Parochial Records.
Foremost under this head come Parish Registers. Burn’s “History of Parish Registers in England” is the standard work on this subject. The first mandate for keeping registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, in each parish was issued in 1538, but it is quite the exception to find registers of this early date. This mandate was repeated in more rigorous terms on the accession of Elizabeth, 1558, but not being regularly observed, it was ordained in 1597 that parchment register books should be purchased at the expense of each parish, and that all the names from the older books (mostly of paper) should be therein transcribed from 1558; hence it happens that so many parish registers begin with that year. It was at the same time ordered that copies of the registers should be annually forwarded to the episcopal registrar, to be preserved in the episcopal archives. This injunction, however, was so imperfectly carried out, and the duplicates when forwarded were so carelessly kept, that the diocesan copies of registers are mere fragments of what they should be, and are in several cases still in such confusion as to be practically inaccessible. The earliest transcripts at Lincoln begin in 1587, and at Gloucester in 1571, but there are few dioceses that have any earlier than 1660.
Many parishes have lost their early registers, and they are usually deficient or wanting during the Commonwealth. Official inquiries were made of all the clergy in 1831, as to the exact date, condition, and number of the parish registers in their custody, and abstracts of their replies were published in a Blue Book in 1833. But it is not generally known that the returns themselves, often containing more information than was printed, are at the British Museum (Add. MSS. 9,335, etc.). The dates there given are not, however, to be implicitly relied upon, as unfortunately some registers have been lost or stolen since that date, whilst others of an earlier date have happily, in some cases, been restored or discovered in the like period.
Registers should be carefully looked through, not only for the purpose of extracting the names of prominent or interesting families, but also for the purpose of gleaning the innumerable little scraps of local information that were not unfrequently interpolated in the earlier pages, such as notes pertaining to excommunication, licenses for eating flesh in Lent, penance, remarkable or eccentric characters, storms, and weather observations, inventories of church goods, visitations of the plague or sweating sickness, national events, etc., etc.
Many of the clergy and others find a difficulty in reading the earlier registers. Reference has already been made to Wright’s “Court-Hand Restored,” but the greatest help in deciphering them will be the recollection that most of the letters of the ordinary hand of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, which differ from those now in use, are the same as those of the present German written characters, e.g., the letters “h” and “r.” A few days’ steady practice in transcribing old writing, beginning with the letters and words that can easily be read, ought to be sufficient to master the stiffest hands in parochial records.
In case there are any old Meeting Houses, or congregations of Independents, Presbyterians, Quakers, or other nonconformists in the parish, it will be well, with regard to these registers, to consult a Blue Book issued in 1841, called “Lists of Non-parochial Registers and Records in the custody of the Registrar-General,” wherein a county classification is observed; also a “Report on Non-parochial Registers,” issued in 1857, wherein are enumerated those registers of the sects that were still in private custody.
Churchwardens’ Accounts, giving particulars of rates, receipts, and payments for church purposes, are often highly interesting, and should be carefully preserved. Sometimes they are found entered in bound volumes, but more often tied up in bundles or tumbled in confusion in the parish chest. Still more often they are altogether missing. They can occasionally be recovered from the private dwellings of present or past churchwardens. The earliest with which we are acquainted, are those of All Saints’, Derby, which begin in 1465, but they rarely are found prior to the Restoration.
The Constables Accounts, and the Accounts of the Overseers of the Poor, will also sometimes be met with, beginning from a comparatively remote date, and will amply repay close attention. They throw a similar light on the secular history of a parish to that thrown on the religious history by the Churchwardens’ Accounts. The thorough overhauling of the parish chest, or other receptacles of parish papers, and the classification of their contents is strongly recommended, even where it seems to be most unpromising of results. There is no reason why even such apparently trivial things as the indentures of parish apprentices (which have the seals and signatures of Justices of the Peace), should not be preserved, neatly arranged, and docketted. Every scrap of paper of past generations, showing the inner working of parochial life, possesses some interest of its own; and future generations will thank us for their preservation. Moreover, a careful arrangement of parish papers often meets with more immediate reward. We have ourselves found missing portions of 16th century registers, highly interesting deeds as early as the 14th century, royal proclamations and special forms of prayer, temp. Elizabeth and James I., in parochial litter put aside as valueless.
Of what can be gleaned from these parish annals when tolerably perfect, we may be permitted to quote that which we have elsewhere written respecting the records of Youlgreave, a Derbyshire village, that have recently been classified with some care:—
“The future historian of this parish will find a vast stock of material ready to hand; and if such a work was ever accomplished it would once more be seen how the history of even a remote village is but the history of the nation in little; how national victories were announced on the church bells, and national disasters by the proclamation of a form of prayer; how local self-government became gradually developed in the office of justice, constable, and overseer of the poor; how the press-gang worked its cruel way to man the ships and fill the regiments of the Georges; how the good folk of Youlgreave sent forth a spy to watch the movements of Charles Edward in 1745; and how they prepared to defend themselves by giving their constable a new bill-head, and repairing his old one; how unmerciful was the treatment of lunatics: and how free was the consumption of ale, on the smallest possible provocation, at the parish’s expense; these, and a thousand other minutiæ, all of them possessing some point of interest, can be gleaned from these annals of a parish, to say nothing of the perfect genealogy of nearly every family, together with an account of their varying circumstances, that might be constructed by their aid.”
The fullest and best information respecting the parish as a unit of the national life, with much that pertains to the history of its various officers from the earliest times, will be found in Toulmin Smith’s “The Parish; its powers and obligations.” The second and best edition was published in 1857 by H. Sweet, Chancery Lane.
The history of the village and village officers have not hitherto received the attention they deserve, for all our municipalities have developed out of village communities, and their various officials are but those of the petty rural parish adapted to the needs of an urban population. It will be well on this point to refer to the useful “Index of Municipal Offices,” with an historical introduction, recently published by G. Laurence Gomme.
Lists of parochial Charities are sometimes found in the parish chest, and more frequently on bequest boards in the church; but the local annotator should not consider that he has got a perfect or correct list until the elaborate reports of the Charity Commissioners, compiled some fifty years ago, have been consulted. In 1843, a most useful Blue Book was published for each county, being an analytical digest of the voluminous reports arranged under parishes. Topographical booksellers can generally procure copies of these, by which a great saving of time will be effected. There are later Reports with regard to Endowed Schools.
