A huge thanks to publisher The Lutterworth Press for a review copy of John Wintrip's new book, A History of Parish Registers in England and Wales: From the Restoration to Civil Registration.
The following is the listed description of the book at https://www.lutterworth.com/product/history-of-parish-registers-in-england-and-wales-from-the-restoration-to-civil-registration-a/:
A comprehensive account of the history of parish registers from 1660 to 1837, Wintrip’s exposition focuses on the changes in format and content of parish registers between the Restoration and the introduction of civil registration, offering an insight into the evolution of official record-keeping in England and Wales during a period of significant change.
Following a short preface and a useful introduction on the history of the Anglican based Church of England, as well as an introduction to the history of parish register keeping, the book is then structured across fourteen chapters. In the first chapter the author looks at the evolution of parish registers from 1538, just shortly after the Reformation, to 1660, the year of the Restoration of Charles II, discussing the various statutes passed requring them to be kept, and the interruption of the Commonwealth period following the English Civil War. Chapter 2 then offers a general introductory overview of the keeping of registers from 1660-1754, covering the requirements of Canon 70 of the church for the registration of baptisms, marriages and burials, and detailing the subsequent efforts of individuals to improve the level of detail to be recorded, as well as attempted legislation by the state.
Chapter 3 moves on to examine the evolution of parish baptism and burial registers in the period from 1754-1812, which includes discussion on interesting topics such as the introduction of the Stamp Duty Act of 1783, with Chapter 4 covering marriages in the same period, and the huge impact of Hardwicke's Act, with discussion on how the registers of marriages and banns were kept.
Chapter 5 then diverts to the Diocese of Carlisle in the north of England, examining the first diocesan intervention to try to improve the quality of record keeping there, whilst Chapter 6 covers the detailed registers introduced by William Dade (1740-1790) within the dioceses of York and Chester, the envy of many of us with ancestors from other parts of Britain and Ireland! Chapter 7 is a short chapter which looks at the record keeping of the Diocese of St. Asaph in north-east to mid-Wales, which similarly reported exceptional details, with similarly brief looks at the Diocese of Norwich in Chapter 8, and Barrington and the dioceses of Salisbury and Durham in Chapter 9.
Chapters 10 and 11 advances the story to the period 1813-1837, discussing the important introduction of Rose's Act in 1812, and its standardisation of record keeping across all parishes in England and Wales, prior to the introduction of civil registration in July 1837, with each chapter focussing on baptisms and burials, and marriages respectively.
Following a brief look in Chapter 12 at the custody and storage of records, and the changes implemented following Rose's Act, there is then a perhaps suprisingly brief discussion of bishops transcripts in Chapter 13 (I suspect genealogists in Scotland would give their eye teeth for a similar system here - albeit the lack of bishops in the Presbyterian church is something a lot of us are proud of!!), which can act as a useful back-up if the original parish registers have not survived. Chapter 14 then ends with the impact of civil registration from 1837 in the two countries, and how parish records have since been kept and made accessible. The book concludes with thirteen short appendices providing additional details on particular topics raised in the book, followed by a useful glossary and index.
There are many clear differences in how record keeping was done south of the border when compared to Scotland, and it has to be said, they probably did it better than we did! John Wintrip's book is very easy to read, providing an exceptionally useful overview of the various parts of England and Wales in their record-keeping practices and their efforts to make improvements, with many clear examples given of details to be found in various parochial entries. The book has various useful black and white illustrations to accompany the text also. Whilst the final part of the book discusses recent efforts to microfilm and to then digitise records, there is no real attempt to steer people towards the relevant archives or websites where such records can be found, but that is not the point of this book, with such information found in many other publications. This work is very much about the history of the records and the context within which they were created and kept, and as such, is a title that I would heartily recommend as an invaluable addition to every genealogist's bookshelf.
A History of Parish Registers in England and Wales: From the Restoration to Civil Registration is available to purchase at https://www.lutterworth.com/product/history-of-parish-registers-in-england-and-wales-from-the-restoration-to-civil-registration-a/ - the paperback edition is £22.50 +p&p, the hardback edition is £49.50, +p&p, and there is an ePub edition at £18.
Chris
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