PRIMARY SOURCES

These are the records that can help you trace someone’s life (or ownership/occupation of a building):

• Parish registers (baptisms, deaths, marriages)
• Quaker records
• Clandestine marriages
• Ship log books
• International Genealogical Index
• Boyd’s Marriage Index
• Wills and probate records
• Census records (census returns and enumerators’ books)
• Local census returns
• Electoral registers
• Taxation and rating records
• Apprentice records
• Business records
• Criminal and court records
• Poor relief/workhouse records
• School records
• Public health records
• Hospital records
• Manorial records.

PARISH REGISTERS (BAPTISMS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES)

Before the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was centralised in England and Wales on 1 July 1837, records of baptisms, marriages and burials were made in the church or chapel where they took place. These records are known as parish registers and they record baptisms, marriages, burials and banns in the Church of England from 1538 onwards. However, not all registers have survived and those dating before 1598 are likely to be copies of earlier books.

From 1 July 1837, all births and deaths had to be reported to a local registrar, who reported them to the superintendent registrar in the district. The superintendent kept one copy and sent a separate copy every three months to the Registrar General. With weddings, the church took two registers; one was kept by the church and the other was sent (once filled) to the superintendent registrar in the district. Every three months, the church official also sent a copy of entries in the register for the last quarter to the Registrar General.

For marriages in church, banns were called for three Sundays before the wedding in the church where the bride and groom were to be married, and if one of them lived in another parish the banns would also be called in the church of that parish. If the couple married by licence, the couple could marry on the same day as the licence was issued, or the day after. Licences were more expensive than banns. A special licence meant that the marriage could take place anywhere, but was rare because only the Archbishop of Canterbury or his officials could grant it. The common licence named one or two parishes where the marriage could take place, and could be issued by archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, ministers or officials entitled to act on their behalf (known as ‘surrogates’). Licences were often accompanied by bonds, which were sworn statements by a couple’s friends or relatives that:

• There was no impediment to the marriage
• The couple would marry in a specified church
• The bond money was assured (i.e. how much money they would forfeit if the licence was not complied with).

What information they contain

Baptism registers before 1813

• Date of baptism
• Child’s name
• Parents’ names (though sometimes only the father’s name was given).

Some registers include the father’s occupation, the child’s date of birth and the mother’s maiden name.

Baptism Registers 1813 onwards

Baptisms were entered into pre-printed standard registers. Columns were included for:

• Date of baptism
• Child’s name
• Parents’ names
• Parish of residence
• Father’s trade or occupation
• The name of the officiating minister.

Sometimes the date of birth and mother’s maiden name were included.

Marriage registers before 1754

• Date of marriage
• Names of the bride and groom.

Sometimes the groom’s occupation was listed.

Marriage Registers 1754-1837

As with baptisms, marriages were entered into pre-printed standard registers. Between 1754 and 1837, all couples had to marry in an Anglican church for their marriage to be legally valid; only Quakers and Jews were exempt.

The information recorded included:

• Date of marriage
• Names of the bride and groom
• Parish of residence for both bride and groom
• Whether the marriage was by banns or licence
• Whether the groom was a bachelor or a widower
• Whether the bride was a spinster or a widow
• Signatures of bride and groom, the officiating minister and two witnesses (those unable to write would make a mark).

There may have been additional information, such as the groom’s occupation or the name of the bride’s father.

Banns Registers after 1754

The registers of the banns were kept from 1754. Banns dated from before 1823 you should find in the back of the marriage registers; after 1823 they were kept in separate registers.

The information in the banns included:

• Names of the bride and groom
• The three dates when the banns were read out in church.

They may have also recorded the bride and groom’s places of residence, and if one of the spouses lived in another parish the banns register would also note that parish.

Marriage Registers after 1837

Births, marriages and deaths were registered centrally from 1 July 1837. Church marriage registers took on the same format as civil marriage certificates. The information includes:

• Marriage date
• Names of the bride and groom
• Parish of residence for both bride and groom
• Occupation (usually the groom and sometimes the bride)
• Ages (‘of full age’ usually means 21 years or over)
• Whether the groom was a bachelor or a widower
• Whether the bride was a spinster or a widow
• Name and occupation of the father of both bride and groom
• Whether the marriage took place by banns or licence
• Signatures of bride and groom, the officiating minister and two witnesses (those unable to write would make a mark).

Burial Registers before 1812

• Date of burial
• Name of person buried (family relationships may be given, e.g. wife of, widow of, son/daughter of – this tended to be mainly in the case of women and children).

Sometimes the age at death and occupation was included. It may also be recorded if the person was from the workhouse (‘pauper’).

Burial Registers after 1812

As with births and marriages, burials were entered into pre-printed standard registers. Columns were included for:

• Date of burial
• Deceased’s name
• Parish of residence
• Age at death
• Officiating clergy.

Clergymen sometimes added a family relationship, for example, wife of, widow of, son/daughter of; this tends to be mainly in the case of women and children. Occasionally, the cause of death is listed – sometimes as ‘p’ or ‘pest’ if it was the plague. Some clerics give more information than others, for example; if someone had been murdered, the cleric might have recorded some of the details and whether the murderer was caught and paid the penalty.

Where to find them

• County Record Offices (see Appendix 5)
• Family Records Centre (part of the National Archives) at 1 Myddleton Street, London, EC1R 1UW – for union indexes of births, marriages and deaths registered officially in England and Wales from 1 July 1837 up to about twelve months ago. They are known as ‘union’ indexes because registration districts took their name from the poor law union in which they were based. You can search the indexes online for a small fee at www.1837online.com. Note that you will need to register, give a password and download a special viewer so you can use the indexes
• Scottish General Register Office – for indexes of Scottish registers of births, marriages and deaths since 1 January 1855 and of births and marriages in the Church of Scotland from about 1553. There is also a computerised link to these records at the Family Records Centre, or you can search online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and view indexes of birth registrations 1855–1903, marriages 1855–1928 and deaths 1855–1953, again for a small fee
• Family History Societies may also have copies of the indexes.

Potential difficulties

Before the 19th century there were no rules about how entries should be set out in the registers or what details should be included, so they are not consistent between parishes or even between different clerics in the same parish. There are also likely to be gaps during the period of the Civil War, 1645–60.

Usually entries are chronological. However, the layout varies early – registers tend to mix baptisms, marriages and burials, whereas later ones have baptisms at the front, marriages in the middle and burials at the back. Because parchment and paper were expensive, the clergy used all the space in the registers, so sometimes when the last page had been filled they squeezed entries into little gaps found earlier on in the registers.

Some parish register entries are in Latin (particularly those before the 18th century). Some of the most common phrases used are:

• baptisatuslbaptisata estlerat/fuit – was baptised
• filia – daughter
• filius – son
• conjuncti fuerant – were joined in marriage
• copulati sunt/erant – were married
• nupti erant – were married
• uxorem duxit – he took to wife (i.e. married)
• sepultuslsepulta – buried
• eodem die – on the same day (as the previous entry)
• ultimo die mensis – on the last day of the month of
• primo die mensis – on the first day of the month of.

Dates may be shown in Roman numerals (see Chapter 2, page 23, for more information about Roman numerals and Latin dates). There is also the problem of the calendar change in 1752 (see Chapter 2, page 21, for details about the date change and the accepted convention of writing dates before 1752).

Deaths tend to be registered because after 1837 you could only bury someone if you gave the church a death certificate or coroner’s certificate. However, not all births between 1837 and 1874 were registered because you didn’t have to inform the registrar of a birth, and many people thought that a baptism was a legal alternative to registration. The 1874 Births and Deaths Act meant that you could be fined if you registered a birth more than 42 days after the event, or didn’t register it at all. So birth dates might not be accurate because if parents were late in registering a birth they would tell the registrar a different date in order to avoid a fine!

There is also the fact that you only had to live in a parish for three weeks before the cleric could describe you as ‘otp’ or ‘of this parish’.

There are a lot of gaps in registers during the English Civil War and Commonwealth periods, because some priests had to leave their parishes for political reasons. From 1653–60, the Parish Register was responsible for the registers rather than the church; this was a person elected by the ratepayers who had been approved by local magistrates. Births rather than baptisms were recorded, and deaths rather than burials. Also, from 1653–60, only marriages conducted by the local Justice of the Peace were legal, and notices of ‘publication of intention to marry’ were posted in the market place for three weeks before the wedding rather than having banns called.

Note that if you are using a microfilm or microfiche copy of records, it will be a negative copy (white text on a black background) and this can be hard to read for a long stretch of time.

QUAKER RECORDS

Under the Marriage Act of 1753, marriage in England and Wales from 25 March 1754 (until 1837) was only valid if it was performed in an Anglican church after banns had been read, or by licence. The exception was if the couple were Jewish, married overseas or members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Quakers and Jews kept records of their own ceremonies.

What information they contain

The minute books contain records of births, marriages, deaths and burials from the foundation of the Society up until 1837.

Death and burial registers mention the person’s age and parents.

Where to find them

• National Archives (series RG8)
• Digest registers – Friends Library in London (see Appendix 2 for address); also online at www.quaker.org.uk.

Potential difficulties

Records refer to days and months by number, so for anything before 1 January 1752, remember that the calendar year began on 25 March. This means the 12th month is February, not December.

CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES

Before the Marriage Act of 1753 (which came into effect 25 March 1754), you could get married legally without a church service. A marriage was classed as ‘irregular’ if:

• Neither the bride nor groom belonged to the parish where they married
• They had not formally published their intention to marry (banns) or bought a licence from the bishop
• The ceremony took place in a period forbidden by the church (such as Lent).

Clandestine marriages tended to take place in secret, away from where the bride or groom lived, without banns and often without a licence either. Reasons why people married in this way were to save money or avoid publicity (e.g. apprentices who wanted to get married before their apprentice term had finished), to marry without parental consent if they were under the age of 21, or if the groom was in the army. One place where clandestine marriages often took place was the ‘Rules’ or ‘Liberties’ around the Fleet Prison in Farringdon Street, London. Marriages took place in taverns, coffee-houses, churches and workshops. Registers were kept from 1690 but the marriages were outlawed in 1754.

Where to find them

• National Archives, series RG7.

Potential difficulties

The registers are indexed but weren’t kept meticulously. Problems include:

• Forgeries
• False names
• Mistakes copied from other registers
• Duplicate entries
• Altered dates.

SHIP LOG BOOKS

From 1854, masters of British ships had to keep log books of births, marriages and deaths of passengers at sea. Until 1874 they were sent to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen in Cardiff, and after then they were sent to the Registrars of England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland (depending where the passengers/seamen came from). Records of births and deaths of crew were kept separately from records of passengers until 1891, when the logs merged.

What information they contain

Ship log books contain information similar to parish records for births, deaths and marriages.

Where to find them

• National Archives – series BT 158, 159 and 160 for passenger logs before 1890; series BT 153, 154 and 155 for crew before 1890; and BT 334 for births and deaths for both 1891–1964.

INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is working on an ongoing project to build an International Genealogical Index (IGI) by extracting birth, baptism and marriage entries from records worldwide. It is useful if you are trying to trace someone who moved around a lot or you are trying to work out which one of several indexed registrations is the one that you are looking for.

What information they contain

The first six columns are the ones you can use to locate parish records:

• Column 1: surname and first name
• Column 2: name of parents or spouse
• Column 3: gender (M = male; F = female; H = husband; W = wife)
• Column 4: event (A = adult christening; B = birth; C = christening; D = death or burial; F = birth or christening of first known child, in lieu of marriage date; M = marriage; N = census; S = miscellaneous; W = will or probate)
• Column 5: date of event
• Column 6: place (town or parish).

Where to find them

• Family History Centres from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allow the public to see the registers, though a small fee may be payable (See Appendix 2 for contact details)
• The IGI is also available at the Family Record Centre in London for the whole country (on microfiche) and online at www.familysearch.org
• County record offices or local studies centres may have microfiches for your county, neighbouring counties or even the whole of England and Wales; the library of the Society of Genealogists also has copies (see Appendix 2 for contact details).

Potential difficulties

There may be transcription errors. The IGI doesn’t contain every single parish register entry before 1837, and not all records are complete.

BOYD’S MARRIAGE INDEX

Boyd’s Marriage Index lists marriage entries from English parish registers between 1538-1867.

What information it contains

The index is searchable by the names of the bride and groom. It records:

• Spouses’ names
• Name of the parish
• Year of marriage.

Where to find it

• Society of Genealogists (on microfilm)
• Origins Network website www.originsnetwork.com(pay-per-view);
• County record offices or local studies centres may have microfiches for your county.

Potential difficulties

Boyd used transcriptions rather than originals so there is double the possibility of errors. The index only covers 16 counties. There are also some peculiarities in that names starting Kn were indexed under N, names starting Ph were indexed under F and names starting Wr were indexed under R.

WILLS AND PROBATE RECORDS

Wills are the documents by which people dispose of their property after their death. From the early 1500s to around 1750, an inventory (known as a probate inventory) of the deceased person’s estate was filed with the will – it was needed to assess the charges of the probate court.

Until 12 January 1858, probate (proving of a will) was handled by the church courts; after that date they were transferred to a civil court. There is a printed calendar compiled for England and Wales annually listing all proved wills, i.e. those made legally valid. If someone did not leave a valid will, there may be an administration grant.

The Statute of Wills 1540 meant that males over the age of 14 and females over the age of 12 could make a will; after 1837 they had to be 21 to make a will. Wills didn’t count if they were made by lunatics, prisoners, traitors, heretics or slaves. Married women couldn’t own property until the Married Women’s Property Act 1882, so they could only make a will if their husband consented.

What information they contain

Wills tend to state that they are the last will and testament of [person’s name] of [address] in the parish of [parish name]; it sometimes adds the person’s occupation. Then there is often some religious wording, and the appointment of executors (named, sometimes with addresses, occupations and relationship to the deceased). The will then says how debts and funeral expenses should be paid, then states how the estate will be distributed. The spouse is listed first, then children, then others. There may be specific bequests; and information about how the property would be divided up if any of the heirs died first.

Administrations contain the name of the person appointed to administer the estate (usually a widow, child or brother, though sometimes a creditor), and the date will give you an approximate idea of the date of death.

The indexes to wills and administrations give the dates (and sometimes places) of death of the named people.

Calendars of wills list the deceased’s name, date of death, where and when the will was proved (or administration was granted), the name of the executor (or administrator) and the value of the estate (usually the figure before payment of debts or funeral expenses; and it may be listed as ‘effects under £50’). It may give the occupation of the deceased, executor or administrator, and in the second half of the 19th century it may also list the addresses of the executor or administrator and any relationship to the deceased.

Probate inventories list and value household furnishings and other goods that belonged to the deceased (except for land and buildings), often room by room. They would also list farm animals and equipment, items used for trade, the contents of shops, clothing, debts owed and debts due.

Where to find them

The printed calendars of proved wills are on microfiches in county record offices; they are also available at the Family Records Centre and the Probate Search Room. Copies of proved wills before 1858 may be available in your local record office, for example, Norfolk Record Office holds wills and administrations proved from the 1370s to 1858 on microfilm. Inventories would be held with the wills, usually among the church court records in county record offices.

Copies of wills and administration granted by civil probate registries in England and Wales since 1858 are held in the Public Searchroom, Principal Registry of the Family Division, 1st Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP. You can try contacting your local probate office to see copies of wills and administrations from 1858 to the present, and your local records office or local studies department may have microfilm copies of the indexes to wills and administrations in England and Wales from 1858.

If you are looking for a will or administration grant from between 1796 and 1903, you can start with the yearly indexes in the Family Records Centre (series IR 27), or with the registers which record death duty payments (series IR 26). The registers show when and where a will or administration grant was made. Scottish death duty registers from 1804 are in the National Archives of Scotland (reference IRS 5-14).

Some pre-1858 wills (particularly those of wealthy people) were proved by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC). These wills, together with administrations granted by this court, are held by The National Archives and can be seen on microfilm at the Family Records Centre (National Archives) in London. You can search indexes online from the 1300s to 1858 at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/ although there is a small fee to view the digital images of the wills.

Potential difficulties

Fewer than one in ten people made wills or had them formally approved, and death duty registers only record estates that are liable to tax (i.e. were worth over a certain amount).

Probate grants or letters of administration were often dated several months after the date of death.

Until 1898 the value of the estate in the calendars is for personal effects only, not real estate.