COLLECTIONS GUIDE 1 Parish Registers
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COLLECTIONS GUIDE 1 Parish Registers Contacting Us What are parish registers? We recommend that you contact Prior to 1837, there was no system for recording births and deaths. us to book a place before visiting The main sources of information about individuals are church our searchrooms. registers of baptism, marriage and burial. These are organised by church, and are known as ‘parish registers’. WYAS Bradford Margaret McMillan Tower Parish registers were first introduced in 1538, but very few survive Prince’s Way from this date. In 1598, parishes were ordered to keep their registers Bradford in parchment books instead of paper. Earlier entries were supposed BD1 1NN to be copied into the new books. But many parishes started Telephone +44 (0)113 393 9785 only at the year 1558, the year Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne. e. [email protected] WYAS Calderdale What is a parish? Central Library Northgate House A parish is the area served by a clergyman of the Church of England. Northgate Until 1929, the church parish was also a unit of civil administration. Halifax Today the civil parish is still the smallest unit of local government. But HX1 1UN the boundaries of modern civil and church parishes are Telephone +44 (0)1422 392636 not always the same. A civil parish may include several church e. [email protected] parishes, or only part of one. WYAS Kirklees Central Library When the parishes were created, the population in Yorkshire was Princess Alexandra Walk very much smaller than it is today. One parish church often served Huddersfield several villages or townships. People living in outlying villages usually HD1 2SU had to travel to their parish church to be baptised, get married or for Telephone +44 (0)1484 221966 funerals. This is different to the south of England, where each village e. [email protected] usually had its own parish church. WYAS Leeds Many West Yorkshire parishes did not exist before the 19th century. Nepshaw Lane South Leeds These later parishes were created because industrialisation and LS27 7JQ urbanisation of the region led to rapid population growth. Telephone +44 (0)113 3939788 e. [email protected] Where can I find parish registers? WYAS Wakefield West Yorkshire Archive Service holds the registers of over 500 West Yorkshire History Centre parishes. Registers are available on microfiche at all WYAS offices 127 Kirkgate and at the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in Leeds. Registers Wakefield which have not yet been filmed are indicated in bold in the list which WF1 1JG e. [email protected] follows. These can only be viewed at the WYAS office which holds the original register 09/02/2017 What information do parish registers contain? After 1 July 1837, the civil registration (G.R.O.) records In early registers, entries are often very brief: provide information on births, deaths and marriages. Baptisms name the child and one, Useful Dates sometimes both parents, but no details of occupation or address 1538 Thomas Cromwell ordered the minister Marriages give the names of the parties, but of each parish to record every baptism, not ages or occupations, and no parents’ marriage and burial. Most entries were names made on paper, many on loose sheets. Only Burials provide the name, but not a few of these early registers survive. necessarily the age, occupation or place where the deceased lived 1598 Register entries were made in parchment books. Previous entries were supposed to Early registers are in date order, but may be in Latin. be copied into the new books. Many They reflect the personality of the vicar or clerk who clergymen only copied up entries from 1558, maintained them. They vary from the well-kept to the the year of accession of Queen Elizabeth I. indifferent and scrappy. 1754 Following Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of Registers do not usually record the date of birth or 1753, marriages were entered in a separate death, only of baptism or burial. Printed forms for register. Bound volumes of printed forms recording entries were introduced for marriages in were introduced. These forms included 1754 and for baptisms and burials in 1783 (not spaces to record the occupation of bride and widely used) and 1813. groom, where they lived and the names of two witnesses. Under this act, marriages in From the late 18th century onwards, the increase the Halifax area were only allowed at in other types of churches (particularly Methodist Halifax, Elland and Heptonstall chapel until chapels), means that Church of England registers 1837. can no longer be relied upon to contain details of the majority of the population. Also, many parish burial 1813 The Parochial Registers Act or Rose’s Act grounds were closed in the 19th century, and local of 1812 instructed that baptisms and burials authority or private cemeteries were opened. This were to be entered in separate registers. means that church burial registers may not be the Baptism entries were to record the name, main source of information on deaths. residence and trade or profession of the father. Burial entries were to record the Most people were married in the Church of England name, age and residence of the deceased. until 1837. This is because the law only recognised Church of England marriages, unless the partners 1837 The Marriage Act of 1836 and the Births and were Quakers or Jews. Deaths Registration Act of the same year established the system of civil registration. Before a marriage could take place in the Church of All marriage registers were to record the England, one of two procedures had to take place: name, age, occupation and residence of the • Banns were announced in church on three bride and groom, and the name and Sundays before the ceremony. After 1754, banns occupation of the respective fathers. From were often recorded in the marriage register. 1837, any place of worship could be Separate banns registers were introduced in 1823. registered to carry out marriage ceremonies. In the case of a couple from different parishes marrying, the banns were entered in the registers of 1978 Parochial Registers and Records Measure each parish. passed by the General Synod of the Church of England. This meant that many registers • A marriage licence avoided the publicity and delay and other parish records were deposited in of banns. Most marriage licences were obtained local record offices. However, recent from the diocese where one of the parties lived, registers and records may still be kept by and in which the marriage was to take place. The the parish, and in some cases all the licences themselves rarely survive. But the related records have been retained. marriage bonds and allegations were kept in the issuing diocesan office. These are often now available in local record offices.