Whilst examining the register of burials from 1680 to 1710 in a village in the South of England, I met with several entries of interments to which the remark "common quality" was affixed: as, for example:

A.B. 15 Sep 1897 Common Quality

C.D. 27 Mar 1703 He dyed on the 23^rd, Sonne of Mr E.D. of Woodside, Common Quality

The register for a period of thirty three years, at the close of the 17^th and commencement of the 18^th Centuries, appears to have been kept by the incumbent, and the entries are concise and free from eccentricity; and I would fain believe that the remark in question referred rather to the mode of burial than to the social position held during the life by the deceased.

The record of several of the interments sets forth that the corpse had been "buryed in woollen," and it would appear possible that the affix "common quality" might have borne reference to the winding-sheet. I am the more inclined towards this belief as Woodside is a farm of about a hundred acres, and C.D., from having been the son of the tenant, could not possibly have been socially of such "common quality" as many of those who "buryed at the charges of the parish," had doubtless been paupers or vagrants.

I crave an explanation of the meaning of the affix and citations of parallel instances from those more experienced than myself in the examination of parish registers, and I wish to learn the date of the Act of Parliament directing the use of woollen in burials, the period when it ceased to be rigidly enforced, and the date of its repeal, A.GREENHORN

The Act of Parliament imposing a penalty upon burials, where any material but wool was made use of, was 80 Car., II, stat, 1, c, 3, afterwards repealed by 54 Geo, c 108. Ed

Notes and Queries Vol. 2 4th S. (41) Oct 10 1868 Page 346

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