The Church of England (C of E) was formed by King Henry VIII in 1534 due to his desire to annul his marriage from Catherine of Aragon. The Pope refused to allow this, so Henry set up a new form of Christianity to enable him to remarry. The Church is also referred to as the Established Church or the Anglican Church. In genealogy, church records refer to documents that were created within the church including parish registers, Bishops Transcripts, churchwarden records and vestry minutes. Even if your ancestors were not part of the religion of the Church of England you are likely to still find them within the church records. This is because most other religions were forced to marry within the C of E if they wished their marriage to be legally recognised between 1753 and 1837. The only exceptions were the Jewish community and Quakers. You may also find evidence of nonconformists being buried within the burial registers of the Church of England as many did not have their own burial grounds.
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Parish RegistersParish Registers
Parish registers are records of baptisms, marriages and burials undertaken within a parish church from 1538 onwards. Very few parishes have surviving records which date back to this time. Until 1753, baptisms, marriages and burials may all be found together within the same register. After this date marriages were required to be recorded in a separate register. From 1812 separate registers were introduced for baptisms and burials.
Initially information about each event was generally kept to a minimum. For baptisms the date of the event, the name of the child and the name of the parents were given. The earliest examples often only name the father. For marriages the date of the event and the name of the couple were registered. For burials often only the date of the burial and the name of the deceased was recorded. Sometimes extra information is supplied at the whim of the person recording the event.
For marriages from 1753, you should find the bride and groom’s names, parish of residence, marital status, date and place of marriage, whether they married by banns or by licence, the name of the minister, the signatures or marks of the bride and groom and the names of at least two witnesses along with their signatures or marks.
For baptisms from 1812 the information included the date of the baptism, the child’s forenames, the parents’ forenames, the family’s surname, their residence, the father’s occupation and the name of the officiating minister. In cases of an illegitimate birth only the mother's name is usually given along with her occupation if she had one. For burials from 1812 the details included the deceased’s name, residence, age, date of burial and the name of the officiating minister.
Parish registers are normally held by the relevant county archive. Many have been digitised and can be viewed online. Some transcripts are available to view on MyHeritage including the England, Cheshire Parish Births and Baptisms record set and the England, Warwickshire Parish Registers, 1538-1900 collection.
Bishop's Transcripts (BTs)Bishop's Transcripts (BTs)
Bishop's Transcripts are transcribed records of parish registers that were kept from 1597. These transcriptions had to be sent to the bishop within one month of Easter every year. In some cases, the original parish register has been lost but the Bishop’s Transcripts survives. Where both survive, it is worth seeking out both as sometimes extra details are present in one but not the other. Bishop's Transcripts are usually held by the relevant Diocesan archive with some having been digitised and made available online. Some transcripts are available on MyHeritage including the England, Cheshire Bishop’s Transcripts Baptisms, 1526-1909 collection and the England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941 record set.
Churchwarden's accountsChurchwarden's accounts
Your ancestor may be named in the accounts of the churchwarden if they were paid by them for a service. This may include rat catching, repairs to the church internally or externally or bell ringing. Names are usually given along with the date and amount that they were paid, however sometimes details are vague with no full names given. Some have been digitised however most have to be viewed from the local county archives where they survive. Archive catalogues do not give names of all of those identified within the record and the pages will need to be browsed one by one.
Vestry MinutesVestry Minutes
The vestry was a group of parishioners, usually some of the respected elders of the parish, who held regular meetings within the church. These were usually held once a month, but some held them as frequently as once every two weeks[1]. They wrote minutes of the meetings with the amount of detail given varying massively. Only a minority have been digitised meaning they will need to be browsed via a local county archive. Vestry minutes can be useful to see the daily goings on within the parish and the church.
See alsoSee also
Explore more about Church of England records in the UKExplore more about Church of England records in the UK
- England - Birth, Marriage & Death record collection at MyHeritage
- Burials and Burial Grounds of England and Wales webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Introduction to County Research in England webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- How to trace your UK ancestry webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
References
- ↑ The parish: administration and records. The National Archives. Retrieved 4th November 2024