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Parish Registers

For centuries, the Church has kept registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. They can very effectively open up a window on the lives of our forebears.

When researching your ancestors, parish registers are of immense value, not just as a record of baptisms, burials and marriages, but also in giving you a tremendous insight into the social history of the area.

Parish registers were first ordered to be kept in Spain in 1497. It wasn't until 1538, however, that parish registers reached the British Isles. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's Vicar-General, decided that formal records should be kept in England and Wales, his main reasons being to provide evidence for inheritance purposes, to prevent forbidden marriages (e.g. incestuous) and to calculate the population for tax purposes.

It was decreed that the registers were to be completed by every Church on a weekly basis. However, the standards of record keeping varied tremendously, depending on who was actually responsible for doing it, leading to considerable variation in the quality of the registers of different churches. From 1597 events were to be recorded in parchment books. Record keeping only really started to improve with Hardwicke's Marriage Act from 1754, which required separate printed books for marriages and the publishing of banns or the production of a marriage licence. Banns, or intentions of marriage, were published for three consecutive Sundays prior to marriage and recorded in a separate banns register. If you are struggling to locate a marriage, check the banns register, as it will give the details of where the marriage actually took place. A marriage licence (actually the allegation or bond - the licence itself rarely survives) can also give you additional information. The allegation will give the full names of parties, residence and marital status. It may also give the couple's ages and the name of the church in which the marriage could take place. Additionally, the bond sometimes gives the groom's profession. Reasons for marrying by licence varied. One was speed - useful for people going abroad or those 'with child'. William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway applied for a licence seven months prior to their first child's christening. Another was confidentiality: you could marry (or re-marry) more discreetly, without the need to publish banns.

Generally, the earlier the register, the less information will be recorded. In the earliest registers, a baptism may record only the father's name. Even into the eighteenth century, it is not uncommon to see baptismal entries as limited as 'John son of William Easingwood'. The recording of mothers' names wasn't commonplace until the late seventeenth century. Where mothers' names are recorded, their maiden name is rarely given, the exception being nonconformist registers and 'Dade' registers. Dade registers of baptisms and burials (mainly for the Diocese of York from 1777-1812) include information on several generations of a family. Details of residence and father's occupation will appear from the early 1700s.

Rose's Act of 1812 extended the use of pre-printed registers to baptisms and burials. For baptisms, these required the name of the child, forenames and (married) surname of the parents, residence and occupation of the father. In addition to the required date of baptism, some ministers helpfully recorded the date of birth or age. Illegitimacy will be clearly indicated by any one of a variety of terms. The name of the reputed father will sometimes be included. Even after 1812, baptismal registers rarely give the mother's maiden name. Burial registers usually only give you the name and age of the deceased, and their residence.

Everything, of course, changed with the introduction of civil registration in 1837.


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