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The chapelry of Redditch is in the parish of Tardebigg. Thechurch is known as St. George.
Christening is a term in the Anglican Church to refer tothe Baptism of a child. In the Parish Registers these arereferred to as baptisms.
Parish registers
Most of England's parishes were formed by 1200; manyhowever are much older than that, with their boundariesdating as far back as the 9th century. In 1538 ThomasCromwell ordered each parish to keep a register ofmarriages, baptisms and burials. At first normal practicewas to record the entries onto loose sheets, many of whichhave since been lost or destroyed. Only a minority ofparishes have records that go back to 1538, many begin inthe reign of Elizabeth I (1558). In 1597 it was orderedthat each parish should keep a bound register and thatolder documents should be transcribed into that register.The Act of 1597 also ordered that a copy of the registersshould be sent to the bishop's office. (See Bishop'sTranscripts and Marriage Licences, Fact Sheet 10)
During the Commonwealth (1653-1660) the registers were inthe hands of a secular official, known as the "ParishRegister", who was responsible to the magistrates. The Actof 1653 ordered the registration of births rather thanbaptisms although in practice this was not always followed.The Restoration of Charles II (1660) saw the Act repealedand the Church of England restored to its role of recordkeeping.
Between 1694-1706 there was a short period of registrationof births, as taxation was imposed on births, marriages,burials, bachelordom and childless widower hood. Up untilthe mid 18th century most parish registers were general,combining baptisms, marriages and burials, either inchronological order or in separate parts of the register.Before 1753 there was no formal ceremony for marriage. Anyceremony performed by a priest with or without banns orlicences, in or out of church, was legal. Therefore ifmarried by a clergyman without a benefice your ancestorsmay not have left a formal record of their marriage.However Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1754 made it compulsoryfor marriages to be by banns or licence by a beneficedAnglican clergyman in an Anglican church. The Act alsoimposed a standard entry for marriages in a bound volume ofprinted forms. The couples' names were entered, theirmarital status and their parish of residence; in additionthe forms were signed by both parties and by witnesses.Marriages often took place in the parish of the bride. Asbetween 1753 and 1836 marriages were only legal if theytook place in a Church of England church (with theexception of marriages of Quakers and Jews), someNonconformists and Roman Catholics may have preferred toremain legally unmarried rather than go through an Anglicanceremony.
After 1837 not all marriages needed to take place in Churchof England churches, therefore after this date Anglicanmarriage registers are less all encompassing. On the otherhand marriage registers include more information after1837. They record the name, age, occupation and residenceof the bride and groom and also the name and occupation ofthe respective fathers. If the father was deceased at thetime then this is recorded. It is necessary to rememberthat contrary to popular opinion many people did not getmarried and therefore do not appear in marriage records.
Rose's Act of 1812 made it compulsory for all registerentries to be of a standard type in separate volumes. Thereare separate baptism and burial registers therefore from1813. Before this date the information provided forbaptisms is the date of the baptism, the first and othernames of the child (except in some circumstances), thefirst and other names and surname of the father and thefirst and other names of the mother (although this wasomitted by some incumbents.) Occasionally the date of birthis noted in the margin. Baptism registers after 1813 recordthe first and other names of the child, the date of thebaptism, the parent's names, the father's surname, theirresidence and the occupation of the father as well as thename of the officiating minister. Remember that manyministers refused to baptise illegitimate children. It isalso worth noting that a baptism might take place severalmonths after the birth. Before 1660 some ministers whoobjected to infant baptism might refuse to baptise infants.It is also worth considering when looking for a baptismthat the mother might have been visiting a relative at thetime of the birth and hence the baptism might have takenplace away from her home parish.
Burial registers before 1813 contained the name of thedeceased, the date of burial and sometimes the status oroccupation of the deceased. From 1813 onwards each entryrecorded in addition to this abode, name of the officiatingminister and the age of the deceased, although this lastpiece of information should be treated with some caution.It should be remembered that by the terms of the TolerationAct of 1689 Roman Catholic and Nonconformist cemeterieswere permitted. Entries for burials in these cemeterieswould not be recorded in the parish registers. There arevarious other reasons why someone's burial may not berecorded in the parish registers. Some incumbents would notbury unbaptised persons or suicide victims or those personswho had been excommunicated. Remember also that death mayhave taken place abroad, or the deceased (or their family)may have wished burial to be elsewhere than in the parishwhere the deceased or their family lived. From 1853 onwardsmany urban churchyards were closed and burials began totake place in municipal cemeteries. (See MunicipalCemeteries, Fact Sheet 7.)
Most parish registers were written in Latin during the 16thcentury but by 1625 English was rapidly taking over.Despite this Latin can occur until the early 18th century.It should be remembered that until 1752 the New Year wasnot January 1 but March 25, and so an entry before thisdate reading 1 January 1729, would by our reckoningactually be 1 January 1730.
This page was last updated on 02 August 2006 |
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