaster), is the proper officer to whom not only the proper formation, but also the custody of this record is committed. It is certainly in the power, and it is the proper pro- vince of the Kirk Session, to see that this record is faithfully and regularly framed, to take care that it be not unnecessarily exposed to hazard, and that, in passing from one sessions clerk to another, BO part of it be lost or mislaid. Yet, when it is considered, that in comparatively few parishes are the existing Records of greater antiquity than the beginning of the last century, and many of them much less, it must be manifest, that the present system of custody . is altogether unsafe and improper; and without going further into the sources of the original imperfection of such Registers, under the present system, it might be sufficient to mention, that they exclude nearly the whole of those who are religious Dissenters from the Established Church of Scotland. '^ From Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, some idea of the state of the Registers in that Kingdom may be formed. Prior to the publication of that work, but very few Registers of burials were kept ; one great difficulty being the custom of persons to' carry their deceased relatives to their native parishes, or the burial place of their ancestors ; another obstacle was, that many parishes had as many as six, seven, or eight different burial places. SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 217 and the only memoranda of burials were the entries made of money received for the use of the mort-cloth (or pall) ; but these did not comprise all the burials, as it was not customary to charge the poor for the mort-cloth, and it was not used for children under ten years of age. Added to this, in some parishes private mort-cloths were kept and let on hire, at a cheaper rate than those belonging to the parish. With respect to the Ptcgister of Baptisms, this may be considered to have been the most correctly kept, though in some parishes, where a small population was scattered over a large tract of country, it had been neglected. The Registers of Marriages has been also badly kept ; and nearly all the irregular,^ or o'er-the- march marriages, have been unregistered. But a chief hindrance to the correctness of Parochial Records generally, was the Act of Parliament in 1783, imposing a tax of threepence on every entry of burial, &c. ; for however unpopular this tax might have been in England, it was more so on the other side of the Tweed. It is stated that it was there considered, as to the burials, a tax upon the misfortunes of the community, and that they exclaimed, in the sentiment of Bajaculus, as mentioned by Tacitus, " Deesse terra in qua vivamus, in qua moriamur, non potest ; " besides, the penalty imposed by the Act, was the omission of the entry in the Registry, thereby virtually conferring a premium on every act of negligence or obstinacy, and not only parishes, but whole counties discon- tinued registering at all. Previous, however, to this Act of Parlia- ment, there had been a cause which rendered the Registers in Scotland very defective, namely, the Secession in 1732. The Seceders, thinking the Registers an appendage of the Established Church, rather than an institution calculated to promote the interest of their posterity, refused to register the births of their children, some going the absurd length of paying the Sessions Clerk his dues, but forbidding the registration.^ 1 When a young couple meet with any obstacle to their union j when from wanton- ness or humour, they spurn all i-egular forms, or when they are too impatient to wait for proclamations, they apply to the Procurator Fiscal, to get a Justice of the Peace to marry them. He instructs them to tell the Justice that they were married at such a time; but to refuse the name o£ the celebrator and witnesses. Whereupon, the Judge first discerns them to pay the legal fine, and next, upon a representation of their poverty, &c. by virtue of his or their power, as Justice, or Justices of the Peace, modify this fine, sometimes to half-a-guinea, sometimes to five shillings, and sometimes even to much less. They get an extract of this sentence, pay the Procurator Fiscal, and the ceremony is over. — Sinclair's /Sco^Zawd. ' Sinclair's Scotland^ vol. vi., Parish of Leslie. 218 REGISTERS IN With respect to the Registers of Burials in Edinburgh, they have been stated ^ to be kept by people whose faculties are impaired by drinking, who forget to day what was done yesterday, people who have an interest in reducing the list of burials, as thereby they may peculate the share of mort-cloth ^ money, due to the charity work- house. Besides, they enter not into the list of burials any who have died without receiving baptism,^ nor those whose relations are so poor, as not to be able to pay for the use of a mort-cloth, nor those who die in the charity workhouse. As for the Register of Births, it does not deserve the name ; true it is, a list is kept in the south isle of St. Giles's church, where any person who chooses to go with a piece of money, will get the birth and name of a child inserted ; but no attention is paid to the observation of this practice, either by the clergy or by parents.* The author having seen but two Scotch Registers, is unable to add his testimony to the above statements : those he has seen were the Register of Anstruther Wester, which commences in 1578, and that of Fittenweem, both in Fifeshire. The former consisted of several volumes, as the late Dr. Carstairs, recovered the oldest of them and another ; the one was found lying about in the house of a deceased clerk of session, and the other among the records of Anstruther Easter, The Registers of Pittenweem have been kept in a very neat and uniform manner; and were in possession of Mr. Simpson, the Town Clerk. The following extracts ^ may be acceptable from these two books : ^ Arnott's Sistory of Edinburgh, 2 The pall. 2 At Aberdeen a Register of marriages, baptisms, and burials was established, under the authority of the magistrates, immediately subsequent to the Reformation. The session made an attempt, some few years since, to deprive the magistrates of the exclu- sive privilege of being custodiers of the Register of Baptisms ; but this was resisted on their part, and the question being carried before the Supreme Court, by the Members of the Church Session, it was found, that as the magistrates had been so long in pos- session of the Registers, they could not now be deprived of the privilege of conducting it, as formerly. — History of Aberdeen. ^ This defect in the Register of Baptisms would not exist to so great an extent, were the order of the Assembly at Edinburgh in 1588 attended to, which directs " That the poor, whether parishioners or resorting to the parish, having women and children, if they report not sufficient testimonials from their parishioners, of the baptism of their children, would be refused alms by all good and charitable persons." ^ The Registers of Births, &c. in Scotland, are so frequently Records of KirJc Ses- sions also, that the most intsresting contents belong rather to the latter, than to the Parish Register, and this must be the excuse for not multiplying the extracts. SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 219 Pittenweem. " Mr. Patrick Couper late Minister of St. Ninians was settled Minister in this Paroch the 5^^ of May 1692 years." *' 1740 June 1#^ which day the Reverend M^ Patrick Coupar Minister of this Parish departed this Life." " June 15^^ 1693 Baptized to Mr. Peter Couper and Janet Hallyburton a woman child called Sophia." "17 July 1708 Contracted Mr. Andrew Burn Minister of the Gospel in the Parish of Anstruther Wester and Janet Couper of this parish, parents consenting consigned their paunds ^ and were married the of ." Anstruther Wester. " M'^ James Meluil ^ touk his guid ny* from yis Congregation ye said monet of October 1590 ye^^ and touk him to Kylrynnie to be yair minister. God forgif him yat did sa, for I know and saw him promes yat he suld never laif ws for any vardlie respect sa lang he ly vit except he var forssit be ye kirk and his Ma : hot nevir being forsit aither be kirk or his Ma*^^® leift ws." "Apryle 1^* 1703 " M"^ James Knox Minister of Dunino preached his text Acts cap 20 verse 28 Thereafter w* other ten of the Reverend Bre- thren ordained Mr Andrew Burn Min^ of this Paroch who was receaved by all persons w^out objection." " Jan. 30*^ 1712 " M'^ Andrew Burnes Minester and Janet Coupar his Spous had a Child born upon the 24th day of January and baptized day foresaid by M^ Patrick Couper Minester of Pittenweem named George before these Witnesses, M^ Robert Baillie M'^ Henry King and M'" Alex^* Anderson." "Nov'^ 2"*^ 1715 In regard the Session has not liberty to meet because our Minister is obliged to withdraw during y* prevailling power of a monstruous rebellious Crew/ appoynted to a distressed person out of y^ Box 3 Li'b Scots." "Oct 19 1716 '^ After Prayer, Sed : Min"^ Baillies &c. Bayllie Mitchell was sharply rebuked before the Session for his sinful comply- ^ Pledges for good behaviour till marriage. " The famous James Melvil was sometime Minister of this Parish. 3 The Rebellion of 1715, 220 llEGISTERS IN ance with the Rebells during the late execrable Rebellion in several particulars viz. in his being present at the public Cross of this Burgh the time of proclamation of their Pretender and drinking his health th^, and attending and witnessing their solemn rejoicings for their pretended Victories and several other pieces of miscarriage and sinful compliance w* notorious design of overturning our present very happy Establishment. The aggravations circumstances, heinous nature and dreadful tendency of this his Sin and how directly this his carriage has been to his Judgment and Character both as a Magistrate and ane Elder was sufficiently and plainly demonstrated and layd before him. All which the said P M acknowledged in all y* particulars charged against him and yt his Carriage yf anent was his great Sin and Infirmity far from his Inclination being forced and compelled y~rto and professes his grief & sorrow for the same and promises thro' grace to be more circumspect & watchful for the time to come. Sev^ other Parishioners were rebuked for several particular of their accession to y* monstruous Rebellion." "Nov 10 1716 Christian Lessells sumoned called compeir and being charged and interrogate upon threatning Mallifice to her Neighbour and using charming for the recovery of ane child yt was sick, She acknowledges both these crimes and says as to y^ threatning she was in a passion and confesses her guilt y~rin and as to y* Charm she did it simply and ignorantly being advised y~rto by a North Countryman." There are many other curious entries respecting the Parish School, &c., showing the singular customs then in use. Castletown, Roxburghshire. In the Kirk Session Record is the following minute of 17th January, 1649 : — " The English Army commanded by Colonels Bright and Pride and under the conduct of General Cromwell, on their return to England, did lie at the Kirk of Castletown several nights, in which time they brake down and burnt the Com- munion tables and the seats of the kirk ; and at their remov- ing, carried away the Ministers' books ^ to the value of 1 000 ^ " Thereupon (1650) ensued a pitiful vastation of Churclies and Church Buildings. The verj sepulchres of the dead were not spared. The Eegisters of the Church and Bibliothekes cast into the fire."— Spotswood, Rittory of the Church of Scotland. SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 221 marks and above, and also the books of session, with which they lighted their tobacco pipes, the baptism, marriage and examination rolls, from October 1612 to September 1648 all which were lost and destroyed." The Gretna-Green Marriages must be too notorious to require any notice here;^ it may not, however, be out of place to give the form of certificate as used in 1793, together with one of more modern date. '^ This is to sartfay all persons that may be consernid, that A B from the parish of C in the County of D and E F from the parish of G and in the County of H and both comes before me and declayred themseless both to be single persons, and now mayried by the forme of the Kirk of Scotland, and agre- ible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my hand, this 18^^ day of March 1793." " Kingdom of Scotland County of Dumfries Parish of Gretna " These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that John N . . . from the parish of Chatham in the County of Kent, and Rosa H . . . from the Parish of St. Maries in the County of Nottingham, being both here now present and having declared to me that they are single persons, but have now been married conformable to the Laws of the Church of England, and agreeable to the Kirk of Scotland. As witness our hands at Springfield this 4*^ day of October 1822. " Witness " Witness me, Jane Rae David Lang John Ainslie " John N . . . Rosa H . . ." ^ The Marriage Act, in 1753, put a stop to Clandestine Marriages in England, and parties then had recourse to those places where the Act was not in operation. A Letter in 1760 states, that there " are at Southampton, Vessells always ready for carrying on the trade of smuggling Weddings, where, for the price of five guineas, they transport contraband goods into the Land of Matrimony" (Guernsey). — Oenti, Magazine. Thus it appears, that Gretna Green had at one time a rival. The Act of 19 and 20 Vict., cap, 96, enacts, that no irregular marriage contracted in Scotland after 1856, by Declaration, Acknowledgement, or Ceremony, shall be valid unless one of the parties had his or her usual place of residence there, or had lived there twenty-one days preceding. • 222 REGISTERS IN An Account of the defective state of the Registers of Scotland will be found in a volume published in 1849 — Scottish Parochial Registers J by William B. TurnbuU^ Esq., Advocate, F.S.A. — show- ing "the imperative necessity for a national system of regular Registration/^ ^ In 1854 Mr. Seton, the present Registrar General of Scotland, published his Sketch of the History and Imperfect Condition of the Parochial Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages iu Scot- land, 2 taking a very comprehensive view of the subject, and con- tinuing it nearly up to the bringing in of the Bill in 1854. On the 7th of August of that year, the Royal assent^ was given to " An Act to provide for the better Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland.'^ Her Majesty is to provide a General Register Office in Edinburgh. The Deputy of the Lord Clerk Register to be Registrar General in Scotland — Abstract of the number of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to be laid before Parliament annually — A Registrar for each parish — All existing Parochial Registers, Minutes, and Documents of every description relating to Births, Deaths, and Marriages, prior to 1820, to be sent to the Registrar General for preservation ; those between 1820 and 1855 to the Parochial Registrar, to remain with him for 30 years — Provision where Sessional matters are mixed up with Births, &c. — Copies of Registers of Burials in cemetries, &c., to be sent to Registrar General — Iron boxes to be furnished to each Parochial Registrar — Where children are legitimated per subsequens matri- monium. Register to be corrected — Irregular Marriages to be regis- tered — Other clauses are similar to the English Act of 1836. The schedules comprise many more pariculars than usual. The Burial Register contains name and occupation, where born, and how long in this district, parents' names, to whom deceased married, and names and ages of issue, disease^ &c. &c. 1 Edinburgh, Stevenson, 8vo, 1849. 2 Svo Edinb., Lond., 1854, pp. 118. By George Seton, Esq., Advocate, M.A., Oxon. » 17 c. 18 Yict. cap. 80. * The 18 Vic. cap. 29 makes further provision " for Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland ;" and the 23 and 24 Vic. cap. 85 amended the two previous Acts in various particulars. The first Act also provides a " Marine Kegister" for Births and Deaths at sea — the last Act a " Foreign Eegister, in which the Births, Deaths, and Marriages of Scottish subjects in foreign countries may he recorded by the Registrar General. scoland and ireland. 223 Ireland. In 1844, a Marriage and Registration Act was passed for Ireland (7 c. 8 Vict. cap. 81) . It does not, however, extend to Births and Deaths, nor to the Marriages of Roman Catholics.^ It institutes a General Register OflSce in Dublin, and appoints a Registrar General of Marriage. Marriages Registers are to be kept in duplicate, and a copy sent to the Registrar. The eleventh Report of the Registrar General (Wm. Donnelly, Esq.,) was presented to the Lord Lieutenant General on the 13th of May, 1861. It notices the want of a general measure for the Registration of Births and Deaths, and for a complete Registration of Marriages; but as the subject now engages "the attention of a Select Committee of the House of Commons, it is to be confidently hoped that this long looked for and most important measure will receive the sanction of Parliament during the present session." Bills were brought in by Lord Naas, Mr. Cardwell, and Sir Hugh Cairnes, but the session closed without any enactment. In the present Session (1862), the subject is renewed, and it is probable that some measure will be passed. 1 See post, page 236, as to the Eegisters of Eoman Catholics in Ireland. 224 CHAPTER XII. THE REGISTERS OP DISSENTERS — QUAKERS — ROMAN CATHOLICS- JEWS — AMBASSADORS — IN THE EAST AND WEST INDIES, &C. &C. " There is another Book — the Book of Life By Angels kept, in God's own House above. Whose names are there ? Not all baptized below — Those only, born again to faith and love." Castle Street, Exeter. "DEGISTERS of Births or Baptisms have been kept by all the -*-^ Dissenting Congregations, and (where they have had burial grounds) Burial Registers also. As Dissenters, except Quakers and Jews, could not, after the Act of 1753, marry in their chapels, there are very few Marriage Registers. The following are extracts from the non-parochial Registers : Coat J Oxon. The Burial Register, after referring to the separa- tion of the congregation from the Church of England, says — " Hereupon our Births and our Burials were neither of them registered by the Parish Register, we judged it expedient to take care in this matter, whereupon we appoynted one to it, and prepared this booke wherein wee have inserted on one side Births, the other Burialls." " Francis Tuckweele buried the 20*^' of y* second month vlg Aprill in the yeare of o"^ Lord 1657.'^ Hindley. " A Register of such couples or persons as were married at Hindley since Septemb the seaventh 1644 and the time of their marriage. ^^ " Henry Hindley of Hindley & Alice Sixsmith." BURIALS. " An unknowne souldier beinge a stranger slaine December the 9**^ and buried Decemb: the 11*^ Anno Domini 1642." Llangwehach, Glamorganshire. (Baptism of Margaret & Jane David.) " Those were Twins, their mother died at their birth and the children were baptized at her funeral on their mother's coffin.^'^ ^ A custom in Wale^. THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. 225 Scarborough, A Register of Marriages. '' Thomas Adamson and Mary Ruston, published first Jun 17 and the two Lords dayes following married July 24 1705." Watesfield, Suffolk. The Register refers to the Registry in- stituted by the Herald^s College in 1747^ and proposes to keep the Registration on the same plan, thus — '' 1750 May 28*^^ Baptized Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas Neston of Thelnetham Suffolk by Mary his wife the daughter of Samuel Youngman of Watesfield in the same county Which child was born on the 14*^ day of May in the year 1750. — Witness my hand Thos. Newton. Signed by the Father in presence of me Thomas Harmer (Min^^) Berivick-on- Tweed. " Thomas Oswald, Baker in Berwick k, Jeffreys Spinster there were married at Mordington, in Scotland^ June 13^^ 1782 before Witnesses, by me Jn" Blackball, Min^*" Canterbury, Guildhall St. Chapel. "Samuwell Kingesford sonn of Thomas Kingesford in y* parish of Andrewes Canterbery was baptized vpon y® 4*^. day of f 4*^ munth 1646." Stockton, Durham. '' I was born on July 23 ^ 1661." (Tho» Thompson.) ''\ Uxorem duxi July 3"^^ 1688." "2 Ordinatus fui July 11 1688." "3 Infantem Dom Turner, Sarah nominatam baptizavi July 15 1688.'' " 4 Johan Forrest t uxore ejus Margareta in matrimonio conjunxi July 17, 1688." In the same manner the Register continues for many years, noticing, among other things, the death of Dr. Gilpin, William III. George II., &c., and recording many marriages. Carter Lane, London. ^'1708, 1709, 1710— The Register lost when SachevereVs mob tore down the meeting place." _ ^ All the marriages were performed at places in Scoiland. 15 226 THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. '' 1733 October 25 Mary the daughter of John Cay Esq"^ baptized at his chambers in Grays Inn/^^ Collumpton, Devon. " March y* 19*^ 17 If I baptized Thomas y« son of Mr. Anthony Heathfield of Columbton, in y® evening of which day between 7 & 8 o clock y* Great Light was seen.'^ Tamworth, Warwickshire. '^ 1706 June 27 Mary my daughter was publickly carried to the meeting place of Tamworth, being the day of Thanksgiving for the memorable victory obtained by His Grace the Duke of Marlborough over the frenche at Ramile, and there baptized before the whole Congregation by me Hen. Roughley.^^ Rothwell, Northamptonshire. " The Church Book for marriages begun Sept. 14 1692 Ad perpetuam rei memoriam Wee Thomas Humprey of Thorp waterfield in y* County of Northampton and Elizabeth Bigge of Broughten in y* same county doe in y® presence of y® Lord Jesus his Angells and people & all besides here present, solemnly give up ourselves to one another in y« Lord as man and wife in a solemn marriage covenant, promising in y* aforesayd Awfull presence, in y* strength of that grace that is in Christ Jesus to discharge all those relative dutyes belonging to each of us respectively. In witness whereof wee have set our hands and scales this 20 of February in y* fifth year of y^ reign of our Sovereign Lord and Lady William & Mary of England, &c Annoq Dom: 1691 This Covenant was Tho Humfrey (LS) Eliz Bigge (LS)" solemnized in the pre- sence of us Rich Bigg (15 other signatures) There are 25 other marriages^ ending in 1702. Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. (General Baptist).^ " Mary the daufter of Martin Wyman and Mary his wife, was born at Westwallton November the 2"*^ 1710.^' 1 The Register notices many Lawyers, Counsel, Serjeants, &c. John Bamardiston, Esqre, Countess of Anglesea, Lady Harrison, " Mr. Legh of the Temple, now Dr. Legh a Clergyman." 2 The parties from Wellingboro', Wisbeach, Lutterworth, Kettering, Kimbolton, Northampton, Thrapston, &c. 3 This Register, containing Births, Burials, and Marriages (and also church minutes) THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS_, ETC. 227 ''April the 10*'' John Hareson and Elizabeth Worship entered into the state of marriage 1715." The marriages end in 1749. Stepney, Middlesex (1644). *' Richard ye son of Matthew & Elizabeth Mead was bap- tized August y« 23** 1673."i The marriages are from 1617 to 1677. Huddlesceugh, Cumberland (1653) The minister in 1708 Caleb Threlkeld has made many entries in Latin. He appears to have left in 1712 in consequence of some quarrel^ and says — '' Incertus quo fata ferant, ubi sistere detur in te spero, Deus te una que, Christe, Salus Omne solum forte patria est, ut piscibus aquam post varios casus ipse quietus ero." " May 18 being Ascension Day An D. 1710 was seen in the air about eight at night a long meteor : a very great Drought at y® same time." Sandwich, Kent, The Register contains an account of the sums collected on 235 Briefs between 1707 and 1736. To a baptism on the 12th of Sept., 1692, is added " Born the day before the Earthquake." To another, 21 March, 1722 "The day y* S"" George Oxendon & Josiah Burchett Esq"^ were chosen o'^ representatives in Parliam*." Sheffield. '' Memorandums. '' Dec 26 1749. A large sheet of fire hung over the City of London." " Feb'' 8 1750. About noon there was a terrible shock of an Earthquake in London." ''Mar 8 1750. There was another shock of an Earthquake more violent." It notices other shocks on April 2nd and 4th, 1750: April 19, 1754; and November 1, 1785. from 1710 has been very neatly printed by Mr. Winkley, of the Harrow Press, and a copy bound in vellum and letteredin gold, is now in my library. * Dr. Mead, Physician to Greorge II., V. P. of the Royal Society, &c. 228 THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. Bedworth, Warwick. "d 19 1711 Thomas Perkins excommunicated for clandes- tine marriage, being before admonished not to proceed against her parents consent/^ "1715 m 11 d 19. Eliz Bolt was admonished for using curious arts, turning the sieve." ^ "1719 "We declare our judgment against the evil of our members going to be touched by a seventh son in order to cure diseases, and then wearing the silver he gives them.'' Ipswich. " Burials — Mrs ie Wid Greens relation dy'd Sep 20 1783.'^ "Ann Southgate buri** Dec^£ 10 1781 cum multis aliis not set down.'' "Feb^ 12 1783 Susanna Harrison, author of Songs in the Night.'' Bury St. Edmunds (1689). This is a beautifully preserved Register, written in printing letters and ruled with red ink. In Red Cross Street, Cripplegate, is a Library belonging to the Dissenters, founded by Dr. Daniel Williams, a Presbyterian Minister, who died in 1716. Protestant Dissenters of all denomi- nations registered here the Births of their children, from the year 1740 to the 31st December, 1837. A Certificate on parchment, signed by the parents and friends of the parties, in duplicate, was lodged at the Library,^ and the contents were entered in a book in ^ Sir Robert Brian of High-gate preest, some tyrae an armyt conjureth with a s^ve and a pair of sheeres invocating Saint Paule and Saint Peter. And he also useth the psalter and the Tcey with a psalme Deus Jiumani generis and Deus deorumP — This was a mode of divination described by Theocritus — see several passages collected about it in Brand's JPopular Antiquities (edit. Ellis) ii. 689. The points of the shears were fixed in the wood of tlie sieve, which was balanced upright by two persons, on a finger of each ; on the real thief being named, the sieve suddenly turned round. " The oracle «f sieve and shears That turns as certain as the splieres." Hudibras. Part ii., Canto lii., 569. Narratives of the Seformation, by J. G. Nichols, p. 334. ' This Library contains a very good collection of books, chiefly on divinity, and also some paintings. There were also a few books of Dissenting Chapels, containing Births and Burials, but these were authenticated by the Commissioners in 1838 and were de- posited witli the Registrar General pursuant to the 3 and 4 Vict. cap. 92. See Dissenting Registers of Births, Marriages^ and Burials, examined as Docu- ments of Evidence. By a Barrister, 1823, pp. 50, THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. 229 a tabular form. One of the certificates was then filed, and the other returned to the parents with a note of its having been registered. The following is a copy of this certificate : — '' H No. These are to certify that of and his Wife, who was the Daughter of was born at in the Parish of in the County of on the day of in the Year at whose Birth we were present. " We do certify the above named, "^ is our and was born at the time V and place above-mentioned. J " Registered at Dr. Williams^s Library, Red Cross Street, near Cripplegate, London, the " Registrar.'' In the case of exparte Taylor, (1 Jacob and Walker 483) in order to prove that a party had attained the age of twenty-one, an examined copy of an entry in the Register of Births of Dissenters' children, kept at Dr. Williams's Library was produced, but the Master of the Rolls thought it was not evidence that the Court could act on. In the case^of Newham v. Raithby in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Trinity Term, 1811, an objection was taken to an article in an allegation, which pleaded the copy of a Register of a Dis- senting ChapeU Sir John Nicholl, in his judgment, observed, " This is not evidence that can be admitted. The Court can only admit Copies of Public Documents which are in ofiicial custody. Extracts from a Register of this description must be considered as mere private memoranda — the books themselves, however, may be produced at the hearing of the Cause, and be made evidence to a certain extent, by this means the party will have the benefit of them, though in a different manner from that in which they have now been attempted to be introduced." ^ 1 By the 57 Greo. 3, cap. 26, it is declared that it is expedient that Burial Registers of any nominees (persons referred to in the Act) extracted from the Records of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, or from the Records of Dissenting or other Chapels (not being parochial) should be admitted by the officer of the Commis- sioners for the reduction of the National Debt for the purposes of the Act — and it is enacted that such Burial Registers should be admitted as evidence of the death of any nominee, the same being duly certified under the hand of the Registrar thereof. 230 ETC. In consequence of what took place in exparte Taylor, and also in a Cause in one of the Courts of Common Law, where the Registers in Dr. Williams's Library were refused to be admitted upon the same footing as Parish Registers, the Committee of Dissenters, from the " three Denominations,^' ^ took the opinion of several eminent Counsel, as so the eflSciency of the Registry, and the means of its improvement. Those opinions concurred ; and that of Sir N. C. Tindal, the Solicitor General, was given at length in the first edition of this work. As, however, recent acts have put these records upon a different footing, it is unnecessary to refer to the law upon the old system. In consequence of this opinion, the system of Registry was altered altogether, and the form distributed to the various congre- gations was as follows : — " Dated the 1st day of Jan^ 1829. This is to certify and declare, that William the son of Thomas Jones of Stone, in the County of Stafford, Miller, and Elizabeth his wife (who was the Daughter of Humphrey Sykes of Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Grocer,) was born at the house of the said Thomas Jones, No. 10, in John Street in Stone, in the County of Stafford, on the tenth day of May, 1828. * Thomas Jones^ ) the Parents * Elizabeth Jones, ) aborenamed [When the Parents cannot write or sign, % Jc^t^^s Jones^ Uncle to the child.'] We certify and declare that we were present at the Birth of the Child abovementioned ; and that such Birth took place at the time and place aforesaid. t Mary Eill of Stone, Spinster^ aunt to the child. t James Gooch, of Stone, Surgeon. All these Certificates, referring to 48,975 Births are now de- posited in the General Register Office pursuant to the 3 and 4 Vict, cap. 92. The Paternoster Row Registry, This Registry was very similar to that at Dr. Williams's Library, and was instituted in 1808, for recording the Births and Baptisms of children of the Wesleyan • Independents, Baptists, and Presbyterians. THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. 231 Methodists. They record 10,291 Births and Baptisms from 1808 to 1832. These Registers are also deposited with the Registrar General.'^ In some Parish Registers the entries of Births, &c., of Dis- senters, are set apart from the rest : thus, in the parish of Foxton, two or three leaves of the Register are styled, " Register of Dis- senters begun 1697,^' and in another part of the same book, " those set down in the Register only born, were baptized by Nonconformist Ministers." Dr. Prideaux, however, censures the practice of re- ceiving Certificates from Dissenting Ministers of Baptisms, and entering them in the Parish Register, " for the sake of a sixpenny or twelvepenny fee." The Registers of Dissenters Baptisms and Burials were, in many places^ very indifferently kept ; in one chapel, established nearly a century, with a numerous and respectable congregation, the entries have been, for nearly forty years, kept in a small ciphering book, with a great many of the leaves and memoranda loose, and others pinned in ; and in a very populous town, where there is a burial ground, used almost exclusively by Dissenters, the Register of the Burials is kept by a carpenter, who employs a painter and glazier to make the entries.^ As the births of Jews, Catholics, and Dissenters form one sixth of the whole number of births in London, it will be readily seen, that some method of registration was necessary to be established, and recognised by law, which might prevent the grievance of so large a proportion of the population being, as to some of its uses, without registration for their children.^ Hence the Acts of Parliament in 1836, for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and that of 1 " The very irregularity with which Dissenting Eegisters are kept, is a strong reason to invahdate them. Irregularity easts an odium upon the good faith of a transaction. It is the punctuality with which entries are made, and the absence of all interest in making them, which gives them credit." — Dissenting Registers, 1823. See Proposed Dissenters' Register Billy by E-ev. S. Partridge. — Boston, 1812. 2 Lord Nugent in 1828 gave notice, in the House of Commons, of his intention to bring in a Bill, in the next Session of Parhament, " for establishmg a Eegister of the births of children of Dissenters." In France this was done by the Edict of Louis XVI. in 1787, which declared that those differing from the Catholic Faith, should have " no more than what the Law of Nature does not permit us to refuse them, viz. permission to have their Births, Marriages, and Deaths legally verified, so that they may reap the same civil advantages therefrom, as our other subjects. • 232 THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS^ ETC. 1840 for enabling Courts of Justice to admit Non Parochial Kegis- ters as evidence, Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, in the City Road. This place was first made use of in the year 1665, for the interment of those who died of the plague; since which time, it has been the principal burial place of the Dissenters. It was enclosed with a brick wall in that memorable year, at the expense of the City of London, in the Mayoralty of Sir John Lawrence, Knight ; and gates were placed at the western end of it, which were finished in the Mayoralty of Sir Thomas Bludworth, Knight, in the year following. Although there are a great number of monuments and tombstones still standing, which were erected prior to the year 1713, yet it is probable, that no Register of Burials was kept until the month of April in that year, as none is now to be found. From thence to the year 1786, it was very negligently attended to, the entries being frequently made without Christian names, and without due regard to the cor- rect spelling of Surnames. Since that period, however, it has been very correctly kept, and when it is calculated, that up to 1829, more than 100,000 persons had been buried there, all records relating thereto must be of considerable public importance. These Burial Registers, thirty -one in number, and extending from the 1st of April 1713, to 1838, were deposited with the Registrar General, pursuant to the 3rd and 4th Vict., cap. 92. Mr. John Rippon, of Great Surrey-street, Blackfriars'-road, son of the Rev. Dr. Rippon, was formerly in possession of twelve large quarto manuscript volumes, containing a verbatim Register of burials there, from its commencement down to the present time ; as also verbatim and precise lineal copies of Inscriptions, on nearly all the monuments and tombstones which have ever been erected since the year 1665, exceeding in number 5000, collected at immense labour and expense, by annual surveys during the last forty years ; all of which were chronologically and alphabetically arranged, with the respective situations of every one of them, according to certain geo- graphical compartments specified upon the walls, whereby great facility of search and identity were attained. As great numbers of them have perished from the effects of time and weather, and many others have occasionally been sold to new proprietors, or received new inscriptions, and as the Register of Burials is very defective, ♦these volumes were in several hundreds of instances, the only evi- dence of interments there, and are highly valuable, inasmuch as they THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. 233 contained all the particulars of family and connexions which such monuments described, together with much other information ob- tained by Dr. Rippon and his son, with a view to a publication of the history of this celebrated spot. Mr. Rippon had also an Ichnograph of the whole burial ground, upon which was marked the geographical situation of every one of the monuments, together with the name of the family to whom it belonged ; this, with the volumes before referred to, were accessible for searches and extracts, upon payment of certain fees. These valuable Records were a few months since purchased by the Herald^s College, and are now deposited in their Library. QUAKERS. The Society of Friends are particularly careful in causing notices to be sent to their monthly and quarterly meetings of all Births, Marriages, and Burials of, or connected with, the members of their community. The Registers for London and Middlesex commence as follows : '' Births, 3^d of ^'^ month (then called May) . . . 1655. "Marriages, 3^^ of 10^^ month (then called Dec.^) 1658. "Burials, 8*^^ of 7*^ month (then called Sept^) 1661.'' These dates are according to the old style : the third month is now called March ; the tenth, October, &c. &c. " Form of Marriage Register. " On the day of the month, one thousand eight hun- dred and , A B of Son of D B of in the of yeoman, and E his Wife and D E Daughter of M E of in the of , Draper and M his Wife, each took other in Marriage, in a public assembly of the people called Quakers in (or at) ; in the presence of us. C F of , farmer G H of , grocer I L of , mason This Marriage was solemnized between us AB D E/' " Form of the Birth Note. " Two of which are to be properly filled up, inserting the fathers occupation or other usual addition, and signed. " On the daf of the month one thousand eight 334 THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. hundred and was [or were] born at [or in] in the parish of in the of unto A B of Draper and C his Wife who was [or were] named " We who were present at the said Birth, have subscribed our names as witnesses thereof/' '' Form of the Burial Note. " [To be properly filled up, inserting the condition of the deceased; as, the man's occupation or usual addition; also, wife of , widow of , son of , daughter of , as circumstances may require.] To C D Grave-maker '^The day of the month, 18 Make a Grave on or before next day, in Friend's Burial Ground, at or near , and therein lay the body of A B of in the of , draper aged about , who died the day of the month one thousand eight hundred and " [To be here signed by the Friend appointed to give out burial notes.] " The Body above mentioned was buried the day of the mouth, 18 "Witness C D Grave-maker." But although so particular in recording these events, the Society of Friends disapprove of tombstones, monuments, inscriptions, &c., and many were removed in consequence of an Advice, dated 1717, for that purpose. In pursuance of the Commission in 1837 and the Act of 1840, all the Registers of Births, Marriages, and Burials of the Society, were deposited with the Registrar General. They comprised, 1432^ volumes, from about 1650 to 1837. These Records were sent in 1837 from the various Meetings in the country, to the Chief Office of the Society in London ; they were there arranged and indexed, and in 1840 deposited at Somerset House. The Registration is still continued by the Society, from 1837 to the present time. To these must be added a number of volumes and bundles of Records (containing many thousand entries of Births, Deaths, and Marriages), which were authenticated by the Commissioners in 1857. THE REGISTERS OP DISSENTERS, ETC. 235 ROMAN CATHOLIC AND AMBASSADORS^ CHAPEL REGISTERS. The Portuguese Ambassador's Chapel} — These Registers com- mence in 1660; the modern Registers are carefully preserved, while those of more ancient date are thrown negligently in a cupboard of dirt. French Ambassador's Chapel. — These commence in 1793. The Register Book of Baptisms and Marriages, from 1723 to 1796, is in possession of the French Consul, in Great Winchester Street, and the entries of marriages contain the place of birth of the parties and their parents' names. Spanish Ambassador's Chapel. — These commence in 1732. Bavarian Ambassador's Chapel. — These in 1748; all the previous ones were lost in the riots in 1780. Sardinian Ambassador's Chapel. — All the Registers, prior to 1761, were destroyed by a fire in 1760 ; but there are, at the com- mencement of the present books, about six pages of Registers, from the year 1732 to 1760, being some copies from a book saved out of the flames. St. Mary's, Moorfields. — Contains the Registers of the chapel formerly in Whitecross Street. All the Records, prior to 1763, were destroyed in the riots in 1780. St. Patrick's, Soho Square. — These Registers commence in 1792, when the chapel was erected. German Chapel, Bow Lane, Cheapside. — This chapel has been erected but a very few years, and the congregation is so small that the Registers are scarcely worthy of notice. The Chapel in the London Road, Southwark. — This chapel being situated in a neighbourhood almost entirely new within the last fifty years, the Registers do not commence earlier than 1788. The custom of inserting in the entries of baptism, the names of the godfathers and godmothers, exists in all the Catholic Registers ; and it is to be regretted that this is not practised by Protestants, as it might frequently be the means of assisting the proof of identity of the party baptised. The form of these entries is thus ; — ''Die 4° Februarii 1828 nata et Die 27 Februarii 1828 bap- 1 The particulars of the Eegisters at the Ambassadors' Chapels are taken from G-rimaldi's Origines Qeneal. • 236 THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. tizata fuit Joanna filia Jeremie Donovan et Marie [olim Sullivan) conjugum— Patrinus fuit Jacobus Donovan— Matrina Birgitta Conor/' a me D M^ Donnell Missr*° ApostP/' Leeds, " 1743 Georgius and Anna Cockil gemini baptizati fuere imediate post nativitatem et statim mortui/' Pontefract. " Die 16 Maii 1802 vinculo matrimo conjuncti sunt Georgius Thrush Acatholicas et Martha Hacket. Testes erant Jose- phus Pender et Elizabetha Champney. '^N.B. — Sponsus premisit se minime molestum fore uxori ob religionem sed et educaturam infantes quos Deus conces- serit in Religio Catholica.^' Danbi/y York. " 1743 Nov 15 I christened at Danby a Scotchman beggar with one Legg, his son Claud/' " 1744 February 6. I administered to Margaret More at E Witton the Viaticu'. She the 15 without the holy oiles, I was sent for too late/' " 1769 Nov 20 I assisted at the Marriage of Joseph Harker a Protestant and Jane Errington a Catholic. Witnesses William and Elizabeth Mc Arthur at the Bridge EB. maxime invito. Harker afterwards broke his solemn promises about changing his religion, never will I again take a Protestant's word about religion." The deaths of Catholics in England are generally registered in the Catholic Chapels, notwithstanding the burial is entered in the Register of the parish where they are buried.^ The Roman Catholic Clergy in Ireland have not, until lately, been accustomed to keep any Register whatever. With respect to Ir eland , the Commissioners for Public Records in that kingdom were desirous that the Act of the 52nd George III. should be extended to Ireland ; ^ and afterwards, finding it had ^ A great many Catholics are buried in the churchyard of Old St. Paneras Church, and it is said to be because before the Revolution, Masses were said in a Church in the ^South of France, dedicated to the same Saint, for the souls of those interred at St. Paneras in England. 2 With reference to Dublin, Wkitelaw and Walsh's History of that City (1818) THE REGISTERS OT DISSENTERS, ETC. 237 passed, and that it did not so extend, it was ordered by the Com- missioners, that the Lord Chancellor should be requested to com- municate with Government for the purpose of obtaining some legislative measure for carrying into full effect their recommendation. But it is believed that it was not attended to.^ THE REGISTERS OF PERSONS BAPTIZED, ETC. ABROAD. The West Indies. The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in the West Indies are kept according to the forms in use in England, but no Transcripts are made and deposited, according to the practice here ; by which means the Registers are liable to loss, interpolation, and alteration, without the facility of detection which a Transcript affords, In addition to this, it becomes necessary, whenever an extract is desired, to send to the West Indies to obtain it, a process attended with expense, delay, and trouble. In the State Paper Office, among the Board of Trade Papers, marked Barbadoes No 1, are some Transcripts of Baptisms and Burials from the Registers of all the Parishes in the Island, from March 31, 1679 to September 29, 1680, and from April, 1715 to April, 1 716, made by order of the Governor.^ This shows, therefore, that formerly Transcripts of the Registers were sent to England, although the practice is now discontinued. The Registers of the Parishes of St. George's and St. Andrew's were both destroyed in the hurricane of 1831. " The preservation of the Barbadoes' Register is a subject of observes, that "in Cities where births and deaths are faithfully registered, the number of inhabitants may be estimated with a degree of accuracy that approximates truth, but in Dubin, this resource totally fails. In the Established Church, the Parish Registers have been for many years shamefully neglected ; and though latterly more attended to, in consequence of the repeated Injunctions of the late Archbishops of Dublin, yet from the number of children still baptized in private houses, and the very great number of poor persons buried in cemeteries without the city, they are still very defective ; Protestant Dissenters, Quakers excepted, are equally inattentive to this business, and Koman Catholics, who constitute so large a portion of the population of this city, keep no Register whatever. ^ In 1634, certain Constitutions were made by the Archbishops and Bishops, and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, one of which (the 46th) directs the keeping of Regis- ters of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, in nearly the same words as the Canons made in England in 1603. — Wilkin's Concilia, vol. iv. » Letter of W. D. Bruce, Esq, ftSO. 238 THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. peculiar importance, inasmuch as the Island was the retreat of no less than twenty-two of the Nobility, and of a great number of the Baronets and Gentry of England in the time of Charles I. ; and much genealogical evidence of first-rate importance, relating to English houses and lands, is recorded in books which are described as nearly illegible and quite out of date.^'^ In the case of Coode v. Coode, Dr. Lushington said, as to a mar- riage in Barbadoes, the only question was, whether the marriage had been satisfactorily proved ; and it was a question of very great importance at this time, when so many marriages (1838) were solemnized abroad in foreign countries and in our Colonies, where life was precarious, it would be too much to insist upon the evidence of persons present to establish the fact of a marriage. The evidence in this case (which was a printed paper signed by the Hector of the Parish of Barbadoes) could not be received without the Proof of Collation. With such proof however, and with the Act of the Legislature of Barbadoes before him, establishing a Register in the Island f he should hold that the entry was a satisfactory proof of the fact of marriage. The East Indies. The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in the East, are annually transcribed and remitted to the East India House. The Transcripts from Bombay commence in 1703 ; from Bengal, in 1713; and from Madras, in 1743, and continue to the present time. The Registers of the ceremonies performed at the out-stations are sent to the Presidency, and transmitted to this country with the rest. The officers at the East India House formerly complained of the want of uniformity in these Registers; some being kept very well, and containing many particulars, while others were equally defective. Now that they are under the control of the Secretary of State for India, it may be expected that the system will be improved. The Registers of Baptisms abound with instances of illegitimacy. An entry of burial and one of marriage are added . — " Nagpore. Burials, 824. When buried. Name. Age. Rank. By whom. >3 Feb-^y Moses Whitehouse 24 years Private Grenadier Compy H C B European Regt Lieutt Matthie HCB:EnRegt 1 Letter of W. D. Bruce, Esq. THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. 239 " Agra. " Donald M*^ Leod, Sub Conductor of Ordinance H C S, and Mary were married (they having been married at Goa by the Act-^ Adj* of the Kings 78**^ Reg* of Infantry but no Certificate being in Existence) on the 23*^ day of March 1824 at Agra, By me, John Irving, Chaplain. This Marriage was solemnized"^ Donald M^ Leod between us j Mary's X mark In the presence of W'" Lonsdale Q^ M^ Serj* W" Surgoyne Chaplain's Clerk Julia X Jones' mark.'' In 1851 (14th and 15th Vict., cap. 40) was passed " An Act for Marriages in India," which provides for the marriage of Christians in India, or where one of the persons shall profess the Christian religion. As to the registration, sec. 11 provides that the Marriage Registrar shall register the marriage in duplicate , that is, in a Register and also in a Certificate attached to the Marriage Register, as a Counterfoil : to be signed by the parties, the Registrar, the person solemnizing, and two witnesses. The Certificate is to be separated from the Book and transmitted to the Secretary to the Government, at the end of every month. The Register Book when filled is to be transmitted to the Secretary to Government. "When the Governor General in Council shall think desirable that the evidence should be transmitted to England, the Secretary shall, every three months, transmit the Certificates to the Secretary of the East India Company, for the purpose of being delivered to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England. Sec. 21 provides that the Act shall not affect Marriages by persons in Holy Orders, or any Marriages under the 58th Geo. III., cap. 84, or any other Marriages, which, under the Laws in India, might have there been solemnized, if this Act had not been passed. And the Governor General was by laws and regulations to provide for the registration of Marriages solemnized by persons in Holy Orders, or of Marriages under the 58th Geo. III., or of any other Marriages there solemnized, of which it should appear desirable that the evidence should be transmitted to England, and for sending the Certificates thereof to the Registrar General of England. Sec. 22 assimilates Certificates so sent to the Registrar General, to the certified copies under the Qiih and 7th William IV., cap. 86. 240 ETC. At the Registry Office of the Bishop of London, in Doctor's Commons, are deposited the E^egisters of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, performed by clergymen belonging to the suites of English Ambassadors, &c. abroad. The particulars of them are as follow. Those from Lisbon are deposited at the Yicar GeneraFs Office. Oporto Port Factory^ . . 1716 to 1832 Cape of Good Hope . . 1796 to 1803 Geneva 1817 to 3 841 Gibraltar 1807 to 1812 Avranches 1820 to 1828 Antwerp 1819 to 1830 Brussells 1818 and 1826 Brazils 1821 and 1844 Boulogne 1815 to 1846 Dieppe 1825 to 1828 Genoa 1824 to 1849 Hamburgh 1820 to 1838 Leghorn 1832 to 1837 Naples 1831 to 1860 Ponta de la Gada . . . 1830 to 1836 Eennes, Bretagne . . . 1826 In 1816, the Lord Bishop having been applied to in numerous instances, to permit the foreign Marriages, Births, and Burials of British subjects to be recorded in his Registers, permitted this " General Register '^ to be commenced ; ^ and it is still continued. St. Servan, Hie et ) -.oo^ x To^r, XT■^ • -r^ a^ T»/r 1 f 1^24 tO 1843 Vilame.Do St.Maloes ) Eotterdam 1815 and 1816 Eome 1825 to 1861 Smyrna 1789 to 1832 Whampoa and Macao^ . 1820 to 1835 Macao, Brit. Chap. . . 1834 to 1838 Elsinore 1833 to 1839 Archangel 1835 Cronstadt 1807 to 1849 Paris, Brit. Emb. . . . 1816 to 1845 Eussia, Brit. Fact. . . . 1706 to 1834 St. Petersburgh .... 1860 Moscow 3 1861 Warsaw 1861 Dusseldorf^ I860 1 The 22 and 23 Vict. cap. 64 makes valid all Marriages of British Subjects solemn- nized in the British Chapel erected at Lisbon in 1822. * China, with a population of 142,000,000, has a very ready means for ascertaining its numerical strength. The laws compel every father of a family, under heavy penal- ties, to place against the main door of his house, a tablet, containing the number and description of the individuals under his roof. Besides this, there is a tithing-man, called the Ti-fong, who is appointed to keep a Muster Eoll of every ten famihes. ' In Eussia, the greatest regularity is observed by all the parishes throughout that vast Empire, in presenting annually to the Synod, tables of Births, Marriages, and Deaths ; by these means, the population in 1827 was ascertained to be upwards of 53,000,000. * See ^Report of Commissioners on Non- Paroclnal Registers, 1838, p. 153. This List has been made up to the present time, by my good friend, John Shephard, Esq., the Deputy Eegistrar, who for more than thirty years has given me free access to the valuable contents of the Bishops' Eegistry. 5 The following notice was accordingly inserted in the London Gazette, Times, and Morning Chronicle, of the 23rd of March, 1816 : — " Foreign Marriages, &c. ^ Bishop of London's Eegistry, No. 3, Godliman Street, Doctors' Commons. The Lord Bishop of London having been applied to, in numerous instances, to THE REGISTERS OP DISSENTERS, ETC. 241 and open to the public, for the purpose of recording those events, and Transcripts of the Registers are sent to the Bishop's Registrar, by the Chaplains of English Ambassadors, &c. in foreign countries. Some of the clergymen of English congregations settled at factories, trading towns; and other places in foreign countries, not under the dominion of England, also keep Registers; but as they are not compelled to do so by law, it cannot be expected that they are either very perfect or correct. The Scotch Church at Rotterdam has a Register, containing entries of the Baptisms, &c. of many of those who fled from Scotland during the persecution of 1685. The following is one of the entries from this Register : — ^ " 1687 August 21, Jean Couper da to M'' Patrick Couper and Jonet Haliburton. Witnesses, Masters Alexander Hasty and John Havey/^ The Parish Registers of several cities and towns in Holland, Germany, and Switzerland, contain many entries relating to the families of British subjects, who, at the several periods of religious persecution, have fled to foreign parts, and in particular to Rotter- dam, Strasbourg, Zurich, Basil, Geneva, and Frankfort; at the latter place there were in 1555, Sir John Cheek, Sir Richard Morison, Sir Francis Knollys, Sir Anthony Cook, Sir Peter Carew, Sir Thomas Wroth, Dame Dorothy Stafford, Dame Elizabeth Berkley, and the wife of Bishop Hooper. JEWS. As the Jews were expelled from the kingdom in 1290, and were not permitted to return till the time of Oliver Cromwell, no par- ticulars of them can be expected during this period ; but from the reign of Charles II. their Registers have been kept with great correctness. The birth is entered at their ceremonial of naming on the eighth day; and all the entries are more minute than those of the Christian 2 Church. The following is a specimen of the entry of birth at the Ham- burgh Synagogue, in Church Row, Fenchurch Street ; — permit foreign Marriages, Births, and Burials of British Subjects, to be recorded in his Eegistry, has permitted a book to be kept therein, in which the memorials of the same may be entered and preserved, at the request of such persons as are desirous thereof. John Shephaed, Dep. Reg." ^ In Holland, Parish Eegisters are kept with great regularity. — Carr's Tour. 2 Grimaldi's Origines Geneal. 16 242 THE REGISTERS CF DISSENTERS, ETC. " Julia the Daughter of Jonas Levy and Matilda Levy his Wife of Bevis Marks Saint Mary Axe was born on Wednesday the 23'* August 1826." "THE GENERAL REGISTEU OFFICE/' SOMERSET HOUSE. This office was established in pursuance of the Act 6 and 7, W. IV., cap. 86 (1836). George Graham, Esq., is the present " Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England.'^ This Registry now contains some thousands of volumes of non- parochial Registers, besides the annual Births, Deaths, and Mar- riages accumulated during the last twenty-four years. The Alphabetical Indexes prepared by the Registrar General at the end of 1858 contained 26,600,392 names, thus : — Marriages 6,083,906 Births 12,209,383 Deaths 8,307,103 26,600,392 The new Encyclopedia Britannica (sub " Registration '^) contains some very interesting particulars of this office, which costs the country £100,000 per annum. Amongst other curious facts is a List of the numbers, bearing fifty of the most common names, in 1858:— Smith 253,600 Jones 242,100 Williams 159,900 Taylor 124,400 Davies 113,600 Brown 105,600 * * * -X- ^ JiC Carter (^the last of the 50) 33,400 In contemplation of an Act for the civil Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, a Royal Commission was issued in 1836, em- powering certain Commissioners to inquire into the State, Custody, and Authenticity, of Non-parochial Registers, and to inquire what 'measures could be beneficially adopted for collecting, arranging, and depositing the same, and for giving them full force and efifect THE REGISTERS OF DISSENTERS, ETC. 243 as evidence in all Courts of Justice. The Commissioners made their Report on the 18th of June, 1838, and stated that they had collected and authenticated more than 3000 volumes, and recom- mended that they should be deposited with the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and should be receivable in evi- dence, subject to certain conditions and restrictions. These recommendations included the Registers of the French and other Protestants ;^ The Three Denominations ; Scotch Churches in England ; Wesleyan Methodists, &c. ; Moravians ; Lady Hunt- ingdon's Connexion; Calvanistic Methodists; Swedenborgians ; The Red Cross Street Registry ; The Seventeen Registers at Dr. Williams' Library ; Paternoster Row Registry (Wesleyan) ; Ceme- teries; Foreign Registers; Registers of the Society of Friends; and the Bunhill Fields Registers. On the 10th of August, 1840, an Act^ was passed to carry into effect the Commissioners' recommendations, and the before men- tioned Registers were deposited with the Registrar General, and were made receivable in evidence. The Fleet and May Fair Regis- ters (deposited in 1821 in the Bishop of London's Registry) were not included in the above authentication, but were merely placed with the Registrar General for safe custody. Another Royal Commission, issued on the 1st of January, 1857, directed to Samuel Gale, John Southerden Burn, George Graham, Robert Lush, Wm. Palmer Parken, Horace Mann, and Hull Terrell, Esqrs., empowering them to inquira into the state, &c., of certain Non-Parochial Registers, which ^i* ^ oeen collected since the date of the Report in 1838. By virtue of this Commission, 265 Registers were authenticated, including those of the Green- wich, Chelsea, and Foundling Hospitals. They were deposited with the others in the custody of the Registrar General, and an Act was passed (21 Vict. cap. 25) which extended the provisions of the Act of 1840 to these additional Records. * For an account of these Registers, see The Sisfori/ of the Foreign Protestant Refugees in England. By J. S. Earn, 8vo, 1846. ^ 3 and 4 Vict. cap. 92 ; " An Act for enabling Courts of Justice to admit Non- Parochial Registers as evidence of Births or Baptisms, Deaths, or Burials and Mar- riages." ' With the exception of the Foreign Registers at the Bishop of London's Registry, which still remain in the Bishops custody. 244 CHAPTER Xlir. THE FEES FOR SEARCHES IN, AND EXTRACTS FROM, PARISH REGISTERS. THE subject of fees for searching the Parish Register is one intimately connected with the accessibility, and consequent usefulness of these records. As a general principle, it may be said, that Public Records should be open to the inspection of all persons upon payment of fees of no larger amount than will remunerate those who have the custody of them for their time and trouble, and of sufficient amount to prevent idle and vexatious applications. i There was formerly, no authentic and general scale of fees for searches and extracts. In one parish, 2^. 6c?. was charged for every extract which the applicant made in pencil from the Register ; in an adjoining parish, an applicant might, for a shilling, examine the Register for an hour, and make a dozen extracts. In one place an extract of a marriage was 2s, 6d. ; and at another, the Clergyman insisted on writing the copy on a five shilling stamp.^ At Deptford, the Clergyman left the forms read^j signed, charging 2s. 6d. for them ; the Clerk then charged a shilling for accompany- ing the applicant to the Church to get them filled up. In a table of Fees, approved of and signed by the Churchwardens and Overseers of St. Edward's Parish, Cambridge, is the following entry : — f< To y* Minister for searching y^ Parish Register 4" In another parish {St. Benedict) is the following : — " For searching y^ Parish Register . . Minister 4 " And if written by y^ Clerk D*' . 2 " And in the Vestry Room of St. Andrew's, Holborn, is a table of 1 In the case of Rex v. Smallpiece, 2 Chitt. Rep., 288, Lord Tenterden said : " I know of no rule of law which requires the parish oflicers to show the books, in order to gratify the curiosity of a private individual." 2 This is an error arising from the reading of the Stamp Act, which says : — " Certificate of Marriage 5 0" This, however, does not appl} to an extract of a marriage recorded in a Parish Register, ancf certifed by the clergyman to be a true extract. The author is confirmed by the Solicitor of Stamps in stating, that such a certificate requires no stamp. FEES FOR SEARCHES^ ETC. 245 Fees for that parish, approved by Sir " Wm. Scott Vicar General/' as follows : — " For an extract from the Register .... 2 6 " For the inspection of the Register ^ ... 1 '^ Searching the Register for one year ... 1 " For every Subsequent year 4'' The Registration Act of 1812, indeed, directed that all ^' due^ legal, and accustomed Fees,^ due to any Minister for registering or giving copies, should remain as before; but this left the subject still vague and uncertain, and the Fees for Searches still unprovided for.^ The Civil Registration Act of 1836, with the decision of the Court of Exchequer, has now set at rest the subject of Fees, and very satisfactorily so for the public. 1 This appears a very vague item, when there is a charge for one year and more. 2 The following Epitaphs, as they relate to Fees, and are curious compositions, are introduced in this note : — In the month of June, 1811, a stone was placed on the south side of the road, oppo- site the church of Ch.art Magna^ Kent — " In memory of Ann West widow, of this parish, died March 10 1800 aged 59 years. The Eeverend Rector being a hard Austerly rigid man Within the Walls of this church yard He will not let me stand Unless a fee be paid to him Two shillings and two pounds So to the memory of a friend I here am now sit down." West Allington^ Devon. « Here lyeth the Body of Daniel Jeffei'y the Son of Mich ael Jeffery and Joan his Wife he was buried y« 22 day of September 1746 and in y^ 18^** year of his age. This Youth When In his sickness lay did for the minister Send -f- that he would Come and With him Pray + But he would not ate"** But When this young man Buried was The minister did him admit -f- he should be * Caried into Church -j- that he might money geet By this you See what man will dwo -f- to geet money if he can -j- who did refuse to come and pray -f- by the Foresaid young man." The deceased died suddenly of a virulent small-pox, and there was no time to pro- cure a minister ; after the erection of the monument, the clergyman, being satisfied that no blame could really be attached to him, refused to have it taken down. ' 246 PEES POR SEARCHES IN, This Act of 1836 (6 and 7 W. IV. cap. 86) enacts, that every Rector, Vicar, or Curate, who shall have the keeping of any Register Book of Births, Deaths, or Marriages, " shall, at all reasonable times, allow searches to be made of any Register Book in his keep- inQy^ and shall give a copy, certified under his hand, of any entries in the same, on payment of one shilling for a search of one year, and sixpence for every additional year, and 2^. ^d. for every single Certificate. It was for some time considered, that this enactment applied only to Births and Deaths, and not to the Baptisms and Burials con- tained in the Parish Register, of which the Officiating Minister and the Churchwardens were the Custodians.^ It will be noticed, how- ever, that the words just quoted are, " any Register Book in his keeping.^^ All doubts have now been removed by the case of Steele v. Williams,^ where, at the opening of the argument, the Court of Exchequer decided that the Fees in question are regulated by the Act of 1836 (Sec. 35), The case was, whether a parish clerk had a right to charge 2^. 6c?. where the person searching the Register did not require '^ certified copies," but only made his own extracts j and the Court decided that the Clerk had no such right. Mr. Baron Parke, in his Judgment, says : — '^ I think this payment was not voluntary, because the Defendant (the Parish Clerk) told the Plaintiff, that if he did not pay him for certificates in all cases in which he wanted to make extracts, he should not make a search at all. I think the Plaintiff had, at all events, a right to make a search, and, during that time, make him- self master, as he best might, of the contents of the book, and could not be prevented from so doing by the Clerk, in whose custody they were ; who, in the present case, insisted, that if he wanted copies he must have certificates with the signature of the incumbent. For the shilling he paid, the applicant had a right to look at all the names in one year. He had no right to remain an unreasonable time looking at the book, nor perhaps, strictly speaking, was the parish clerk bound to put it into his hands at all ; for the clerk had a right to superintend everything done, and might fairly say to a man, ' Your hands are dirty : keep them in your pockets.' The ^ The Parish Kegister belongs to the Parish, represented by the Minister and Churchwardens. See Dormer and Ekyns, 2 Barnard, 269. 3 The Jurist^ vol. xvii., p. 464 j Notes and Queries^ June, 1858, p. 598. AND EXTRACTS FROM, PARISH REGISTERS. 247 applicant could, therefore, only exercise his right of search during a reasonable time, and make extracts that way. If a man insists on taking himself a copy of anything in the books, that case is not provided for by the statute ; but if he requires a copy certified by the Clergyman, then he must pay an additional fee for it. It was, consequently, an illegal act in the Defendant, to insist that the Plaintiff should pay 2*. 6d, for each entry in the book of which he might choose to make an extract,^^ &c. Baron Martin said : — " With respect to the Statute, Counsel says, because taking extracts is not mentioned in the Statute, it is competent for a parish clerk to take an extra payment for allowing them to be made. Where a man is allowed by Statute to receive money, it is, as it were, by virtue of a contract that the Statute makes for him, and he cannot make a contract for a different sum. The Defendant here is bound by the entirety of the Statute — he may be paid for a search, or for a certified copy, but there is no intermediate course.^' Unless some Act of Parliament has recently put the right of Search in the Registries of our Colonies upon a better footing, the fees at Barbadoes are almost incredible. Mr. Bruce ^ says, " in one instance the Hector charged £25. for merely searching for the birth of one person, and in another £18., though in neither case could the desired information be supplied — observing, in his Letter, that ^ the charge for the above search and extract is Eighteen pounds sterling, and I beg to observe, that I have not made by any means the full charge, as the Extract may not be the one you require ' '' l\ ^ Letter to E. Monckton Milnes, Esq. — Postulates and Data. 248 CHAPTER XIV. THE UTILITY OF PARISH REGISTERS — MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. THE Inquisitions post mortem having been determined by Act of Parliament, and no Heraldic Visitation having been made since the Revolution, and the record of Funeral Certificates by the Heralds having also ceased, the preservation of Parish Registers becomes more necesary now than at their first institution ; for they are now the main source whence all the questions of descent and pedigree are to be decided. To this must certainly be added the information to be derived from monuments and tomb -stones, although they are sometimes erroneous, as in the Claim to the Berners Barony, where evidence was adduced before the House of Lords to prove that the time of the death of a party was not the same as that engraved on the monument. Parish Registers have already afforded the chief evidence of titles to Peerage and Property,^ and there has been scarcely any case in which these records have not been more or less referred to. The Commissioners for investigating the Public Charities of the Kingdom, have in many instances been assisted by entries in Parish Registers of the Wills of Benefactors, and by occasional Notices of the appropriation of Charitable Bequests. They are invaluable, not only as legal evidence, but as materials for historical, topographical, genealogical, and biographical inquiry.^ " They are more — every hereditary interest is transmitted by them, and it is impossible in these commercial times for the poorest man to foresee to what inheritance he may not succeed through their 1 The Lord Chief Justice Best, in his Charge to the Jury in the ease of the Attorney General v. Oldham observed *' All the property in this country, or a large part of it, depends on Kegisters, and we must see our way clear before we shake tlie authenticity of Hegisters." 2 A Letter addressed to R. Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P., on the Condition and Unsafe ^tate of Ancient Parochial Registers in JEngland and the Colonies. By William Downing Bruce, Esq., K.C.S., F.S.A. London. 1850. THE UTILITY OF PARISH REGISTERS, ETC. 249 instrumentality, as it would indeed be difficult to find any one member of the community excluded from a direct concern in these neglected but most important records." The Reports to Parliament on the subject of the Population of Great Britain were materially assisted by these records, as were likewise all inquiries on the increase or decrease of population, on the numerical strength of the kingdom or particular districts, and on the salubrity of particular towns and villages. Dr. " Burrows^ observes that the work of numbering the population of a great empire is operose, tedious, and expensive, and generally after all, in- complete. But if regular and comprehensive Registers of Mar- riages^ Births, Baptisms, and Deaths of persons of all religious denominations were kept and returned at stated periods, how much easier, less expensive, and more accurate will a Census become ? May not such Registers even supersede the necessity of a Census ? For the increase or decrease of the people may be clearly ascertained by the totals which the aggregate annual returns will exhibit. These records are also useful in questions of settlement, although in the Court of King's Bench, in the case of the King v. North Petherton, (5 Barn and Cres 508,) in order to make out the pauper's father's settlement, it was proved by the production of the Parish Register of Spaxton, that he was baptized in that parish, but there was no other evidence of his having been born there ; it was laid down that the register of baptism per se is not evidence of the place of birth, and Mr. Justice Bayley said, that if the child was then very young, the Register would be presumptive evidence that it was born in the parish where it was baptized, but if the child were not then young, the circumstance of its having been baptized in a particular parish would afford no presumption that it was born there. '' I do not say,'' his Lordship remarked, " that a Register of Baptism is not evidence of the place of birth when accompanied with proof of other circumstances, but taken by itself it is not evidence of the place of birth." In questions also of legitimacy, although in the entry of the baptism of a child, he or she being described as son or daughter of John Smith and Mary his wife, would not be evidence of his or her legitimacy.^ ^ Strictures on the Uses and Defects of Parish Registers and Bills of Mortality, 1818. 2 In the case of the Attorn^p General and Oldham, it was stated that Mr. Eose's Act regulated the form of entering the Baptism of illegitimate children, the author 250 THE UTILITY OF PARISH REGISTERS — ■ In the case of Drake v. Smyth, (5 Price 369), a book intitled the Parish Register, produced from a chest in the Vicarage House, and containing ancient entries respecting tithes due to the Vicar, one of which entries purported to be made about 1652, by the Vicar of that time, was admitted in evidence on a question of tithes between a succeeding Vicar and occupiers of the parish. In the compilation of topographical works. Parish Registers have afforded great aid, and (to use the words of an author in making an acknowledgment of their assistance) " on these original and genuine sources of information, have been principally founded many of those volumes/^ They are also of great importance in evidencing the title of widows to dower, of persons to property by relationship, or as next of kin, or by survivorship,^ of persons coming of age in order to enable them to receive property,^ or as the qualification for. office or appointment. In the latter cases, the baptismal certificate is very generally required, as it is in effecting insurances on lives, although the insurance offices will generally accept the affidavit of some third person, or even of the party himself, of his age where a cer- tificate of baptism cannot be obtained. With respect to the evidence afforded by the Fleet Registers, and the Registers of other irregular marriages, it should be remarked, that in the case of Doe ex dem Orrell v. Mad ox. Lord Kenyon has, however, carefully perused the Act without finding it, and believes that no pre- scribed form exists. ^ " To prove the fact of death, we generally have the assistance of Parish Registers of Burials; but when families have been scattered abroad, and are not of any considerable station in life, those are not always to be found and sometimes do not ever exist. The reputation, therefore, of the family that their relative went abroad and died there, or inscriptions on tomb-stones, &c. (which are a species of reputation) is sufficient. — Peake's Evidence. In Doe v. Jesson, 6 East 80, the Court held that absence for seven years was sufficient. The Register of the Navy office has been admiteed in evidence to prove the death of a sailor.— Bull N.P. 249. ^ The declaration or written memorandum of a deceased surgeon, respecting the time of a birth at which he attended, is admissible evidence. — 10 East 120, and Yin. Ab. E. T. b. 91. On a question whether a Testator at the time of making his will was of full age, a written memorandum by his deceased father, stating the time of his birth, has been admitted to be good evidence. — Phillips on Ev. p. 180. — Herbert v. Tuckal Sir T. Eaym, 84. Though KJch declaration would not be admitted as evidence of the place of birth — B. V. Erith, 8 -East, 542, MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. 251 observed in summing up, that he admitted in evidence, the Register of the Fleet Marriages, because former Judges had done so ; but he desired that his having done so should not be understood as thereby sanctioning their admission, nor should his authority be cited for the purpose in future, as he was of opinion that they were liable to many objections. And in Read v. Passer (Peake, N.P.C. 231) his Lordship, after referring to what took place on the above occasion, said that in a case at the Shrewsbury Assizes (1794), the Fleet Registers had been admitted by Mr. Justice Heath, but notwith- standing his respect for that learned Judge's opinion, he thought himself bound to dissent, and to give it as his settled opinion, that they were a species of evidence which ought never to be admitted. In a case before Lord Hardwicke, where a book of this sort was offered in evidence, he tore the book, and said such evidence should never be admitted in a Court of Justice, and that Lord Chief Justice de Grey had been of the same opinion. With respect to the entries in the books themselves (continued Lord Kenyon) they could be taken in no other point of view than as private memoranda, which were not evidence; but that these entries were of less legal authority even than the private memoranda of third persons, inas- much as they were made not only by third persons, but by persons who knew while they were doing them that they were illegal, and for which they were liable to punishment by the Canons of the Church. His Lordship, therefore, totally rejected them as a species of evidence completely inadmissible.^ 1 In the cause of Lloyd and Passingham in 1809, (16 Ves. 59), Lord Eldon said* " I give no opinion that the Fleet Register is evidence, as a Ecgister : but I am not pre- pared to say it may not be received as evidence of a fact, and I can suppose a case in which such evidence might be received. Upon a question of pedigree would not that entry be admitted, not as a Register but as a declaration under the hand of a party ; or upon an indictment for bigamy, the first marriage alleged to have been in the Fleet, and evidence produced that uniformly an entry of marriage was made, would not the production or non-existence of such entry be evidence to the other fact ? With re- spect to the Pancras Register now produced, it appears to be compiled, and a copy from some other book, the Yicar's name at the bottom of several pages being evidently not his own writing. The conclusion upon the affidavits is, that Kendry had gone into the church with Young, the Parish Clerk, had erased by pummice stone and India rubber (those articles having been left upon the Altar) some entry in the book, and inserted an entry of the burial of Elizabeth Lloyd, and the birth of the daughter, Robert Pas- singham standing outside ; but upon inspection, it is impossible not to see that the operation must have been difficult, as no less than three pages must have been oblite. rated, the names collected on a separate paper, and those three pages must have been written over." 252 THE UTILITY OF PARISH REGISTERS In Northey v. Cook, the marriage in question was one anterior to the Marriage Act, when marriages were neither solemnized or registered with the regularity that they have since been, in conse- quence of that Act. In this case it was stated, that to hold the certificate of registry indispensable to the proof of such a marriage would be absurd ; reputation, cohabitation, and mutual acknowledg- ments sufficiently prove such a marriage.^ With respect to the Certificates of Gretna Green Marriages, it was stated at Doctor^ s Commons, in the case of Nokes v. Milward,^ that the argument of the Plantiff's Counsel had failed to induce the Court to regard such a Certificate as any proof what- soever of a Marriage. That even the Certificate of the King him- self, under his sign manual, was no evidence oidi. mere fact (Orraichund V, Baker, 2 Willes, 549), on the broad principle, that " in judicio non creditur nisi juratis," that it was upon the same principle that Certificates tendered in proof of irregular marriages had in this country (for instance of Fleet Marriages, which, though irregular marriages, were still valid marriages, prior to the Marriage Act), have often been rejected by the Courts of Common Law. In the case of the Attorney General v. Oldham, Counsel objected to the evidence of the Bishop's Transcripts, as being Copies not Duplicates,^ but Mr. Baron G arrow considered he was bound to receive it, because it came from the proper custody, and purported to be an instrument required by law to be deposited there, and that the object cf these Transcripts would be lost were they not receivable ^ Or probably any marriage ; the Marriage Act having been repeatedly held not to take away the ancient mode of proving a marriage by presumptive evidence, Tide 1 BI. Eep. 367. Doug. 171, and Lord Kenyon declared in a case at Nisi Prius, (Esp. 1, 214,) that though the Marriage Act has introduced a Kegister of Marriages, Kegistra- tration made no part of the validity of a marriage, but only went in proof of it. In the case of Leader v, Barry, 353, Mingay, for the defendant, offered in evidence an examined copy of the Register of a Marriage in the Swedish Ambassador's Chapel at Paris, which Lord Kenyon rejected as no evidence. Lord Kenyon said that an action for crim. con. was the only civil case where an actual marriage, by producing a copy of the Register, need be proved. The same strictness was required in an in- dictment for bigamy ; but that in every civil case, except that above mentioned, general reputation, the acknowledgment of the parties, and reception by their friends, &c., as man and wife, were sufficient proof of coverture. 2 Addams Eep.^ vol. ii., p. 386. 3 In Oldham v. Eborall, tried in 1829, before the Lord Chief Justice C. P., Counsel objected to the evidence of a Transcript, because it was not what it purported to be, viz : a copy* of the Register. But the Judge overruled it. (There were several mar. riages in the Register not noticed in the Transcript). MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. 253 in evidence. " This is a subject (said his Lordship) which I have considered, perhaps more than I have had an opportunity of con- sidering many other things, and from what I have had occasion to observe, I conceive there is nothing of more importance than the endeavouring to deposit in some secure place, the Registers of Births, Baptisms, and Funerals. The importance of it was impressed upon my mind, in consequence of what came to my knowledge of the Register of a Parish near London being taken by a man who was at the time the Curate of the Parish, to a public house, where the whole of a page was destroyed for the purpose of introducing one new Register.^^^ " In Claims of English Peerage the rule of the House of Lords ever since the Chandos Peerage Case has been not to receive Copies ^ of Registers, but to require^he original parochial Register itself to be produced, excepting that the House has not yet applied the rule to an Irish Register. In the Roscommon Peerage in 1825, Copies of Irish Registers having been offered in evidence. Counsel were informed, that the Committee of Privileges always required the original Registry in Cases of Peerage. And the Petitioner's Counsel having submitted, that the House would not apply that rule to his Case, as it had never been yet applied (he believed), to an Irish * In Fairlie and Freeman, Lord Eldon said, " I recollect a case upon the Circuit that I went, where we tried an ejectment in a town that was a county of itself, with respect to a particular property ; the Plantiif in the ejectment recovered. There was then a trial as to another part, a very large estate, which was to take place in the county at large on the next day. Between the evening and the next morning, we sent over to examine the Register Book by the copies which had been produced on the first trial, and in consequence of that, they never ventured to go on with the second trial." There was a person professing to be connected with the fan)ily of Derwentwater, who produced the supposed Copy of a Register which gave him a connection with that family and a claim to a very large estate. It went on for years, and was conceived at the College of Anns to be genuine ; but at last the original was seen, and the Copy had no validity at all. N.B. — In these two cases, Copies of Registers (not Bishop's Transcripts), are alluded to. " " With respect to proof in the Courts of Law of entries in public books, it is now clearly settled, that wherever an original is of a public nature admissible in evidence, an examined copy will be equally admitted. (Lynch v. Clerke, 3 Salk. 153.) The rule is necessary, as well for the security of the instrument, as for the convenience of the public. (Phil, on evidence.) The Register kept in Churches, of Births, Marriages, and Burials, by being confined to one place for public satisfaction, the law suffers the like evidence to be given of them, as is usually given to a Jury of Records, viz : true copies examined with the original. (Peake's evidence.) As to the Registers being public books, vide 2 Lorc^Raym. 851. 2 Stra. 954. 1 Barn. 455. 254 THE UTILITY OF PARISH REGISTERS. Case, he was informed, that the evidence might be taken de bene esse, but that their Lordships felt a great difficulty in receiving Copies after what had passed in other Cases. The Attorney General submitted, that some means might be devised of inquiring into the authenticity of the particular Register, and on a subsequent day he having again submitted the necessity of requiring the original Registers, since if the rule were applicable to an English Case, it was particularly so to an Irish Case, the Committee informed the Counsel that the witness who had produced the copies must give further evidence of their accuracy, and of the state of the Registers. *^In the Marchmont Peerage Case in 1822, Copies of Scotch Registers having been offered as evidence, were objected to, when Counsel having submitted whether there was not a distinction in the Case of Scotch Peerages, were informed that the Committee were not aware that such a distinction had ever been taken, and the same were only received de bene esse.^'^ There has been no alteration in the practice of the House, as to the production of the original Register. TOMBSTONES AND MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. The necessity for a Register to be kept of every Inscription in church or churchyard, has already been urged (p. 211). It frequently happens, that although the Parish Register records the date of a burial, it does not identify the individual buried. This deficiency is often supplied by a monumental inscription. The sub- ject has been very fully discussed in the volumes of Notes and Quei'ies, where the advocates of a Registry or Collection of Inscrip- tions will be seen to include some of our first Antiquaries. The result is, that the Society of Antiquaries have commenced a Collection of Monumental inscriptions. Several Topographical Works ^ recently published, have also added to their pages full particulars collected from the church and churchyard of the parish described. Monumental Inscriptions supply generally more information than can be obtained from the Parish Register, and therefore are of great value in tracing the descent of land and dignities. Take a case in point noticed in Notes and Queries, No. 78, 314. An Ejectment 1 Grimaldi's Origines Genealogicce. 2 A Monumentarium of Exeter Cathedral^ by the Rev. J. W. Hewett, 1851. — Sepulchral Reminiscences of the Church of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, by Dawson Turner 1848. — Biglancfs Collections for Gloucestershire. — History of Henley-on Thames 1861. MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. 255 Case was tried at Guildford in 1847 ; it was of great importance to prove the identity of a lady who was buried at St. Christopher-le- Stacks in the City, but the Register only gave her name and date of burial, and the Church itself had been pulled down. This was mentioned to Sir Charles Young at the Heralds^ College, who at once recollected that when the Church of St. Christopher was taken down to enlarge the Bank of England, one of the Heralds had copied the monuments, and deposited the copy at the Heralds' College. It was at once produced, and there was found the Inscrip- tion in question, giving the particulars required, " M^^ Mary le Keux, Wife of Mr W^ le Keux, Merchant, died &c. (1724)." In making these Collections, the Transcriber should copy ^ all the church monuments, and such of those in the churchyard as contain information of pedigree, relationship, descent, or identity ; in all cases the name, age, and day of death should be noted ; but no poetry, nor any record of '' Afflictions sore" which '^long time they bore." Too great liberties are frequently taken with monuments and tombstones, and clergymen and churchwardens should remember that they are liable to an action for removing or destroying them without proper authority. An instance of this occurred lately where monu- ments had been removed and injured, and the clergymen who had ordered the removal, was compelled, at his own expense, to restore and reinstate them. ^ The Copies should be made on foolscap paper, in order to ensure uniformity ; they should be written on one side only of the paper, with a clear space between each Inscription ; should be signed by the Transcriber, and seg^t to the Society of Anti- quaries. " Copies of inscriptions will be the more valuable when accompanied by sketches, rubbings, or descriptions of any armorial bearings on the monument, and also by particulars as to the precise part of the church or churchyard in which they may be found." •' Communications respecting existing collections of inscriptions, of annotated copies of Weever's 'Funeral Monuments^ Le Neve's Monumenta Anglicana, or other works of similar character, or of any county histories in which manuscript copies of such records are preserved, are also invited by the Society, who desire to form a General Index of Monumental Inscriptions."— See Notes and Queries. July, 1858, p.p. 60, 86, 108, 171. 256 CHAPTEU XV. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE ANCIENT REGISTERS. '' A CONSIDERATION! of what lases are principally intended -^ and showed by our present Registers, is most likely to lead to a discovery by what methods the want of them was formerly supplied. The chief, if not only uses intended, were, the ascertain- ing descents and kindreds, and these purely for the sake of property ; titles to honours have, indeed, been concerned in them, but as honours were always in some proportion to property, or at least never so much severed from it as to subsist alone, the proof of a title to property always ascertained the same of its appendages. Few need be told that times have been, when property in general was very small, and that, too, very unequally divided. In the times of our ancestors the Saxons, the number of Thanes in each shire was but small, and these alone seem to have had any inde- pendent property or considerable possessions. In the Laws of King Athelstan, no other titles or distinctions of honour are enu- merated than Earl, Earldoram, Heregerassa, and Thane; none of these were hereditary, or successively appendant to anyquantity of possession, but the last ; all the rest being offices and appointments merely personal, ^s to land, indeed, the possession of it was almost all strictly hereditary, and not devisable to any one else than the next heir in blood, as is enacted by the 37th Law of Alfred, and by some more ancient law likewise, as is plain from his own will and testament ; and as no alienation could be made, even of what was allowed to be aliened, nor possession upon a devise by Will taken but at a County Court, there was little possibility of a right of inheritance being defeated. " In the times when commerce was little or none, and every man lived, as we may say, within his own hedge, when no man could leave the Lordship he belonged to without leave of his Lord (Lex X. Ed*. Sen^), nor out of his Shire without leave of the Ealderman 1 Letter from the Rev. Q-eorge North, to Mr. Professor Ward. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, ETC. 257 of it (Lex 33 Alfred!) , and by the 2^ of Athelstan, every man was to belong to some Lord, on penalty of being considered as a fugitive or thief; under these circumstances, every man's birth and lineage must be known. The arts of fraud in those ages of poverty and simplicity were hardly known: and if we further consider how frequent and public their Courts of Justice were, it was next to impossible that any man's descent and claim could be forgotten, or admit of much dispute. These methods rendered Registers almost needless; accordingly, we do not find any remains of such amongst the Saxons. They were needless in respect of the common people, who were nailed, as it were, by the foot to one place, whose families were insignificant, and whose small dependent properties were pro- tected by their Lords ; and the inheritors of the Thanes were regis- tered, and transmitted in the memories of the whole shire, so often meeting in the County Courts ; and when any dispute happened and was determined there, to give it a more lasting remembrance and security, it was entered in a concise manner in some sacred Books of an adjacent Monastery, of which sort of Entries are divers instances in Dr. Hickes's Dissertatio Epistolaris. Besides, as very few among the Saxons had any more than one name (or if they had, it was no more than barely a patronymic, as Putting for Puttoc suntty or Puttoc filius), no nomina gentilitia, or family name, from thence it was impossible to form a Register to serve such purposes as our present ones do.'' Bishop Kennet, in a charge ^ to his Clergy, observes . — " It is of very great consequence to the good Estate of your Parishes to keep your Register Books in order and safety, and to make your Entries exact in your own hand writing. This serves to the Ecclesiastical purposes of knowing who are born and baptised in our Communion, who are lawfully married according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church, and who have had their Christian burial among you, that it may the better appear whether they died intestate, or what Wills and Legacies they left behind them. Nay, and this is as useful in civil causes, in descents, in inheritance, in minors, and adult persons, in ligature, in matrimony, and lawful issue of it, in decease of friends, in probate of Wills, and the discharge of Legacies, and especially of those to pious uses. 1 Lans. MSS. 957. 17 258 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO ^' There could be no wiser institution to preserve the Memorial of things and Men, to do honour and justice to the present generation, and to provide for the benefit of posterity. What I would advise you upon this subject, has been thus worded very well by a learned Serjeant at Law, says he — " ' The Rectors and Vicars of every Parish Church are in- trusted with the keeping of the Register Book, appointed by the advice of Lord Cromwell, 30 Henry VIIT. Every Minister is bound to Enter and Register there, all Christnings, Mar- riages and Burials, an office of of great Trust, Use, and Benefit to the People, when the same is duly and justly performed; for since Offices and Inquisitions post mortem are taken away by the stat. of the 12 Car. 11. the Entries in these Books are now become the Chief Evidence to prove Pedigrees and descents upon which Titles to land do oftentimes depend ; therefore it behoves all Rectors, Vicars, and Curates, who have the care or custody of them upon every Christening to enter the name of the Child, the day of the month, and the year on which it was born, as well as baptized, and whether the first second or third Son or Daughter of the Parents, with the Christian and Sur- name of them both, their place of abode and title or condition. Upon all Marriages the Christian names and surnames of both parties, with those of the Parents on either side, the places of their several residences and their titles. Also upon all Burials the Christian name and surname of the party deceased, with their title or condition, the place of their abode, and the time of their death ; the defect whereof has been very prejudicial to many persons, not only upon the proof of their descents, but chiefly upon the tryal of their titles to the Estate of their ancestors, as well by the Father as the Mother^s side.' '^ [Then follow certain directions to have the Books of parchment and not paper, and to use good ink, and write plain, &c.] *' One thing more I would intimate to you, that you are not only obliged to enter the day and year of every Christening, Wedding, or Burial, but it is left to your discretion to enter down any notable incident of times and seasons, especially relating to your own parish, and the neighbourhood of it, such as Storms and Lightning, Contagion, and Mortality, Drought, Scarcity, Plenty, Longevity, Robbery, Murders, or the like casualties. If such memorable things were fairly entered, your THE PRESERVATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. 259 Parish Registers would become Chronicles of many strange occurrences ^ that would not otherwise be known and would be of great use and service for posterity to know. You have had precedents of this kind in Parochial Registers within this Diocese and they have been cited to very good purpose, by our worthy Brother the Author of the 'Natural History of this County of Northampton^^ " The necessity of public Parochial Registers, more particularly for ascertaining the Marriages, Births, Baptisms and Burials of persons in their respective Parishes, is abundantly evident from a transient view of our ancient English History, which for want of proper names, real dates, and family connections occasionally to be referred to, is oftentimes rendered perplexed and unintelligible, and sometimes altogether inconsistent even with its own Chronology/' ^ Nicolson, Bishop of Carlisle, in his English Historical Library, p. 175, remarks that they have proved some of the best helps to- wards the preserving of history, and that their use might be of a yet further extent, if care were taken to register also many other remarkable occurrences relating to the public concerns of the several parishes, as recoveries of benefactions, properties in seats or aisles, right of advowson, &c., and that it would be the everlasting reproach of the clergy, if (instead of thus improving the good designs of our ancestors for the continuance of their names and memories) they should omit even that part of their duty which was required by an Ecclesiastical as well as a Civil authority, and record matters in the church books after such a manner as would tend to render such Registers monuments of their own negligence. Among some of the things worthy of imitation in France, the regularity of their Parish Registers must not be overlooked ; and the conscription, to which every male is subject, has induced the nation, even in times of terror, to observe in them, the same punc- tuality and copiousness which had been originally introduced from genealogical motives ; so that it would be now more easy to make out the pedigree of a sans-culotte than that of a British peer. In France, in the natal certificate of every child, (for there the birth and not the baptism is registered) are not only inserted the names of both the parents, but where they were born and married. In every marriage certificate are inserted the birth places of both bridegroom 1 Fuller • 3 Bigland. 260 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO and bride, the names and birth places of their respective parents ; by this method, a descent may be ascertained for any length with- out cost or trouble.^ In submitting the "Registers to the inspection of strangers, great caution ought to be used, and they should always make the search in the presence of the clergyman, clerk, or some other person ; by so doing, any alteration, erasure, forgery, or destruction of the con- tents of the books by evil-disposed persons may be prevented.^ In making searches, it may be recommended to the clergyman, that before he comes to any conclusion, to search the book himself (and not trust it to a clerk to do) and if the entry is not found, to signify that fact to the party interested, and not to assert that the ^ Gentleman^ s Magazine. A letter from a gentleman at the French Bar to the author, says, " Eegisters were kept by tlie priests till 1789. In that year the National Assembly created a mayor, ■with one or several assistants, according to the extent of the borough or town. Besides these, a corporation composed of the most respectable natives of the borough or town. That corporation assembles, under the presidency of the mayor, to deliberate upon the affairs of the town. The Registers, which were formerly kept by the priests, are now deposited at the mayoralty. The mayor or his assistant has alone power to enregister, nor have they that power in any other place than the mayoralty. There are three Registers, — Baptism, Marriage, and Burial. There must always be two copies of each ; every leaf of them is signed by the President of the Tribunal of First Appeal, in the limits of which is the borough or town. The form of entry is the denoting of the year, day, and hour on which they are received, the Christian and surname, age, pro- fession, and place of abode of all who are denominated in it. At the end of each year, the Registers are closed by the mayor, and one of the two copies is deposited at the Archives of the mayoralty, and the other at the Register Office of the Tribunal of First Appeal. "Under our present government, the law grants no civil power to our clergy; the priests have, however, retained their ancient custom of making Parish Registers, which Registers have no weight whatever. During the Revolution, Registers must have suffered many irregularities, particularly in those departments where civil war raged. I myself know them to have been burnt in several towns." ■^ A search was once made at Rochester by a person who usod every means to rid himself of tlie clerk's presence, but finding it unavailing, and that he could not be left alone, he offered the clerk a sum of money to assist him in the alteration of an entry which he pointed out. In making searches in the Registers of Parishes within the Bills of Mortality, a facility is afforded by the Company of Parish Clerks ; by paying a fee of about two guineas, a printed circular is sent to all the parish clerks, with the particulars of infor- mation required from the Registers, and the result is communicated through the clerk of the Company to the applicant. It is mucl; 4o be regretted that some of the London clergy neglect to make these searches, and refuse to let their clerks make them, so that but little benefit is obtained* THE TRESENTATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. 261 Register contains no such entry as the one sou§Jit for;^ and th'"s recommendation will have greater claim to attention, should the search be in any of the old Registers, which are very frequently begun in several different parts of the book, rendering certainty as to its actual contents very dangerous. The index for this pur- pose will be of great use as forming another source from whence to ascertain if a particulur entry exists. In addition to what has been said in pages 50, 51, and 64, on the mischievous practice of keeping waste books or day books, it may be observed, that it is the duty of the clergyman to keep the Parish Register, which is, or ought to be, an original document ; but if the clerk is allowed to make the entries in the waste book, and at the end of the year or from month to month, the clergyman transcribes the contents of it into the E egister, the clerk becomes the Registrar and the clergyman only the transcriber ; and at the end of the year, he signs his name to some hundreds of entries of baptisms and burials, of the half of which he can have but little or no recollec- tion, and must therefore trust to the punctuality and correctness of the clerk.2 The Register of Carshalton is one commencing in 1538 and has been kept with great accuracy, except from 1644 to 1651, during which time are no entities whatever, and by a memorandum in the Register, Mr. Quelch, the then Vicar, imputes tliis defect to the troubles of the times, and to his trusting to the Parish Clerk to make minutes, from which he, the Vicar, might once a year make entries in the book, as had long been the custom, but that the clerk, though often called upon and always promising, never gave the account.^ 1 Bigland 2 In the case of St. Devereux v. Much-Dew-Church, Black Eep. 367, Lord Mansfield said — " I think the minister highly blameable in not making the entries regular ac- cording to the Act, and that the Attorney General should exliibit an information against him ex officio. For upon his accuracy may depend the proof of pedigrees (which begin now to be very difficult), and the descent of real estates. 3 An ejectment cause was tried at the Spring Assizes in 1828 for the county of Worcester, where the question was whether the defendant, Aaron Bray, was the legiti- mate son of his father. On the part of the defendant, the Eegister of Baptisms of the Parish of Castlemorton for the year 1776 was produced, which contained an entry of baptism of Aaron, the son of John Bray, and Elizabeth his wife, on the 6th of February, 1776. It appeared, however, that the entry was in the handwriting of the Kev. Dr. Smith, and that he did not become Minister of the parish till l777j that during the years 1775 and 1776, the then incumbent of the parish was very infirm and that the then clerk entered on slips of paper an account of the baptisms, &c., and his memoranda, which had been preserved, were produced, and there was no doubt 262 GENERAL OBSERVATlOxNS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO The use of the word " ditto" is very objectionable, wbetber in the Register or in the Transcript for the Bishop. In the former case it is frequently impossible to give an exact and sufficient certi- ficate without copying several useless entries, in order to show the word or name that " ditto'^ refers to. In the Bishops' Transcripts this word should not be used unless it is in the original, for the Transcript should be a true and exact copy. In rectifying mistakes in Parish Registers, whether discovered at the time of writing the entry or not, great care should be taken. It has been observed that "^ Erasure is not the legitimate mode of correction ;'' the safer method is to draw a line with ink through the incorrect parts, and write the proper words or figures above, and then to notice the alteration in the margin of the book. ^ Indexes are of the greatest assistance, and save, in many instances, immense time and labour in making searches. Mr. Cole, whose manuscripts are deposited in the British Museum, has observed that the value and usefulness of a book is greatly enhanced by the ad- dition of a good index ; and if this observation applies to books in general, it will be entitled to double weight in its application to Parish Registers. The compilation of a good index does not require great skill ; and it has been observed by a clergyman, that the time he had wasted in turning over the leaves of his Register in search of entries, would have served him to make several complete indexes, besides saving the book from the constant friction of the hands and fingers, tending to wear it out and obliterate the writing.^ In the that Dr. Smith had made from them the entries in the Register Book. It was objected that neither the Register or the memoranda were admissible in evidence ; but Mr- Baron Yaughan received them. Upon a motion, however, for a new trial, Mr. Justice Bayley said, " Tlie Register ought not to have been received in evidence. Registers should be made up promptly and by the person whose duty it is to make them up. The Register of Baptism, in this case, purports to bear date the 6th of February, 1776 but it was not made up till June, 1777, and then it was made up, not by the persoii who was the minister of the parish at the time of baptism, or by a person who ap- peared at that time to have any connexion with the parish, but by one who afterwards became the minister of the parish. It must be taken, therefore, that he made this entry after the death of the Minister of the Parish, who was present at this baptism- He was reeording a fact, therefore, not within his own knowledge, but one of which he received information from the clerk." The Court, therefore, held that neither the Register or the clerk's memoranda were admissable in evidence, and the rule for a new trial was made absolute accordingly. — 8 Barn and Ores. 813. 1 See 52 George III. cap. 146, sec. 15, for directions on this point. 2 If the Index is perfect, the entry is found in a few seconds ; if not found, the Index may be put aside, and the Register examiued. THE PRESERVATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. 263 parishes of Kegworth, in Leicestershire, and Cogenhoe, m No rth- amptonshire, are indexes by the Christian name thus -.j Ann Smith Andrew Burton Amy Dove But this is greatly inferior to the index by the surname, which^ is hoped will be generally adopted. The Register of Maidstone, with a population of from 10 to 15,000, contains an index of all the names mentioned in the Register from the year 1732 ; and the custom was, and it is hoped still is, that when the clergyman makes an entry in the Register, he makes also a reference to it in the proper index. With respect to the insertion of the time of Birth in the entry of a Baptism, it may be observed, that the Bill of the 52nd Geo. III., had provided a column for the entry of this particular, but it was struck out, in the progress of the Bill through the House of Lords, but it escaped ^ the observation of their Lordships, that the Title of the Bill still remained for " the better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Births, Baptisms, &c." and this has led to inquiries why the Act should intimate its purport to extend to Births, and yet provide no columns for them, or take (except in one instance) any subsequent notice of that particular.^ 1 As did also the absurdity of dividing the fourteen years Transportation between the Informer and the poor of the parish ! 2 In the case of Wihen v. Law, in 1821, a Register of his Christening was produced by the Defendant to prove his Infancy at a particular time, from which it appeared, that he was clu'istened in the year 1807, but the entry also stated that he was born in the year 1799. Bay ley, J., was of opinion, that the entry relating to the time of his birth was not evidence of the fact, if it did not appear upon whose information the entry had been made, and the clergyman who made the entry, had no authority to make inquiry con- cerning the time of birth, or to make any entry concerning it in the Register. The Jury found for PlantiflP, and in the ensuing Term, Marryat moved for a new trial, contending that at all events the entry was evidence to confirm the statement of the Mother, who had been examined as a Witness for the Defendant at the trial. But the Court were of opinion, that the entry was nothing more than something told to the clergyman at the time of the christening, concerning which he had not power by Law to make an entry. He had neither the authority nor the means of making an entry. If it had appeared that the entry had been made by the direction of the Mother, it might perhaps, if required, have been received in evidence, for the purpose of confirming her testimony ; but even then it would have amounted to nothing more than a mere declaration bi her, as to the age of her Son made at a time when there was no motive on her part to misrepresent his age. — Rule refused. 3 Starkie 63, 264 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO The Register of Maidstone contained the date of birth, as well as baptism for many years, in columns set apart for that particular, and they were received as evidence in the Court of Burghmote, upon the application of parties (on attaining 21) to be admitted to the Freedom of the Corporation. The clergyman of a very populous parish in the vicinity of London has been in the habit of entering births, as well as baptisms, until very lately, when upon some misunderstanding on the subject of remuneration for making the Bishop's Transcript, he began and still continues to refuse to enter births. In Catholic countries, it is usual to carry children to church the very day they are born, to receive baptism, when the same is immediately entered ia the Parish Register and duplicate, in presence of the sponsors. The civil registration of Births having now become a National Institution, it is not so necessary to urge the reasons for the mention of them in future in Parish Registers. With reference however, to the Case of Wihen v. Law, just noticed, it may be observed, that the entry in question was prior to the passing of Mr. Rose's Act. Now it may be seen upon reference to the Order of Cromwell in 1653 (p. 25), that Registers were to contain "the days of the month and years of Birth,'' &c., and no mention whatever is made of Baptism. In subsequent Acts, Birth or Baptism is mentioned, and it therefore seems that however correct this decision would be, wdth reference to entries in Registers subsequent to 1812, yet a distinction should be made in favour of the evidence of the time of birth appearing by entries made under the authority of those Acts, which direct the time of birth to be registered, and in which cases it was a part of the clergyman's duty to see that the particular was correctly stated. With respect to the present contents of Parish Registers, it is contended, that they would be still imperfect, even were every Baptism, Marriage, and Burial punctually entered, and for these reasons : suppose a very common case, that in a parish there are two or three large families of the same name, many of the individuals of those families having the same Christian name, marrying women of different families, but having a Christian name alike. In fact, there are instances in abundance where there are [e.g.) three John Smiths in a parish, each having a wife named Mary. In the entry therefore oi their children in the Register, how can they well be THE PRESERVATION OF PARISH REGISTERS. 265 distinguished, but by inserting the wife's maiden name, and where married. Without this additional information, the proof of a Pedi- gree of two or three descents, if attainable, would occasion infinite expense and trouble. Several families are known now to the author, where there are five or six cousins having the same Christian name, which occasions, even amongst their immediate friends and relations, frequent mistakes. The form of entries of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, as pro- posed by the author, is added after this paragraph ; the great improvement being the embodying of information, which may enable posterity to ascertain the identity of parties (the want of which has often been the cause of great trouble and expense) ; and also assist in pointing out where entries of Baptism, &c. may be found. In cases of burials of adults, it may not be always in the power of the relatives to give the information necessary to fill up the form, but in most instances, the requisite particulars will be forthcoming ; and although the Register may not be evidence of this additional information, it may be information which will lead to evidence. For this purpose, were it practicable, every entry of Baptism should state the names of the Godfatliers and Godmothers, as it would assist in identifying the parties, by showing that certain persons who were known friends or relatives of the family had stood in that capacity at the Baptism. PROPOSED FORM OF BAPTISM. When baptized 6 Jany 1820 7 Jany 1830 When born 14 Deer 1819 16 Deer 1829 Child's Cliristian Name John Son of Richard Son of Father's name and Mother's Maiden name John Onslow and Ann Green Jane Smith Parish where Parents married and when St.Alban 1815 Illegiti- mate Parents present abode St. Albans St.Albans Quality, Trade, or Profession Gentleman Single Woman or Widow By whom the Ceremony performed It would be desirable that the Baptismal and Burial entry should be signed by one of the parents or relatives present ; one reason why the Marriage Register is more correct than the others is, that the signature of persons present is required, so that the clergyman cannot postpone the enft'y. 266 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO BURIAL.i if Husband Name or Widower, of Father children of * In 1553, Knox lived in London chiefly with Mr. Locke and Mr. Hickman, two respectable merchants of his acquaintance. In writing to Mr. Locke, he says, " In my heart I could have wished, yea, and cannot cease to wish that it might please God to guide and conduct yourself to this place (Geneva), where, I neither fear nor eshame to say, is the most perfect school of Christ as ever was in the Earth since the days of the Apostles." Many of Knox's Letters are addressed to Mrs. Anne Locke. One is addressed to her at Geneva, 23rd June, 1559, but at the end of that year she dates her Letter to Knox from London. 2 Knolles — Qt/. as to these persons. Perhaps the Christian name of one of them may be erroneous ; for Sir Francis KnoUys was an exile at Frankfort, and left that place with Knox and Whittingham for Geneva. Queen Elizabeth made him a Privy Counsellor, Treasurer of the Household, Knight of the Garter, &c. — Dr. Heylin's History of the Reformation. Dr. Home also took with him to Frankfort, John Jewellj Edwin Sandys, and Henry, eldest son of Sir Francis Knollys. ^ Afterwards Sir Thomas Bodley. Sir Thomas Bodley writes : " In the time of Queen Mary, after being cruelly threatened and narrowly observed by those that maliced his religion, for the safety of himself and my mother (formerly Miss Joan Hone, an heiress of the hundred of Ottery, St. Mary), who was wholly affected as my Father knew no way so secure as to flj into Germany ; wliere, after a while, he found means to call over my mother, with all his children and Family, when he settled for a while at Wesel in Cleveland, and from thence we removed to the Town of Frankfort. Howbeit we made no long tarriance in either of these Towns, for that my Father had resolved to fix his abode in the city of Geneva^ where as far as I remember, the English Church consisted of some hundred members." — Autohiography, 4to, Oxford, 1647, and see Prince's Worthies of Devon. On John Bodley's return to England in 1559, a patent was granted to him, to print the English Bible with annotations. * Nicholas Hilliarde — Qy. a relation of Nicholas Hilliard (born at Exeter i7i 1547), Limner, Jeweller, and Goldsmith to Q. Elizabeth.— Moore's Devon. 5 Wiburne— Of Rochester, born about 1533, M.A. of St. John's College, Cam- bridge. He was a rigid Nonconformist, and was one of those ministers in 1591, who liad continued under sy^pension several years. — Strype's Life of Orindal. LIVRE DES ANGLOIS. 281 5 June, 1557. James U Water Richardson. John Baker. Peter Hawkes. Richard Gibbens. Barnard Hurdeson. John PuUein/ his wife, and Faith his daughter. Ales Agar widowe,^ Johan and Priscilla her daughters, and Thomas her Sonne. WiUm Cole.^ 20 Noverab 1557. Thomas Bentham.* Mawde Ffawcon.^ xThomas Mosgrave. John Daniel, his wife, and his sonnes, Mawdes Gibson,® his wife, and his daughter. Richard East. James Tailor. Thomas Johns. Willm Chambres. 26. Novembr 1557. Robert Ffielde and Rose his wife. Ales Samon widowe. Thomas Knell. Harrye Lelande. ^Harrye Smith. xJohn Pellam. xWillm Morley. 2Decemb: 1557. Anthony Caryer. xJohn Mansfielde. A° 1558. Ffebruary, 1 7. John Collyn, being a very aged man. ^ John Pullein, B.D., bom in Yorksliire, 1517. In 1552, was Eector of St. Peter'si Comhill J he remained in England a jear after Mary's accession, preaching privately, and then withdrew to Geneva, and assisted in the Translation of the Bible. On his return about 1559, he was presented to the rectory of Copford, Essex, and made Archdeacon of Colchester. His wife's name was Jane. He died July, 1565, set 48. 2 Of Colchester. See her Marriage, p. 283. ' Cole — Educated at Oxford. He went first to Zurich, and thence to Geneva, and assisted in the Translation of the Bible. After Mary's reign, he was made President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in which office he continued at least 30 years, and became Dean of Lincoln. — See the Marriage Register ^ p. 283, where he is described of Grantham. It appears by Neale, that there was also a Thomas Cole at Geneva who originally fled to Frankfort, and afterwards joined the Congregation at Geneva. On the acces- sion of Elizabeth he returned to England, and was collated to the Archdeaconry of Essex by his fellow exile. Archbishop Grindal. This Thomas was certainly at Frank- fort, but his name does not appear at Geneva. ■* Bentham — Admitted perpetual fellow of Magdalen College Oxford, Nov. 16, 1546. In Queen Mary's reign, he was turned out of his fellowship for his great zeal against popery in King Edward's reign ; he retired to Zurich, and then became preacher at Basil. He afterwards settled at Geneva, where he married. — See the Marriage Register^ p. 283, in which he is described as of Sherborne. He returned to England before the death of Mary, and preached to a Protestant Congregation there. In 1559 he succeeded Dr. Bane to the Bishopric of Lichfield. Died February 21, 1579, leaving a widow, Maud (vide Marriage Register^ p. 283), and is buried in Eccles- hall Chancel. "5 Of Hadley, Suflfolk.— See her marriage at p. 283. ^ Gibson — A native of Morpeth, famous for his studies of Physic, History, and Botany. • 282 LIVllE DES ANGLOIS. 28 of Aprill. Lawrence Kente^ and Willin his sonne, and Elene his daughter. -^ Rob* Blackman l of Aprill last past. Lawrence Umfrey^ J June, 2. Willm Johnson came to Geneva the 5 of January 1558. Nicholas Arbott the 29 of Marche. Willm Cotes 1 « » -n i i. i. _,. - ^ ^ > of Aprill last past. Richard Proctour J August, 13. Charles Williams, borne in Bristow, made his confession of his fayth, and was admitted to the Church. Septemb' 15. David Linsey a Scottisman was received. The names of the Ministers, Seniors, and Deacons, yerely chosen and elected w" the Englishe Churche and Congregation at Geneva, to be the Ministery there,^ w*^ the daye and the yere when they were chosen and elected, — here followinge may plainely appere. that is to say. A'^ 1555. The first of NoveV A*' 1555, when the Churche was erected, then was Christopher Goodman and Anthony Gilby appointed to preche the word of God and mynyster the Sacraments, in th' absence of John Knox. ^ Dr. Lawrence Humfrey, Regius Professor of Divinity, President of Magdalen College, Oxford. He obtained leave in June, 1555, to travel for one year, and went to Zurich, and left that place for Geneva in 1558. In 1570 he was made Dean of Gloucester, and in 1580 Dean of Winchester. He was a great and general scholar, an able linguist, and a deep divine. He wrote the life of his friend and fellow exile Bishop Jewell, and died in 1589, set 63.— Wood's Athen. Oxon., vol. i. See the Register of St. Peter in the East, Oxford, for the baptism of his children. He left Zurich for Geneva, and maintained himself by " the setting forth of his three books, de Nohilitate, which he entituled Optimates, as by translating Philo de Nohilitate and Origen de recta fide, out of Greek." — Fuller, p. 36. 2 We do not find in this Register any notice of " that never to be forgotten bene- factor of the country Melville, who arrived as a humble pedestrian, with his Hebrew Bible in his belt, an unbefriended scholar, yet no beggar, for he had money in his purse, and a letter to Master Beza in his pocket, in whose society and under whose patronage he spent five years of study and service, accumulating stores of secular and theological learning. What Sabbaths those must have been in Geneva, when Knox and Calvin preached, and when Beza and Melville laying aside their 'pleasant dalliance with the Mvses.' would meet to refresh each other's minds with high converse about the things of God an^hie Church !" — Characters of the Meformation. LIVRE DES ANGLOIS. 283 The 16 of Decembr 1555, then the whole congregation did electe Willm Willms and Willm Whitingham to be Seniors ; John Staunton and Christopher Seburne a? Plumer to be Deacons. A° 1556. The 16 of Decembr. 1556. when ye first yere was ended, then the whole congregation did elect and chnse John Knox and Christopher Goodman to be Ministers; Anthony Gilby Willin Willins Willm Whitingham Willm Ffuller to be Seniores ; Francis Withers Willm Beauvoir and John Staunton to be Deacons. A° 1557. The 16 of Decembr 1557, when the secund yere was ended, the Congregation did elect and chose John Knox and Christopher Goodman still to continue the Ministers ; Anthony Gilby, John Bodlegh, Wm Willins, Thomas Wood to be Senyores; John Pullaine, Francis Withers, Willm Beauvoir, and Willm Ffuller to be Deacons. A« 1558. The 16 of Decembr 1558, when the said yere was ended, the Congregation did elect these, John Knoxe and Christopher Goodman still to continue the ministers ; Miles Coverdalle,^ John Bodleighe, Willin Willms, Anthony Gilbe to be the Seniors ; Francis Willis, Peter Willis, Willin Beauvoyr, Willm Whitingham to be the Deacons. The names of all the childeren that have bene baptised in the Englishe Churche and Congregation in Geneva from tyme to tyme * Bishop of Exeter in 1551. Was ejected from that See, on the accession of Mary, and thrown into prison, from which he was released at the request of the King of Denmark ; Coverdale, and John Macabeus chaplain to that Monarch, had married sisters. He joined the exiles at Geneva, and assisted in the Translation of the Bible. At Mary's death, he returned to England, and was collated to the Eectory of St. Magnus, London Bridge. Buried February 19, 1568, in the Chancel of the Church of St. Bartholomew, Exchange (vide Stow for his Monument). He died at a great age; Strype in noticing the occurrences in 1558, says, "November 12, old Miles Coverdale preached at the Cross." Fuller says, " Call to remembrance who hazarded his life with that old Honorable Earl of Bedford, when, as he was sent to subdue the Popish Eebels of the West, you shall find that none of the Clergy were hasty to take that service in hand, but only old Father Coverdale." * 284 LIVRE DES ANGLOIS. since therection of the said Church. Also the names and surnames of the Fathers and Godfathers, together w* the daye and yere when every of them were baptised : hereafter following may plainely appeare, that is : A** 1556. The 4 of January. John Stafford the Sonne of Willm Stafford, Knight, John Calvin^ being the godfather. 31 of Marche. Ruthe, the daughter of Anthony Gilby, Thomas Wood being the godfather. 5 of Maye. Jane the daughter of Willm Jackson, Wilhn Willms being the godfather. Bethony, the daughter of James Yonge, Anthony Gilby being godfather. A« 1557. 16 of January. John, the sonne of John Hollinghara, John Knox being the godfather. 7 of Aprill. Sarah, the daughter of Thomas Hancock, Anthony Gilby being the Godfather. 23 of Maye. Nathaniell, the sonne of John Knox, Willm Whitingham the Godfather. 14 of August. John, the sonne of Frauncis Withers, Christopher Goodman being the Godfather. 17 of August. Zacharie, the sonne of Willm Whitingham, Willm Willms being the Godfather. Zacharie, the sonne of John Bodleigh, Augustyne Brade- bridge being the godfather. A" 1558. May 1558. Ruthe, the daughter of Anthony Gilby, Willm Whitingham godfather. Nanny, the daughter of Peter Willies, John Knox the godfather. July 29. Isaac, the son of Jhan PuUan, Christopher Goodman godfather. ^ One of the chief Reformers of the Church, born at Noyon, in Picardy, 10 July, 1509. Appointed Minister and Professor of Divinity at Geneva, in 1536. Died 27th May, 1564. In 1556, a dispute took place before the Council, and is recorded in their Minutes, between Dorothy, Widow of Sir William Stafford, and Robert Stafford, her brother, and John Calvin. Calvin claimed the Guardianship of his Child as his Bap- tismal Godfather ; and the Council decided in favour of the claim. Robert Stafford, afterwards threatened, that if his sister-in-law and the children of Sir William were not suffered to leave Geneva, to apply to the English Government to take similar steps against Genevese Merchants in England. LIVRE DES ANGLOIS. 285 August 25. Zacary, the son of Jhan Stubs, Jhon Bodleigh godfather. Nov. 29. Eleezer,! the son of Jhon Knox, minister, Miles Coverdal witnesse. December 11. Susannah, doghter of WylliamWhittingham, Christopher Goodman witnesse. January 23. Susannah, doghter of Daniell, Jhon Bodleigh witnesse. The names of all soche persons as have bene coupled togither by marriage w° the Englishe Churche and congregation in Geneva from tyme to tyme since the erection of the same Churche & the names of those men that presente the women to the Churche, And also* the daye and the yere when every sutche mariage was made, as here following may plainely appeare that is to say : — A** 1556. February 24. Jane Stafford al* Willin3 widowe, was then maried unto Maximilian Celsus the Italian precher. Sir John Burtwick, Knight and Jane Bonespoir of Britagne were then maried togither. Novembre 15. Willm Whitingham of Chester in England and Katheryne Jaquemayne of Orleaunce in Fraunce were then maried. Decembre 22. John Stubbes of Coventrie, and Mary Garton of A° 1557. Thomas Spenser of Wroghton in Wilteshire, and Ales Agar of Colchester widowe. Thomas Bentham of Sherburne in the County of Yorke, and Mawde Fawcon of Hadley in the County of Suffolk. Willm Cole of Grantham in the County of Lincolne^ and Jane Agar daughter of the said Ales Agar, widowe. A« 1558. January 30. Richard Amondesham of Heston in the County of ..... . and Elenor of Totnesse in Devoneshere. Aprill 10. John Dawes of Tunbridge in the County of Kent, and Marie Malet of Diepe in Normandie. ^ An Eleazer Knox appear^s Vicar of Clacton Magna in 1587. — Newcourt's Mep. 286 LIVRE DES ANGLOIS. The names of all socUe of the Englishe Congregation in Geneva, as have bene buried there from tyme to tyme, synce the erection of the Churche togither w' the names of their husbondes or parents, or masters, yf they had any there. And also the daye and the yere of their buriall, as here following it may plainely appere, that is to say : — A° 1556. Marche 7. James servant to Sir Willm Stafford, Knight. May 5. Sir Willni Stafford Knight. Daniel the sonne of John HoUingham. A° 1557. Feb. 26. Jane Stafford a? Willm 3, al« the Countesse, being wife to Maximilian Celsus, the Italian precher, called the Countie. May 12. Anne, the doughter of Anne Locke, and Harry Locke her husband. May 26. Bethony, the doughter of James Yonge. June 1. John, the sonne of John HoUingham. Octob' 7. Ruthe, the doughter of Anthony Gilby. A° 1558. February 1. Joice Butler, the wife of Willm FfuUer. August 16. William Gibson, husband to Septemb: 3. Faythe PuUane doughter to Jhon Pullance, wife.O Septemb^ 20. Kichard Amondesham, husband to Elenor. Octobr 10. 2 Children of Cornelius Sprons and Margery his wiffe bothe borne at a byrth, th on alyve, and th other ded borne, both unchristened. October 26. Susan daghter to Jhon Baron. A« Dni 1559. April 29. Erkewalde Rawlins. ^ A° Dni. 1560. April 12. Susan the daughter of Willm Whitingham. * Sic in Grig. Fuller says, " after PuUain's death, fell out a controversy among his relations for his estate, under pretence that his children were illegitimate, because he had taken to him a wife in King Edward's Eeign." 2 Rawlins — Bradford the Martyr writes thus to " Erkinwalde Rawlins " and his wife, " Go to, therefore, dispose your goods, prepare yourselves to trial, that either y e may stand to it like God's Champions, or else if ye feel such infirmity in yourselves that be not able, give place to violence, and go where you may with free and safe con- science, serve the Lord.'.' — Fathers^ of the Churchy p. 60. INDEX TO LIVRE DES ANGLOIS. Agar, Ales, 281, 285. Johan ? her daughters Priscilla S 285. Thomas, her son Amondesham, Richd., 276, 286. Eleanor, his wife, 285. Will«>, 276. Arbott, Nicholas, 282. Argall, Law<^^ 278. Baker, John, 281 . Baron, John, 274. Susan, his daughter, 286. Beauvoir, W^, 276, 283. Beaumont, Rob', 277. Bentham, Thos, 281, 285. Maud, 285. Blackman, Rob*, 282. Bodleigh, John, 280, 283, 285. Joan, his wife, Thomas ^ J°J;^, Uis sons, 284. Zacharie J Prothese, his daughter Bodleigh, Nicholas, 280. Boggens, John, 280. Bolton, John, 279. Bonespoir, Jane, 285. Brodebreche, Augustyn, 280, 284. Broughton, Ales, 278. Burtwicke, Sir John, 278, 285. Jane, his wife Butler, Joice, 286. Calvin, John, 284. Caryer Anthony, 281. Celsu8Maximilian,285,286. Chrispe, Richard, 278. Chambres, William, 281. Cole, WiUiam, 281, 285. Johan, his wife, 285. CoUyn, John, 281. Cotes, Will™, 282. Coverdale, Miles, 283, 285. Crofton, Thomas, 275. Daniel, John 281. his wife his sons Susanna, his daughter, 285. Dawes, John, 285. Marie, his wife Dransfeld, Roger, 280. Dunce, Harry, 276. East, Richard, 281. Fawcon, Maud, 281, 285. Ferrar, John, 278. Feilde, Robert, 281. Rose, his wife Folgeham, Nicholas, 278. Foster, Mrs. als Sandes Fuller, William, 278, 283, 286. _ Joice, his wife Garton, Mary, 285. Gawton, Richard, 278. Marie, 278. Gibbens, Richard, 281. Gibson, (William), 281, 286. his wife his daughter Gilby, Anthony, 275, 282, 284. Elizabeth, his wife Goddred, their son Ruthe ") their daughters Ruthe i 284, 286. Gill, Michael, 276. Goodman, Christr, 274,275, 282, 284, 285. Hall, Rowland, 278. Hancock, Thomas, 278. his wife Gideon, his son Sarah, his daughter, 284. Harrison, Richard, 278. Harvye, Nicholas, 276. Hawkes, Peter, 281. Hilliarde, Nicholas, 280. Hilton, John, 275. Hollingham, John, 275. Elene, his wife Daniel ") his sons, 284, John j 286. HoUday, Adam, 279. Houghton, John, 278. Humfrey, Lawrence, 282. Hurdeson, Barnard, 281. Jackson, Will™, 275. •Parneil, his wife his sons Jackson, WiUm.- Will" ) Andrew ) Margery '\ Judith > his daughters Jane ) 284. James, Arthur, servant, 276 . James, John, 280. Jaqueraayne, Katheryne, 285. Jhones, Thomas, 280. Johns, Thomas, 281. Johnson, WilHam, 282. Kellye, John, a page, 278. Kente, Lawrence, 282. WiUiam, his son Elene, his daughter Kethe, William, 279. his wife Knelle, Thomas, 281. Knolles, Thomas senr., 277, 280. his wife Michael ") , . Nicholas ] ^^^ Knolles, James, 279. KnoUes, Thomas^ 275. Johan, his wife Knox, John, 274, 278, 282, 284. Margery, his wife, 278. (Elizabeth, her mother), 278. (James, a servant), 278. (Patrick, a pupil), 278, Nathaniel ") hi3sons,284, Eleazer } 285. Lange, Peter, 278. Langeley, Thomas, 278. Lelande, Harrye, 281. Lever, Thomas, 276. Linsey, David, 282. Locke, Harry, 280, 286. Anne, his wife, 280. Harrie, her son Anne, her daughter, 286. (Kath^ her maid) Malet, Marie, 285. Matson, John, 275. Mansfielde, John, 281. Miere, Anthony, 278. Morley, Will™, 281. Mosgrave, Thomas, 281. 288 INDEX. Newton, Theodore, 278. Pellam, John, 281. Pigeon, John, 276. Pilkington, James, 277. Plummer, Christ', 275, 283. Ponee, John, 275. Potter, Rich 274, Jane, his wife ^ 275, 283, 284. Jane, als Stafford, 286. Withers, Francis, 278, 283. his wife John, his son, 284. Withers, Harry, 279. Withers, Stephen, 279. Wood, Thomas, 275, 283, 284. Anne, his wife Deborah his daughter Wyburne, Percivall, 280. Yonge, James, 278. Anne, his wife Bethony, his daughter, 284, 286. Yonge, John, 279. INDEX, A. Act, 52nd Geo, III., remarks on, 35. Acts, Canons, &c., 17 to 39, 111. Age, ancient proof of, 11. Aged persons, 128, 129, 131. Alterations in Registers, 262. Ambassadors' Chapel Registers, 224, 235. Ann, Queen, at Harborough, 176. Anstruther, Register, 76. Aquavity-man, 123. Arms emblazoned in Register, 197. Archer, a great, burial of, 135. Attorney General, and Oldham, 249. Athens, Registers at, 2. Birth, three at one, 90. four, 106. after burial, 113. affidavit of, 250. in matrimonio, 85. " Births " mentioned in Rose's Act, 35. Baptisms, Registers of, 72, 76, 77. Rebellion, about, 8, 19 note. by Romish Church, 83. feasting at, 74, 75. Gossips at, 75. Sermons at, 75. • Irish custom, at, 93. Money given at, 75, in the Font, 90, 92. on Mothers' Coffin, 224. by Lay persons, 88. by Midwives, 88. by mistake, 89, 106. by Common Prayer Book, 81. before the Reformation, 10, 73. tax on, 30, 34, 83. — refused, 76. — of 26th child, 82. — form of entry proposed, 265. Barbadoes Register, 237, 247. Bay ley, Mr. Justice, on Parish Registers. Bathurst, Thomas, burial of, 132. Beadsman, buried, 110. Beans, Registry by, 4. Beacons fired in 1643, 194. Best, Mr. Justice, on Parish Regs., 248. Banns forbidden, 168, ^ Barracks, Registers at, 78. Bells, Baptism of, 75. new- cast, 187. Lottery for, 7. Betrothal, 132., See Sponsalia. Beverley, curious Register, 188. Bigland— See Ralpha, on Parish Regs., 77. Bill for a Treasure House, 19. Birds nesting, 214. Birth, entry of, 78. not evidence, 263, 264. proof for Insurance, 250. neither by Land or Sea, 187. Births, registered at Heralds College, 76. Bermondsey Register, 180. Bishops' Transcripts, 199. 1 ordered in 1597, 22. ditto 1603, 24. Tables of, 202, 3. . evidence of,199,252. state of, 201. at Litchfield, 204. Dr.Prideauxon,200 Record Commis- sioners on, 200. stall, 207. Postage, 207. Postage, 207. 208. and Burials, 205. 1784, 204. ■ in London, 201. ■ at Lincoln, 204. • uses of, 205. ■ bought at a book- • formerly free of ■ how directed, 207. ■ now chargable with •expense of making, -now only Baptisms - Pamphlet on, in Indexes, 207. Schedule of, 1800. 202. in, 262. Peace, 28. Office, 207. sion, 210. ditto, 1831, 203 use of word, "ditto" sent to Clerk of burnt at the Post ■ Fees on transmis- 19 290 INDEX. Bishops' Transcripts, Amendments pro- posed in 1830, 209. Enactments sed in 1830, 210. propo- ■ evidence of, objected to, 252. Blackstone on the Marriage Act, 33. Books to be kept in Parishes, 11. Black Dog of Bungay, 116. Boys Flogged at Perambulations, 175. Births of, 182. Bonesetter, a, buried, 104. Brentford Fight, 108, 135. Bride-gear, notice of, 167. Briefs in Churches. for St. Pauls, 212. for a Theatre, 178. - Lists of, 227. British Museum, Registers at, 46. Bull, Parish, kept, 193. Burials, Registers of, 97, 100. temp. Edw. III., 11. entered in Missals, 11. right of, 185, 189. in Churches, 98. in fields. 111. — '^- — in cities, 99. unconsecrated ground, 114. north side of church, 107. — of heart and bowels, 110, 102. by women, 114. by soldiers, 106. in white, 127. in woollens, 29, 117. in a coffin, 100, 129. without coffin, 198. ■ — entertainment at, 109. — — — curious entries at Staplehurst, 134. prohibited in Metropolis, 100. out of deceased's parish, 123. of one on presumption of murder, 120. tax on, 30, 34, 111. Burials, Monuments, 100. of Exeommunicants, 104, 107. of Criminals, 104, 108, 110, 130, 136. evidence of, 229. proposed form of entry, 266. Bunhill Fields, Burial Register, 232. Burrows, Dr., on Parish Registers, 249. Burnt, a woman, 104. Bishop, only one made, Report, 209. €. C. in Registers denotes a Child. Calvin, John, at Geneva, 284. Caul Child s, 89. Canons in 1597, 160?,' 22, 23. Canterbury Transcripts, 207- Cavendish's Pilot, 160. Catliolics and Protestants, Reg. of, 61. Registers, 235. Chgpels, Marriages at, 146. list of, 147. Charles I., at Brewton, 183. at Beverley, 188. at Bishop Auckland, 184. beheaded, 190. Charles II., Marriage of, 161. notices of, 195. Charms used, 220, 228. Claatham Register. dispute at, 63. Child given away by Parents, 198. of God, 94, 133. Children whipped according to Law, 189. forty of one Father, 159. Chelsea Hospital Register, 151. Chapel Royal Registers, 148, 183, 151. China, Registers in, 240. Chrisom, burial of, 127, 133. Christenings, Wine and Wafers at, 74. Apostle spoons at, 75. Money presents, 75. Church, absentees from, 184. Key, figure of, 182. Drawing in Poker, given to, 189. Steeple, pastimes on, 178. Churchyards, burials in, 98. North side of, 107. Churchings, Registers of, 197. Sermon at, 197. Custom at, 197. Cirencester, Skirmish at, 135. Claret burnt, at Funerals, 109. ' blew,' drank at Durham, 194. Clapham Register found, 46. Clergyman liable to information, 261. Farewell of, 182. his two texts, 198. Commission, Royal, in 1583, 20. Communion, first, in 1549, 197. Communion Table railed in, 196. Communicants at Hillingdon, 186. Corn, prices of, 195, 197. College of Arms, Register, 77. Clerk of Peace, to keep a Register, 28. Counsels Fee in 1605, 177. Copies of Registers, 267, 253. evidence, 253. for Bishops (see Bishops). Corpus Christi play, 7. Cowley's burial, 104. Cromwell's (Lord) Injunction, 5. - Oliver's, Act, 25, 52, 156, 161, 177. verses on, 163. Registrars, 175. INDEX. !^91 Cromwell, Marriage of, 162. Daughter's, Marriage, 160. Curious Eegister at Staplehurst, 93, 133. ■ at Sea Salter, 95, 166. Crabbe's " Parish Eegister," a Poem, 79. *' Creatura Christi," what, 94, 133. " Creature," children named, 93, 132, 134- 165. Customs Parish, entered in Reg., 178. D. Dancing Master in 1620, 105. Day Book, see Waste Book. Dedication of Church, 174. Diseases mentioned in Registers, 127, 249. Dissenters Register, 224. Marriages, ante 1754, 224. Registers in 1784, 34. ■ Lord Nugent's Notice, 231. Commission for inquiring into, 243. " Ditto," use of word, 262. Dark Days, what, 192. Doe ex dem Orrell v. Madox, 259. Dog Whipper, 130. Dowsing, William, 101. Drake v. Smyth. Dublin, Registers in, 236. Dumb Person, Marriage of, 159. ■ a fortune teller, 128. Dwarf, buried, 122. Dutch, at Sandwich, 77. Drought, great, 192. E. Earthquakes, 198, 227. Eastwell, Register, 136. East Indies, Registers in, 238. Act for, 239. Edgcumb, Sir Piers, letter to Cromwell, 9. Edinburgh, Registers in, 218. Edward VI., his Injunction, 18. Egyptians, see Gipsies. Eclipse in 1699, 192. see Dark Days, 192. " Edwin and Emma" Mallett'sBallad,130. Elizabeth, Queen, at Frocester, l7l. her death, 120. her Injunction, 19. Commission, 20. Constitution, 22. Epitaphs, 245. Elsworth, Register, 12, 13. Embalmed body, 104. English abroad, see Foreign. Excommuuicants, 107, 176. burial of, 107, 181,117, 116, 114. Excommuuicants, Church, interdicted, 117. Executions, 136. Exiles in 1555, 241, 270. Exeter Coach accident, 126. Essex's Rebellion, 124. F. Falconer, a, buried, 131. Farming Implements, valuation of. Faws, King of the, 124. Fees for searches and extracts, 244. now settled, 246. case relating to, 246. Fidler, buried, 127. Fingers and Toes, 24, 86. Fines for neglecting Registers, 20. Fire of London, 87. at Lewisham Church, 52. Fleet Marriages, 152. Registers, 148. not evidence, 250. curious extracts from, 152. Parson, 155. verses on, 155. Flesh eating in Lent, 171-2-3. Flood at Framlingham, 186. Forgery in Registers, 251, 253. Foreign Parts, Marriage, &c. in, 222, 240. Fortune tellers, 128. Foundlings, baptism of, 78, 79, 80. Hospital Registers, 147, 243. France, Registers in, 3, 231, 259, 260. in 1308, 3. French Refugees, 243. Funeral Solemnities, 105, Sermon, 109. 109, 111, 120. Fools, burial of, 106, 108. Foreign Refugees in England, 243. a. Geneva Exiles, Register of, 241, 271. General Register OfBce, 39. Act, 39. General observations, 256. Gipsies, baptism of, 83, 92. burial of, 123. hanged, 193. Act against, 193. Girdle, children under, 85. Glass-works at Newcastle, 87. Gloves, &c. at Funerals, 109. Godfathers and Godmothers, 3, 75, 90, 92, 94. Goodworth Clatford Register, 12. Gretna Green Marriages, 221, 252. Guernsey, Marriages at, 221. Gossips at Baptisms, 75. 292 'Greenwich Hospital Register, 147, 152. Gunpowder, persons blown up, 128. " Great Light " in 1719, 226. H. Hale V. Hale, case of, 54. Hanged and Quartered, 136. Heart, burial of, 110. Heralds College, see College of Arms, 77. Hermit buried, 111. Holmes, Wiffred, his rare Tract, 8. Hospital Registers, 78, 146, 147, 151. Huet V. Le Mesurier, case of, 199. Hume on early Registers, 4. Harfield, Marriage at, 146. Housling people, 214. I. Injunctions for Registers, 17. Idiots, notice of, 112, 122. Informer, burial of, 105. Inhabitants, see Parishioners. Illegitimate children, 83. modes of Registering, 83, 86. • how legitimated, 85. Indexes, 86, 262. Innocent, a, burial of, 112. Ireland, Registers in, 223, 236-7. Iron Chests for Registers, 62. Jack Ketch, burial of, 135. James I. at Fordham, l7l. at Whorescrosse, 181. at Derby, 187. hunting, 115, James II. washes the feet of poor men, 184. Jesson V. Brewer, case of, 51. Jews, Registers of, 224, 241. Jerusalem, Register at, 2. Keiths, May Fair Marriages, 156. Kennett, Bishop, on Parish Registers, 257. Keys of Church, 182. King's Evil, 179. < — Registry for, 179. Dr. Johnson touched for, 180. form of touch, 180. King V. North Petherton, case of, 249. Knox, John, at Geneva, 273. Know thy Master, 177. Lambs Chapel Marriages, 146, 150. Lay Registrars appointed, 26. Latin used in Registers, 61. abolished in Bcmie Records, 61. Leader v. Barry, case of, 252. INDEX. Lent, keeping of, 171-2-3. Leigh Peerage case, 206. Lewisham Church Registers destroyed, 52, 207. Licence to eat Fle^^h, see Lent. Lincoln's Inn Chapel Marriages, 146. 149. Linger, wild, a, 106. Lioness exhibited in 1579, 112. Liber Status Animarum, 11, 212. Lincoln's Inn Register, 149. Lists of Parishioners, 212, 214. Registers for Bishops, 15. Government, 15, 35. Clerk of Peace, 28. Lloyd V. Passingham, case of, 251. London, Plague, see Plague. Transcripts, 201. Longevity, assumed by Registers, 65. Lottery for casting Bells, 7. Lutenist, buried, 129. M. Males, birth of, 182. Marine Register, 222. Maidstone Register, 263. fight, 131. Mallet's " Edwin & Emma," 130. Marriage, Registers of, 138. Clandestine, 145. at Lawless Churches, 145, 146. Lauds, opposition to, 145. the Fleet, 145, 152. in Chapels, 146. Royal, 148. beyond Seas, 240. tax on, 30, 34, 163. legalized by Acts of Parliament, 29, 32, 33. by Parish Clerk, 160. by Justices, 26, 156, 161, 162. Jeu d'esprit thereon, 163. Lord Hardwick's Act, 32. neither bylaw or licence, 157. • of paupers, 163. under the gallows, 154. of prisoners, 161. in a shift, 153, 154, 167. and vulgar error of, 154. rings at, 140, 142, 156, 167. ' with a curtain ring, 156. rush rings, 143, 154. fictitious names at, 165. Sacrament at, 158. Sermon at, 158. Bride gear, 167. Garland, 167. Kissing Priest at, 159. breaking biscuit at, 154. Gold given at, 167. Money at, 164. INDEX. 293 Marriages, Eosemary at, 158. customs at, 159, 164. collections at, 163. second time, 181. times prohibited for, 158. times lucky for, 139. proverb on, 165. to a dame, 167. by dumb man, 159. certificate of, 244. espousals, 138. betrothal, 138, 140. secret, at the Fleet, 155. to husband's brother, 122. in (1492), entry of, 168. ■■ proposed form of entry, 266. by Dissenters, 224, 226. Mary, Queen, Proclaimed, 196. Marine Kegister, 222. Marlborough's Victory 1706, 226. Martyr, burnt, 136. Mercers' Chapel Register, 150. Meteor, a, 226, 227. May V. May, case of, 64. May Fair Marriages, 156. Mint Registers, 148. Miscellaneous entries in Registers, 170. , Milton's Baptism, 87. Minstrel, buried, 123. Midwife, oath by, 89. Baptism by, 88, 89. Mistakes, rectifying in Registers, 262. Monumental Inscriptions, 100, 211. formerly taken up, 101. at Society of Antiquaries, 255. Monstrous Birth, 91. Mortuaries taken, 112, 115. abolished, 113. Missals, used for registering, 11, 257. Monuments, for the dead, excepted 1643, 103. Muster, great, at Durham, 173. N. Navy Office Register, 250. Names, Christian, 72. changed at Confirmation, 73. double, 73, 80. given after Saints, 78. of Foundlings, 78. fictitious, at Marriage, 165. same, to two sons, 74, 196. Nativities, casting of, 80. Newcastle Glass Works, 87. Newton's Baptism, 91. Newgate Prison, Marriages, 14 Newham v. Raithby, case of, 2; Nicholson, Bishop of Carlisle, oh Parish Registers, 259. Nokes V. Milward, case of, 252. Non-Parochial Registers, 224. Commission for inquiring into, 1836, 242. ditto 1857, 243. Northey v. Cook, 252. North, Rev. George, on Parish Registers, 256. Northamptonshire Registers, 59. Nun, burial of, 123. Notes, practice of keeping, 50. in pencil, 50. see Waste Book. New acquaintance, what, 177, 128. Sickness, 128. O. Obsequies, see Funeral. Origin of Parish Registers, 1, 15. Oldham and Eborall, case of, 252. P. Palgrave, Sir P. F., on Registers, 4. Paper and Parchment, 24, 28, 63. Paper Trade benefited by burial in woollen, 29. Papists, burial of, 114. Parish Registees. — Origin of, 1, 15. Early ones, 5, 12. Lists of, 16. At Florence, 4. By Beans, 4. Of Births, 27, 34, 35. Baptisms, 72. Burials, 97. Marriages, 138. Of Espousals, 144. On Rolls, 55. To be kept by Clerk of Peace, 28. Acts of Parliament for, 17. To collect the Tax on Baptisms, &e. 31. Preservation of, 40. Miscellaneous entries, 170. Utility of, 248. Bishops' Transcripts of, 199. Copied, 91, 227, 268. Curious entries, 166. Burnt by Spaniards, 41. Destroyed by Soldiers, 41. By Fire, 50, 52. Leaves cut out, 40, 43. Sold as waste paper, 42, 46. Made into book covers, 56. Used for singeing a goose, 58. Forgery in, 52, 251. Chief justice Glyu on, 52. 294 INDEX, Paeish "RegisteeS. — continued. Stolen by Clerk, 45, 49. Eestored to Church, 46, 47. Sold by Auction, 46. Evidence of, 253. Evidence in House of Lords, 253. Ancient, now disappearing, 267. Proposals for copying, printing, or depositing, 267. Parliamentary Committee on, 43. Parish Register Abstract, Parliamentary, 15. Parish Clerk should not be a witness, 266. . Clerks' Company, searches by, 260. Parish Poor, Register of children, 79. Parishioners, lists of, 194, 212, 214. Parlthorpe, early Register, 12. Paternoster Row Register, 230. Paul's Chain, duels at, 124. Penalty in Mr. Rose's Act, 204. Penance in Church, 176, 188, 196. Petrarque, Vie de, 3. Pews, property in, 176. Pirates, prisoners taken by, 176. Perambulation, Parish, 175. boys flogged at, 176. Philip, King, landed, 196. Plague, noticed in Register, 106, 111, 112, 118, 119, 120, 131, 137, 178, 183, 187, 195. names given to, 174, 177. Plantagenet, Richard, burial of, 136. Pole, Cardinal, order for reconciliation, 61. Population,compiledfromParish Register, 249. Posting sweat, what, 177. Pocket Book of Fleet Parsons, 152. Preservation of Registers, 40. Prideaux, Dr., on Parish Registers, 200. Prisoner married, 161. Price V. Littlewood, case of. Prize fighter in 1725, 93. Prohibition, curious, 158. Prophetess, burial of, 110. Protestation Vow and Covenant, 214. Protestants abroad, 240. Protestants, French, in England, 243. their excellent Regis- ters, 269. Pytt, William, "a noble warrior," 93. Q. Quakers, Registers of, 224, 233. forms of entries, 233. tombstones not used by, 234. burial Register, formerly made evidence, 229. now made legal evidence, 243. Quarrels made up and. registered, 186. Queen of Scots, burial of, 130 Queen Elizabeth at Frocester, 171. Mary proclaimed, 196. Ann at Harborough, 176. R. Raby Castle, siege of, 107. Recantation, entered in Register, 183. Registers (see also Parish). : searches in, 244, 260. at Workhouses, Barracks, &c. in East Indies, 79, 238. in West Indies, 224, 237. of Dissenters, 224. Roman CathoHc, 224. Jews, 224. French Protestants in England, 243. 271. of Marriages abroad, 240. of the Exiles in G-eneva, 1555, ofpersons reconciled inl555, 61. touched for King's Evil, 179. directed by Rom. Ritual to be kept, 212 kept at the Fleet Prison, 152. May Fair, 156. the Mint, 148. King's Bench Prison, 147. non-parochial Chapels, 146. Workhouse, 79. Hospitals, 78. Bunhill Fields, 232. .^ Cemeteries, 266. at the Bishop of London's Registry, 240. at the Herald's College, 77. at Ambassadors' Chapels, 240. Westminster Abbey, 151. St. Paul's Cathedral, 146. at Redcross Street Library, 228. at Wesleyan Registry, 230. ofpersons taking Sanctuary, 10. of persons absolved, 61. • omitted, to save tax, 43. printed, 227, 268. utility of, 248. Register General Office, 242. Read v. Passer, case of, 251. Rector fined for losing Register, 59. Records, Commissioners' Report on Re- gisters, 242. Red Cross Street Registers, 228. Recantation in Chapel Royal, 183. Registration Commissioners, 243. Rippon's, Mr., Collections, 232. Rodmarton Register, 174, 184. Rolls, Registers on, 55. Rome, Registers at, 2. Roman Catholic Registers, 224, 235. Ritual, 11. INDEX. 295 Rosemary at Weddings and Funerals, 158. Rose's, Mr. George, Act, 35. History of Act, 35. Rotterdam Register, 241. Rush Rings, 143, 154. Royal Marriages, 148. Russia, Registers in, 240. Sanctuary, Register of persons taking, 10. Sandwich Church, falls in, 191. Saltpetre man, burial of, 129. described, 129. Scotland, Registers in, 215. Registers in Edinburgh, 218. Registration refused, but fees paid, 217. Extracts, 219. New Act, 222. Turnbull's Yol. on, 222. Seton's ditto. Marine Registration, 222. Sea Salter Register, curious, 95, 166. Searches in Registers, 244. •- Fees for, 244. by Parish Clerks' Company, 260. Sermons at Marriages, 158. Churchings, 197. Serpent, Monstrous, 194. Seventh Son, touching by, 228. Sieve, turning the, 228. (Siamese) twins, 88, 183. Singing man, burial of, 130. Smock or shift, marriage in, 153, 154, 167. Snow Storms, 186, 191-2. Soldier, a woman, 82. Soldiers, burial of, 106, 107, 108, 112, 114, 116, 119, 120, 135. two killed by drink, 112. Southgate Chapel Register, 180. Somerset House Register, 147, 148. Spain, Registers in, 3. Spanish Armada, 185. and Van Tromp, 186. Spanish family settled here, 133. Sponsalia, 139. — See Marriage. Staplehurst Register, curious, 93. Stag, taken by a horse, 193. Steele v. Williams, case of, 246. St. James's, Garlick Hythe, early Register, 12, 14. Duke's Place, 146, Rector suspended, 146. St. Peter in the East, Oxford, 133. St. Paul's Cathedral, Marriages prohibi- ted, 32, 146. Star, a blazing, 185. • Stocks, sitting in, 194. Stoke Hammond Register, 12. Storms, 116, 173, 175, 181, 184, 185. Stamp Duty on Baptisms, &c., 34. Certificates, 244. Stope gallant, what, 177. Swat the, what, 177. Sun, a parhelion about, 185. T. Tabernacles, what, 47. Marriage at, 157. Taylor exparte, case of, 230. Tax on Baptisms, &c., 30, 34. — extended to Dissenters, 34. — burial in linen, 29. Tesselated pavement discovered, 184. Theatre, Brief for, 178. Temple Register, 108. Titles of Registers, 65. Tombstones, removal of, 101, 255. inscriptions, 100, 211, 254. collected by Society of An- tiquaries, 255. Tower, Marriages at, 145. King's Free Chapel, 145. Transcripts. — See Bishops' Transcripts. of old Registers recommen- ded, 267. Traitors hanged, 136. Trines baptized, 90. Twins baptized, 80. TurnbuU on Scotch Registers, 222. Twins (Siamese), 88. Trinity Minories, Marriages at, 146. Translators, buried, 127. U. Undertakers, origin of, 109. Unconsecrated Ground, burial in, 104, 107. Utility of Registers, 248. V. Vellutello on Registers in France, 3. Visitation, 119, and see Plague. Articles of, 19. Virginal Master, 92. Vow and Covenant, 214. W. Wal pole's amusing Letters on Marriage Acts, 32. Warren v. Bray. Waste-book, decision respecting, 51, 64, 261. Water at baptism, 89. not damask, 89. Watts the Martyr, widow, buried, 115. Way-goer, child of, 95, 96. 296 INDEX. Way-farers charged with mortuariies, 112. Westminster Abbey Eegister, 151, 104. Marriages prohibited there, 32, 146. West Indies Register, 224, 237. Evidence of, 238. Wesleyan Registers, 230, 243. Wedding Sermon, 158. -^ Ring, 140, 142, 156, 197. Gifts, 164. Whitelock, Bulstrode, 135, 162. West Thorn ey Register, 12. West Clandon Register, 12, 13. Widows and Widowers at Worldham, 195. WiUiam III. landed, 190. WiUiam and Mary proclaimed, 190. Wise man, buried, 130. Witches, 119, 125, 127. many executed for, 125. Wihen v. Law, case of, 263. Weather of 1615, 191. Whipping of Vagrants, 189, 194. Whipt, Man, for marrying Spiritual Sis- ter, 3. Wolverton Register, 12. Woollen, Act for burying in, 29. Woman burnt, 104. a Sexton, 129. a Soldier, 82. Womsn whipt, 189, 194. Workhouse Children, Register for, 79. Wrotham Register, 213. X. Ximines, Cardinal, instituted Registers in Spain, 3. Y. Yard lands in Sussex, 195. Yorkshire Rebellion, 8. Grievances, 8. Printed by T. Piokton, 89, Great Portland Street, Oxford Street, W. '^^TURN TO DESK FRo^ J;^^^ '^ ^° immediate recall. (G4427sl0)476B .General Library LIBRARY USE Mft^«-441tLii«_* 7!SKl^ 'Hb-bm LD 21-100m-7,'33 / • mi- un UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ^ •* ♦ -i ..tf t rl™..»£ff^f^ LIBRARIES co^tosb^ls \M^. ■ v:^^ ^ k-il