Page 149 - Dictionary of Heraldry and Related Subjects

1642 - The commencement of civil war. This had considerable effect on
the keeping of Registers until 1660. Many early records lost or
dest royed.
1644 - Earliest Presbyterian and Independent (Congregational) Registers.
1647 - Earliest date Cor Baptist Registers.
1649 - Records of about 6,600 English Parishes existing back to this date
or earlier.
Commencement of Commonwealth period, many Parish incum-
bents disappeared.
1653 - Tntroduction of civil commission to grant probates. These records
absorbed into the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in London.
1654 - Solemnisation of marriages restricted to Justices of the Peace.
Parish Registers appointed to record births, marriages and deaths.
but many failed to comply.
1660 - Parish ministers, if still living returned to their Parishes but many
registers prior to tbis date were lost or destroyed.
Provincial ccclesiastical probate courts reopened: al1 Parishes again
record christenings, marriages and burials in the normal rnanner.
1662 - Poor Relief Act introduced and appropriate records provide
genealogical information.
1663 - Earliest date of Roman Catholic Registers.
1665 - The Great Plague. Burial Register entries in London increased
enormously.
1666 - The Great Fire of London. Many Churches and Parish Registers
destroyed.
1684 - Huguenot French Protestant Registers commenced in London.
1688 - Separate burial grounds permitted for non-conformists, Roman
Catholics and Jews. Thus Church of England Parishes would not
record persons buried clsewhere.
1695 - Act of Parliament imposed a fine upon aU who failed ro inform
the Parish Ministers of the birth of a child.
1714 - Land holders takc oath of allegiance and renounce Roman Catho-
licism; quarter session records therefore provide information with
regard to Protestant dissenters and Roman Catholic recussants.
1720 - Manufacturing towns increase in population. This indicated move-
ment of population frorn country districts.
1741 - Earliest date in known Scotch Registers in London.
1749 - Records of over 10,000 English'Parishes existing back to this date
or earlier.
1752 - New style calendar inaugurated: year to commence on the 1st
January instead of the 25th March.
1754 - Marriage Act. Introduction of the publication of banns in Parisbes.
Marriages must take place in one of the Parishes of residence
unless a licence is obtained.
1757 - India becomes part of the British Empire, many families involved
in the East Xndia Company.
1759 - Introduction of Irish labour for use in construction of canals.
1760 - The commencement of the Industrial Revolution. This has the
effect of increasing the importance of towns and the consequent
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