Page 148 - Dictionary of Heraldry and Related Subjects

is principally hearsay evidence rather different and in spite of the
which has survived being told by difllculties involved most parishes
father to son up to the time when had some form of record in opera-
tion, though not always very accur-
eventually comrnitted to paper.
In spite of Henry VIII's order ate.
rnany parishes were very dilatory in
In 1837 an Act of Parliament
compiying with the instruction and decreed that records of births, mar-
for this reason only a few Parish riages and deaths in both England
records go back as far as 1538. and Wales should be registered at
However, by 1600 the story was Somerset House.
HistoricaI Events Affecting Genealogical Research - 16th centuw. Many
agriculturally employed moved to different areas due to the break up of
flic mediaeval agricultural system and the dissolution of the monasteries.
Entry of patch-cloth workers who settled in England.
1534 - Break between Church of England and Roman Catholics. Henry
VIII assuming tirle of head of the Church of England.
1536 - First order issued with regard to the Keeping of Parish Registers.
1538 - Second order issued re keeping of Parish Registers. Approximately
600 English and Welsh Parishes comply.
1547 - Third order issued with regard to keeping of Parish Registers.
1549 - Approximately 1,250 English and Welsh Parishes have records
dating back to this date.
1553-58 - Mary 1 makes every effort to force people to return to Roman
Catholicism. This has considerable affect on registers of this date.
1559 - Elizabeth 1 issues edict repeating the order for keeping Parish
Registers.
1563 - Papal recusants heavilv fined for non-attendance at the Church.
~écords of these fmdl'ngs in the quarter sessions of the county
courts and in the Queen's Exchequer Courts became valuable
evidence in tracing Catholic pedigrees.
1567 - Flemish exifes settle in southern counties.
1571 - Introduction of Presbyterianism into England.
1578 - Earliest Quaker records (the Society of Friends).
1589 - Records of over 5,000 English Parishes exist back to this date or
earlier. Many others have lost early records.
1592 - Congregational (Independent) Church formed in London.
Earliest registers however cornrnenced 1644.
1597 - Elizabeth 1 issues edict that Parish Registers should be kept on
parchment, al1 earlier records at least back to 1558 to be recopied.
The same edict ordered copies of Christening, Marriage and Burial
entries to be sent yearly to the office of the Bishop of the diocese.
These are known as Bishop's Transcripts.
1601 - Poor Law Acts of 1597-1601 order the appointment of two over-
seers of the poor in each Parish. These records are of Genealogical
value.
1603 - Repetition of previous orders concerning keeping of Parish
Registers.
1620 - Emigration of Congregationalists to America in Mayflower.
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