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Breaking Down Brick Walls with the Power of Parish Registers and Associated Sources Celia Heritage Level: Intermediate

Introduction

Parish registers are a vital resource for tracing your family tree before 1837, when civil

registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales was introduced.

Ancestry ProGenealogists’ Celia Heritage will help you plunge the hidden depths of

these records, looking at their strengths and weaknesses, and notably the many

mistakes and omissions that occur. Additionally, Celia will look at ways to tackle these

challenges by using parish registers in tandem with other associated records, such as

non-conformist registers, parish chest records and apprenticeship records as well as

marriage bonds and allegations to help you extend your tree and help find out more

about your ancestors and what their lives were actually like.

What was a Parish?

The Parish was a unit of local administration headed by a clergyman who was

responsible for the moral and physical wellbeing of its inhabitants. By the 14th century

there were about 9,000 parishes in England & Wales and by the 19th century some

12,000. Although primarily responsible for people’s spiritual welfare, the gradual

decline of the manorial system and dissolution of the monasteries meant that by the

later 16th century the parish started taking over many secular functions alongside its

ecclesiastical duties. The 1601 Poor Law Act confirmed the parish as a unit of local

administration. For the genealogist, the records of the parish include not only vital

registers of baptism, marriages and burials but potentially a wealth of other

administration documentation relating to local inhabitants and the running of the

parish on a secular level. These are often known as parish chest records since they

were stored in a large locked chest in the church. Survival rates vary greatly from

parish to parish but these records can often produce vital information about our

families and life they led.

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The Vestry was a more powerful equivalent of today’s local council today and usually

consisted of the more important local inhabitants who made group decisions as to the

running of the parish. Nominally headed by the vicar, the vestry was powerful – and

could make decisions on almost any subject that concerned the parish. It was under

the authority of local Justices of the Peace (JPs) or magistrates who ran the local

quarter and petty session courts and it is always a good idea to also check the records

of these courts in tandem with parish records. These are found at County Record

Offices (CROs) and some are online (Yorkshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire on

Ancestry). The JPs dealt with any disputes between the vestry and the inhabitants or

parishioners not adhering to ‘parish law’, for want of a better word.

In order to carry out the necessary work of administering the parish the vestry needed

the parish officers: churchwarden, overseers of the poor, constables, waywardens and

others. The majority of the parish officers produced records, which were presented to

the vestry at least yearly to check they were in order. It is these that are of great use

to researchers, not just for finding out about ancestors but learning about life in the

parish.

This means of organisation lasted until the Local Government Act of 1894 that

introduced local parish councils. All parish documents, including parish registers, were

stored in the parish chest – now at CROs with a few exceptions where they are still at

the church.

Parish Registers

Understanding the records is key to getting the most from them. There is nothing

difficult about using parish registers in principle but you must search thoroughly and

methodically. There are four significant differences in using parish registers compared

to using birth, marriage and death certificates:

• There is no centralised index for parish registers and therefore, if your family

moved from one parish to another, perhaps some distance away, it will be

harder to locate them. In some cases, you will not be able to find sufficient

evidence to prove categorically that they are the family you are looking for.

• In most cases, entries relating to baptisms, burials and marriages give fewer

details than those in birth, marriage and death certificates. During your initial

research using parish registers you will still be able to make use of details from

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/westyorkshirequartersessions/https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/lancashirequartersession/https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/warwickshireemployment/

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the census returns and GRO marriage and death records to supplement your

knowledge. You will have a good idea from these records of where and when

your ancestor was born. This will be a great help in locating him in the relevant

parish registers. As you research further back in time and your ancestors have

never appeared in any census returns it will become harder to identify them in

the parish registers. In later modules we will look at how to use other sources

to learn more about your family and find data that will confirm the baptism,

marriage or burial you have found is the right one.

• There was no requirement by law for people to baptise their children, to marry

or be buried in the Church of England although there were certainly

advantages in doing so. Also see Non-conformist Registers below.

Parish Registers – The History

From 1538 every church was supposed to keep a book or a register in which baptisms,

marriages and burials were recorded. Although people had been baptised, married

and buried before this, no regular records had been kept. However, relatively few

registers begin in 1538. Cromwell was unpopular and many clergymen did not follow

his orders. Even where the clergyman did comply, many of these very early records

were lost or damaged because the records were either kept on loose leaves of paper

which were easily mislaid or because the quality of the paper books used for recording

was poor.

It was not until 1597 (under Queen Elizabeth) that new legislation improved record

keeping.

• All parishes must provide a parchment book.

• All existing entries in parish registers should be copied into new parchment

books to ensure the information survived. (Bishops’ Transcripts)

• A very small proportion of the original pre-1597 paper parish registers survive

and where they can be compared with the later parchment copies it is

interesting to note that most contain a fair number of transcription and many

extra details were not copied

• Bishops’ Transcripts usually run Easter- Easter

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The Civil War and Interregnum 1642-1660

• Lack of clergymen – no-one to record entries - initially caused by the ejection of

a great many local clergymen from their parishes because they did not agree

with the religious beliefs of the new Puritan government.

• Many babies went unbaptised and couples might have to travel many miles to

find someone to marry them. Some had to wait for the Restoration to have their

marriages solemnised.

• 1653 – ‘The Parish Register’ – not a book but a locally elected civil official. Civil

registration of births, marriages and deaths. All marriages taking place after 29

September 1653 were to be conducted, not by the vicar, but before a Justice of

the Peace. In some cases, old parish registers used but in many a new book was

used and few survive.

The monarchy was restored in 1660. The Anglican Church was reinstated and the

proper recording of baptisms, burials and marriages recommenced. Many adult

baptisms followed for those who had not been baptised due to the circumstances of

the interregnum while the new king issued a law that legalised all marriages that had

taken place before JPs during the interregnum.

Details in Parish Registers

The amount of detail will vary – partly according to era – but also due to other factors!

Remember that a marriage entry from 1837 onwards contains the same information

as a marriage certificate so this is often a cheaper alternative to buying a certificate.

Before this time there were two major pieces of legislation stating what information

had to be included:

The Marriage Act 1753 - to prevent clandestine marriages

The Marriage Act of 1753 is also known as Hardwicke's Marriage Act.

a. It regularised the format of marriage entries requiring the marital status and

place of residence of both bride and groom to be recorded as well as the names

of at least two witnesses to the marriage

b. Marriage entries had to be kept in separate marriage registers apart from

baptisms and burials and pages had to be numbered

c. It saw the introduction of registers of banns

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All marriages had to take place in Anglican Church (apart from Quakers and Jews) until

1837.

A clandestine marriage was one carried out without the reading of banns or following

the purchase of a marriage licence AND where one or both parties were not legally

resident in the parish of either bride or groom. A good example of this is the so-called

“Fleet Marriages”.

Fleet Marriage Facts

• Marriages that took place in or near the Fleet Debtors' Prison. London. There

are also some entries from other locations such as the King's Bench prison, the

May Fair Chapel and the Mint.

• Performed by ordained clergyman (usually those with no incumbency) so they

were legal but were clandestine marriages

• Beware spurious entries! People might falsify details.

• Online at Ancestry: London, England, Clandestine Marriage and Baptism

Registers, 1667-1754

Rose’s Act 1812 aka ‘An Act for the Better regulating and preserving parish and other

registers of birth and burial ‘

Minimum requirement of information. For baptisms: name of child and parents, date

of baptism, residence, occupation of father and details of who performed ceremony.

For burials: name, abode, date of burial, age, who performed ceremony. Burials and

baptisms had to be separated out into separate registers

Before the legislation Hardwicke and Roses’ Acts of 1753 and 1812 there was no

regulation of the format that parish registers entries should take and of what

information they should include.

Many baptisms for the sixteenth and early seventeenth century only record the

person's name, date of baptism and the name of the child's father (no mention of the

mother). In some cases, even the father's name will not be recorded; just the name of

the child or person being baptised. Burials similarly simply state the name of the

person buried.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/fleetmarriagebap/https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/fleetmarriagebap/

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Early registers are not always easy to read because of the style of the handwriting

while very early registers may be in Latin. Many will be composite registers – with

entries for marriage, burials and baptisms recorded chronologically as they occurred.

Dade Registers contain significantly more genealogical information than usually found

1770 and 1812. The idea of clergyman William Dade who was ahead of his time! Mainly

found in York, Cheshire, Lancs, Durham, Notts and to a lesser extent Wilts, Devon,

Surrey, Dorset. You will also find so-called ‘Barrington registers’ which do not contain

quite as much detail.

There are far fewer Dade marriage registers because of the stipulations of the 1753

Marriage Act mentioned above.

Mistakes in Parish Registers

Any source is open to error. Registers entries may not have been made up until some

time after the event or may have been made from rough notes, leading to the parish

clerk forgetting the correct details or making copying errors. In rare cases, these errors

might be corrected in the register at a later date but in many cases, they were not. this

can lead to incorrect names for parents or child in baptism entries and similar mistakes

in marriages and burials.

There are other records you should use in tandem with parish registers.

Marriage Banns and Licences – Allegations and Bonds

The majority of people were married after the calling of banns. Details of the couple

to be married were read out on three consecutive weeks in the parish church of the

parish or parishes where bride and groom were resident. Before 25 March 1754 no

records were kept of the calling of banns but from this date they had to be kept by

law. If you fail to find a marriage for your ancestors in the parish where you expect it

to be, checking the banns registers for that parish should give you details of their

intended spouse and where he or she came from. A search of that parish is likely to

lead to the marriage entry. Most parishes kept a separate register book for banns but

others recorded the banns alongside the ensuing marriage details. In the latter case,

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the marriage details should be given even if the marriage took place in the spouse's

parish.

In some cases, either bride or groom might take up residence in the same parish as his

or her intended spouse to save money in having the banns called two separate

parishes. This can be misleading for the researcher trying to trace the home parish of

an ancestor.

The main advantage of marrying by licence was that it was quicker and more private.

It was more expensive to marry by licence, so marriage by licence in many cases

indicates a better-off family. Application for a marriage licence could be made to one

of several church authorities depending on where the bride and groom lived. If they

both lived in the same diocese, application would usually be made to chancellor of the

diocese or his surrogate (substitute). If the couple lived in different dioceses then

application had to be made to the Vicar General of the ecclesiastical province which

covered both dioceses. E.g. York or Canterbury. The Vicar General was the bishop’s

principal administrative deputy. In the rare event that the couple lived in separate

provinces then application had to be made to the Master of Faculties of the

Archbishop of Canterbury. If the couple wished for some reason to marry in a diocese

in which neither live, a special licence was required from either the Faculty Office of

Canterbury, the Registry of York of the Vicar General of Canterbury.

The marriage licence itself rarely survives, having been handed to the vicar on the day

of marriage. What frequently survive, however, are the accompanying marriage

allegation and marriage bond.

The marriage allegation consists of a written statement from one of the parties

(usually the groom) swearing that there was no legal impediment to the marriage.

Where bride or groom was under the age of 21 parental consent was required too.

Marriage allegations will give the names, ages and places of residence of both parties

and details of the bride or groom's father or mother where one or both parties were

under 21. This is useful for identifying a year of birth as this will not usually be on the

marriage entry.

They also record the groom's occupation and that of the father where he is recorded.

They may also note the church where the marriage was to take place although it does

not necessarily follow that the marriage did take place in that particular church.

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You may also find a marriage bond. Required between 1779 and 1823, the bond

involved both the groom and another person signing an agreement that they would

forfeit a large sum of money to the church if the marriage proved to be invalid. Bonds

can be useful where another family member is the bondsman.

Locating Marriage Allegations and Bonds

In most cases these records will be held at the county record office that holds diocesan

records (the same record office where you will find Bishops' Transcripts for the area).

Where the licence was granted by the Vicar General or the Faculty Office of the

Archbishop of Canterbury, records will be at the Lambeth Palace Library, see further

details here.

From 1754 you will know if a marriage was by licence because it will state this in the

marriage register. Before this date you will have to make a speculative search of the

records just in case the marriage was by licence.

There are many printed indexes available (the Society of Genealogists in London has a

good collection) and a these make useful finding aids while some of these records are

also now coming online. There are also a growing number on line e.g. Ancestry has

allegations for London, Yorkshire, Somerset and Durham.

Finally, if you find a record of a marriage licence but no marriage remember that the

issuing of a licence did not necessarily mean the marriage went ahead.

Locating parish registers

FamilySearch Wiki will tell you which are available online and on which websites. It’s

not totally up to date but a good start. You need to search each parish individually.

Phillimore’s Atlas (The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers (None) Hardcover

– 1 Dec 2002 by Cecil R. Humphery-Smith) and GENUKI will also be helpful for locating

parishes and survival dates of registers.

http://www.lambethpalacelibrary.org/content/cerchttps://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/surreymarriage/https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/fs1engyorksallertonmarriagebond/https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/somersetparishmarriages/https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/fs1engdurhamdiocesemarriage/https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Pagehttps://www.genuki.org.uk/

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Non-conformist Registers

Many of our ancestors were members of a non-conformist church rather than the

church of England. The term 'non-conformist' refers to protestant churches that set

up independently, or broke away entirely, from the established Church of England

from the 1660s onwards. It includes, among others, the Society of Friends (Quakers),

Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and Congregationalists. If you can’t find a baptism,

non-conformist registers are the next place to look. Note that between 1754 and 1837

marriages were only valid if carried out via a Church of England, with the exception if

your ancestors were Quakers or Jews. So you may find their marriage in the parish

register but the baptisms of children in non-conformist registers.

While some non-conformist registers do not survive nearly all those that do are online. See England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970

Parish Chest Records

Held by County Record Offices. Search Record Office Catalogues to identify these.

Some now online.

Churchwardens and their records

Churchwardens main responsibility was the upkeep of the church but they also had a

host of other commitments, often in tandem with the overseers of the poor. It was the

churchwarden’s place to keep an eye on the parishioners and the clergy and to report

any suspected misdemeanours e.g. those not attending the parish church or acting

immorally. The churchwarden would “present” these people at the ecclesiastical court

during one of the bishop or archdeacons’ victimisations. Therefore many Catholics or

non-conformists may be found. (Records often at County Record Offices – these are

Diocesan records so you need to check with the record office if it has them –

occasionally they are held elsewhere).

Churchwardens’ Accounts: The Churchwardens also kept records relating to the

running and upkeep of the church and these may predate the parish registers for the

parish you are interested in by several centuries, as there has always been a

requirement for them to be kept. However, survival rates are fairly low and most tend

to date from the late sixteenth century onwards. The records of the churchwarden

were extremely varied but one of the main features is the financial expenditure and

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/uknonconformistvitals/

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income. You may also find details of payments for burials, which can be used as a

substitute for the burial register if necessary.

Also contains records relating to setting and collecting of church rates. Use as census

substitutes! Some now coming on line e.g. Churchwardens' Accounts of Cratfield,

1640-1660

The Overseers of the Poor

Nominated by the Vestry and appointed by JPs. The position was created by an act of

1572, and the 1601 Poor Law act defined it further. The overseer was responsible for

assessing the needs of those poor people and deciding who was legitimately entitled

to relief by the parish because they were legally settled there. Overseers also

responsible for collecting the poor rate.

Overseers’ accounts are usually meticulous in detail and a series of these accounts can

provide a very full account of day-to-day life in parish especially of your poor ancestors.

Poor Relief before 1834

Before the Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII the

monasteries had provided relief to the poor. The Lord of the Manor also had an

obligation to his poor tenants but the dissolution of the monasteries and the gradual

disintegration of the manorial system created a void in terms of looking after the poor.

The parish began to assume many other manorial responsibilities including

responsibility for the poor.

Before 1834 there was mainly a system of outdoor relief - but other ways of dealing

with the poor too: don’t presume workhouses were an invention of the 1834 Poor Law

- there were also local Poorhouses or workhouses in some parishes where the able-

bodied poor were set to work, or that were used to house those who had no-where

else to go. From 1782 Gilbert’s Act, meant that parishes could unite to build a

workhouse and could refuse out relief if most parishioners thought it was a good idea.

These workhouses were to house the aged or infirm and children with no homes. The

able-bodied had to be found work and could not be admitted.

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Settlement

Settlement related to the parish that had legal responsibility to look after a person if

they needed poor relief. Various acts of parliament dealt with settlement and how it

could be gained.

• Great Elizabethan Poor Law Act 1601: Only supposed to be a temporary

measure for one year but instead formed the basis of social and poor law

legislation for over the next 200 years. Settlement was originally based on

someone’s place of birth but it was later recognised that his could be too

restricting and even counter-productive so further legislation was passed in

1662 to introduce new categories and criteria for settlement.

• The Settlement Act of 1662 allowed a stranger to be removed from a parish if

he did not pay £10 rent or more, or could not indemnify himself against any

parish expense on his behalf. Temporary visitors to the parish had to provide a

certificate from their own parish stating that they would be received back to

their home parish if they need parish relief.

By 1691 new settlement could be gained in various ways including the following:

• Apprenticeship - gain master's settlement

• Paying £10 rent or more a year and paying your parish rates

• Working as a parish officer

• If unmarried, working continually for one year in the parish

• For a woman - on marriage took husband's settlement

• Legitimate children took father's settlement

• Illegitimate children took their place of birth as place of settlement. From 1743

those born to a mother convicted of vagrancy were to take the mother’s

settlement. From 1834 all bastards took mother’s place of settlement.

Both the issue of settlement and the parish’s responsibility for people who were likely

to be poor, e.g. bastards and orphans, resulted in the production of several types of

records which have great potential for researchers; settlement certificates,

examinations, removal orders, bastardy documents and apprenticeship indentures. All

provide potential information which we not be found in any other source.

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Settlement examinations

These are the most informative of all the poor law records you will use. The examinee

was required to give evidence of how his legal settlement had been gained. This

information was often supplemented by extra information of great value to family

historians.

Settlement certificates.

Provided by home parish so a person could seek employment in another parish.

Guaranteed home parish would provide for person if necessary.

Removal Orders.

Removal orders had to be signed by two JPs and two copies were made: one for each

parish concerned. A child who was older than seven could be separated from his or

her mother if they had different places of settlement. This could happen if the mother

had remarried.

Bastardy documents.

Bastardy examinations, bonds and warrants:

The single mother would be questioned by the overseers and churchwardens

regarding the circumstances of her pregnancy! They can provide a lot of information

and can be a godsend for those of us who have illegitimate ancestors. The father was

then approached for the money and might sign a bond agreeing to maintain the child.

If he absconded a bastardy warrant would be issued giving his name, place of

residence and often occupation. Warrants were also issue if the father did not keep

up payments.

The 1834 New Poor Law moved towards a system of ‘indoor relief’ providing for the

poor only in the workhouse. Or that was the theory. In practise, it was not as

straightforward as this. In the north of England the change was much slower to take

place. Poor relief organised according to Poor Law Unions (these covered an area of

about 20 miles) rather than the parish. From this time power in terms of the poor

gradually transferred from the Overseers to the Guardian of the Poor and the local

union so these are not usually included in parish chest records. The concept of

settlement still applied but removals took place from union to union rather than

between parishes. The system continued into the early 20th century.

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Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, 1710-1811 Records produced in association with apprenticeships can be extremely beneficial to

the family historian especially between 1550 and early 1752 and then to a lesser extent

up to the mid-19th century. Before this period a man or woman needed to have

completed an apprenticeship and to be a member of one of the town guilds in order

to trade in a town. In cities, this often went hand-in–hand with becoming what was

known as Freeman of the City.

Many people from rural areas would have travelled long distances from the place they

were born into towns to take up apprenticeships and then settled there. As a

researcher, you may have no idea where they originally came from and this can lead

to a brick wall. These records can reveal that place of origin and lead you to your

ancestor’s baptism.

Good starting place is the centralized registers of Stamp Duty Apprentice

• Record Stamp Duty levied 1710-1804 on masters for each apprentice

• Give details of apprentice and master and up to 1750 usually the place of origin

of the apprentice and often the name of his father

• Cover the years 1710-1811. The deadline for payment was one year after the

expiry of the indenture

Who won’t you find in the Stamp Duty Registers you might expect to?

• The original legislation regarding apprenticeships passed in 1563 applied only

to trades in existence at the time. So, this did not include, for example, cotton

workers. Hard to enforce in rural areas – but boys migrated into towns.

• By the 18th century apprenticeships were increasingly undertaken without any

formal indenture. In many trades, it was expected that men would bring up

their sons or nephews to the trade.

• Masters did not have to pay stamp duty on the indentures of apprenticeships

arranged by the parish for poor children.

• Duty did not apply in Ireland

• A few of the stamp duty registers are missing

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Further Reading

• Marriage Law for Genealogists, Rebecca Probert, pub. 2012 Takeaway Books

• The Compleat Parish Officer, pub. Wiltshire Family History Society

• The Parish Chest, W E Tate

• My Ancestor was a Bastard, Ruth Paley, pub. Society of Genealogists

• Annals of the Poor, Eve McLaughlin

• The Poor are Always with Us, Eve McLaughlin

• Quarter Session Records for Family Historians, a select list, Jeremy Gibson, pub.

FFHS (Federation of Family History Societies).

• Bishops' Transcripts and Marriage Licences, Bonds and Allegations, Jeremy

Gibson, pub. FFHS

• Tracing Your Ancestors Through Death Records, Celia Heritage, pub. Pen and

Sword, 2013

• Birth, Marriage and Death records, David Annal and Audrey Collins, pub. Pen

and Sword