Parish Registers (Notes and Queries Vol. 3 2nd S. (69) Apr 25 1857 Page 321)

"I conceive there is nothing of more importance than the endeavouring to deposit in some secure place the registers of births, baptisms and funerals." Mr. Barron Garrow.

"All the property in this country, or a large part of it, depends on the registers, and we must see our way clear before we shake the authenticity of registers." Lord Chief Justice Best

I have perused the communications on this subject with great attention and much pleasure, [See 2^nd Series ii, 66, 118, 151, 217, 218, 318, 378, ; iii 181] the more so from being greatly interested in these registers, and my daily avocations for many years past having been more or less connected therewith. Under these circumstances and considering the importance of these documents to all classes of society, particularly to the middle and lower classes, who have very often no other title-deeds than these registers, I trust you will be kind enough to indulge me with a little more space than usual.

There can be no doubt as to the desirability of making these records more easily accessible to the public, which I think would be best accomplished by placing them in the custody of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages at London, who has already all the non-parochial registers of England and Wales from the earliest period to July, 1, 1837, when the civil registers of births, deaths and marriages commence. In this respect the Dissenters are better off than the members of the Established Church.

Parochial registers of baptisms and burials were first established in 1538, and have been continued to the present time in the eleven thousand parishes of England and Wales. I would have all the registers from 1538 - 1837 deposited with the Registrar-General ; but I am doubtful whether Parliament would pass a compulsory bill to this effect without compensation to the clergy, which of course is out of the question: they might, however, require the register books of every parish to be delivered up on the next avoidance of the living after the passing of the Act and allow them to be given up before. But for my own part I consider the evidence of the culpable carelessness and negligence of the clergy and the gross ignorance of their illiterate clerks, so overwhelming, that the register books should be removed from their custody without further delay. One of the witnesses before the Select Committee on Parochial Registration, 1833, observed that evidence of births, marriages and deaths was in constant request, and that it was of the highest importance to have it correctly kept and readily produced; yet, as another witness observed, every day's experience concurs with antecedent probability in showing that the parish books have been and are, kept in a very uncertain and imperfect manner, and that their preservation (which at the best depends on a chest in a damp church) is very hazardous and incomplete.

The Population Abstract of 1801 contains the names of some hundreds of parishes whose registers are deficient, stating the particular periods at which the defects occur. This abstract represents only the last century, and yet shows chasms of fifty, sixty and even more than eight years ! With regard to the registers anterior to the year 1600, Mr Rickman states (in his preface to the Population Returns for 1831) that one half of them have disappeared !

Here is a specimen of the care taken of the registers of the county, in his examination before the Parochial Registration Committee, stated:

"I had an opportunity of comparing the state of the registry now with what it was a century back, in the collections for the history of the county by Mr Bridges. I find that out of between seventy or eighty parishes there are thirteen of the old registries which have been lost since that time, and three which have been accidentally burnt. I find that in the time of Mr Bridges there were nine which commenced in 1538 ; they are now reduced to four. In the parish of Barby the register was actually burnt by the clergyman, a son of a former incumbent: he entered his own baptism in the fly-leaf of the new register and burnt the old one. I knew another case of parish in our neighbourhood, where there had not been a resident clergyman for a length of time; the register was kept by the parish clerk, whose daughter was a lace maker, and she made use of all the old registers for her lace parchments."

In the same county, a clergyman discovered at the house of one of his parishioners an old parchment register, sewed together as a covering for the tester of a bedstead. This is pretty well for one county. Here are a few extracts to show the care taken of the registers in other places:

Plungar, Leics: The clerk was a grocer, and no idea of the use of parish register, beyond that of its affording waste paper for wrapping up his grocery commodities.

Ragdale, Leics: The register, prior to 1784, was in the possession of Earl Ferrers; who desired the Rev. William Casson, the curate, to say that it was mislaid.

In another place in Leics, Thoresby, the historian of that county was told by the clerk, on observing that the register must be deficient, that Farmer _____ kept the register lately ; and he, to save the tax, put no name down for two years.

The Rev. S. Denne rescued the registers of two parishes in Leicestershire: one from the shop of a bookseller, and the other from the corner cupboard of a working blacksmith, where it had lain perishing and unheard-of for more than thirty years.

East Norton, Leics: The oldest register was taken away some years since by one of the former vicars, and no one now can tell where it is to be found. The present one is not of an earlier date than about 1780.

Bigland, in his observations on parish registers, 1764, mentions his having occasion to consult a register, and was directed to the cottage of a poor labouring man, as clerk of the parish; he not being at home, Mr. B. informed the children of his desire, upon which they pull out the drawer of an old table; where, among much rubbish of rusty iron, &c. he found the register. In another parish, the clerk was a tailor, and cut out more than sixteen leaves of the old register, in order to supply himself with measures.

Dr. Burnaby, upon one occasion asking to see the register of a parish, was told that they had but the one produced; that they had had another some time ago, but that it was very old, and quite out of date, of no manner of use, for none of the neighbours could read it ; and that it had, therefore, been tossed about in the church till either some workmen or children had carried it away, or torn it to pieces.

A part of the register of Nuthurst is in the British Museum, as is also the register of Steventon, Berks, 1553 - 1559. There are several registers in private hands, some of them purchased at public sales.

Godmanston, Dorset: Some of the first leaves of the early register have been lost, and others so much injured by damp, or by some corrosive matter, that they crumble to pieces upon the slightest touch.

Buckhorn Weston, Dorset: The register is states by Hutchins, in his history of the county, to have been torn to pieces, and lost some years since.

Long Critchell, Dorset: There is a chasm of forty years in the register of marriages.

Abbotsbury, Dorset: The register begins in 1567: the first page of baptisms is lost. The second and third register books are much injured and defaced, probably by fire, the vicarage house having been twice totally burnt.

In the minutes of the Stafford Peerage case, it will be seen that the parish register was allowed by the clergyman to be taken away by a person who came to search for entries; that he requested permission to examine them in private, which was granted (although even his name was unknown to the clergyman) ; and he was absent with it an hour, and committed the forgeries he required.

In the Huntingdon Peerage case it is narrated that the registers were made into kettle-holders for the curate's wife or widow.

Mr. William Durrant Cooper (one of the witnesses before the Parochial Registration Committee), in speaking of the registers in Sussex, mentions 3 clergymen there (Mr Gwynne, Mr. Jenkins, and Mr Crofts) as being notoriously negligent ; they wither made the entries of baptisms, marriages and burials in a very defective manner, or (which was often the case) omitted to make the entries at all! Mr Crofts kept the old registers in a cupboard, where the children or any one else could get at them; and the modern ones at the house of the parish clerk, very much exposed to accidental fires. In some of the Sussex registers there are parts destroyed, whole leaves being cut out, particularly in the parish of Selmeston, near Lewes.

" I recollect, " says Mr Cooper, " an instance where the clerk was about destroying the old register, saying it was of no use, but was prevented from doing so ; and I recollect when a little boy, the parish clerk of another parish saying, that the clergyman used to direct his pheasants with the parchments of his old registers!"

At East Markham in Nottinghamshire, a late parish clerk made old pages legible with fresh ink, but one date was falsified. The christenings from 1773 to 1774 are written on a fresh leaf in his own handwriting entirely.

At Hanny, in Berks, the marriage register from 1754 to 1760 was lost, but some years ago found in a grocer's shop.

At Castle Bytham, Lincolnshire, by a memorandum of Wade Gascoyne, who became curate at Little Bytham and Holywell for the last seven years; but he inserted a few omissions extracted from the pocket books of his predecessor and the parish clerk.

At Washenburgh, in the same county, there were no burials form 1748-1758, the rector being, as was reported, frequently non compos.

At Waynefleet, Lincs., the register has been mutilated, apparently to write bills on, as a butcher's bill remains on part of the last leaf.

At Renhold, Beds., the clergyman says several leaves are very deficient, parts of them having been cut out; the mutilations having bee apparently made by children, who have evidently scribbled and drawn figures on these documents.

St. Pancras. A late curate of this parish confessed on his death-bed to having connived at the alteration of the St. Pancras register which was to be produced in the case of Lloyd and Passingham

There are many other recent cases of forging parish registers.

Birmingham. Mr Hamper, a well known antiquary, discovered some years since the old registers of one of the parishes in various parts, stowed away under the staircase of the pulpit, and had them bound together and preserved.

A few years ago a gentleman at the Heralds' College sent to a clergyman in the country for extracts from his register, and he cut them out of the book and sent them by post, telling him he could make nothing of them.

Repeated notices of the loss of registers from fire are to be met with. "It is, indeed remarkable, " says Burn in History of Parish Registers, "why it happens that there should have been so many fires at the residences of the clergy." But even when registers are deposited in churches they do not always escape the devouring element, as is well known. By the fires which destroyed Lewisham Church a few years ago, all the registers from the year 1550 were consumed ; and as there are transcripts in the bishop's registry for 24 years only, the evidence of the baptisms, marriages and burials in that parish for upwards of 250 years is irrecoverably lost.

Several of the witnesses examined before the Parochial Registration Committee were loud in their complaints of the difficulty and expense of finding registers. Mr Joseph Parkes said he spent upwards of �300 pursuing an investigation by searching registers alone for one party.

"I have," say Mr. Parkes, in another part of his evidence, "two or three schedules of bills where the large proportion of charges are for searches in parochial registration for vouchers of pedigree. Every conveyance or mortgage now delayed in my office, as far as I recollect, is so delayed for the purpose of verifying the titled, owing to defects in registers ; and I happen to have an important mortgage in my office, which I cannot complete because of that defect."

I had marked for extracts several other passages in the books before mentioned, and others, but probably the foregoing will be deemed sufficient ; besides, I am fearful of trespassing too much on your valuable space.

Let us, however, hear what some of the judges have said on the subject. Lord Mansfield, on a trial at which he presided, said:

"I think the minister highly blameable for not making the entries regular according to the Act, and that the Attorney-General should exhibit an information against him ex officio ; for on his accuracy my depend the proof of pedigrees (which begin now to be very difficult) and the descent of real estates."

Lord Chancellor Eldon observed upon a question of pedigree (Walker v. Wingfield, 18 Vesey, 443), that not one register in one hundred was kept according to the canon, and added:

" Lord Rosslyn once proposed to move the House of Lords to reject all registers; but on account of the inconvenience I prevailed upon his lordship to relinquish his intention, and we are now in the habit of administering registers and copies of registers, though not kept according to the canon, that is, according to the law. Whether this is to continue is a question of very great importance."

Mr. Serjeant Jones having stated that an obliteration appeared in a register which was produced upon the trial of the cause Doe and Hungate at York assizes about 24 years ago, Mr Justice Alderson, who tried the causes, observed:-

"Are you surprised at that Brother Jones ? I am not at all surprised ; I have had much experience, and I never saw a parish registry book in my life that was not falsified in one way or other, and I do not believe there is one that is not."

The law-books are indeed full of distressing cases of property lost through forged entries in register books, or the want of missing registers, or through the negligence of clergymen omitting to make any entries at all.

It is no wonder, then, that the Select Committee on Parochial Registration (1833) arrived at the conclusion that the registers " are often falsified, stolen, burnt, inaccurately inscribed, and carelessly preserved, " and recommended, amongst other things,

"That a duplicate * of each register should always be made - and that such duplicate should be periodically transmitted to the metropolis, where a General National Office should be formed, a superintending authority should exist, and alphabetical and accurate indexes and abstracts should be prepared."

If Parliament should decide upon having all the parish registers from 1538 to 1837 deposited in some metropolitan office, the books as they arrive should be, for convenience of reference, arranged in counties alphabetically, and the parishes also in alphabetical order under the counties to which they belong, the missing registers being as far as practicable, supplied by the diocesan transcripts � : the books should also be forthwith numbered and paged, and the necessary particulars transcribed for the indexes �, which for many reasons should be divided into four periods: 1538 - 1600; 1601 - 1700, 1701 - 1800 ; 1801 - 1837, and should comprise the following information arranged in alphabetical order, so far as regarded the four first columns:

Surname, Name, Parish or Place, County, Year, Number of Book, Page

* It is difficult to understand by Parliament, by the Act 6 & 7 William IV, C 36 (commonly called the Registration Act) sanctioned the transmission to the General Register Office of certified copies, instead of duplicates of the register books.

� Having observed Mr Burn's article (p181) respecting these transcripts, I have purposely refrained from entering into the subject, as it cannot be left in better hands. I may, however, be permitted to say that I think Mr Burn might have made out a stronger case, even from his own History of Parish Registers. A also think that all the defaulting parishes should be compelled to complete their transcripts, and forward them to the proper courts forthwith.

� All the historical facts met with in transcribing the registers might be inserted in a book for that purpose.

By adopting this plan, greater facilities would be afforded to the public, and the wear and tear of the original registers would be saved. I would also, I think, accomplish all the objects advocated by your correspondents who have written on the subject, and even dispense with the necessity of printing the registers ; but as this is a point rather strongly advocated by some, allow me to say a few words respecting it. The certified copies of the registers of births, deaths and marriages in England and Wales from June 30, 1837, to Jul 1, 1857, deposited in the General Register Office, will form about 6876 folio volumes of the largest size, and the Indexes thereto, 1128 more volumes of the same size, making a total of 8004 large folio volumes in only 20 years. I think this will be sufficient to convince anyone of the inexpediency of printing the registers and indexes for 300 years, and providing fifty-two large offices (for I suppose one office at least would be required in each county) and salaried clerks out of the public funds; for the fees for searches and certificates would be totally inadequate for the support of a number of local offices, although they might suffice for one central office. Besides, I consider that the facilities afforded by the Post Office and the railways so great as to render it almost, if not quite, as inexpensive generally to procure a certificate from London, as it would be from the county town .* There are agents now in London who will procure a certificate from Somerset House on payment of a small sum (2 s. to 4s.) in addition to the legal fees (1s. for searching, and 2s. 6d. the certificate) and the postages.

I now only remains to be decided whether these public registers shall be allowed to continue scattered all over the country, inaccessible to the public, and liable to be falsified, lost, stolen, burnt, or otherwise destroyed ; or whether they shall be all collected and secured in a central office, and rendered easily accessible to the present and future generations. W.H.W.T.

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