Unusual entries on Census

[louisemccrea]

Hi

I have a few strange parish entries that i have came across

A poore youth that died at hunt
Harisons Bastard
Vagrant possibly Scots
Sara d. of Dorothy kendrick and reputed to be Walter Collins child
Robt s. of Maxfield being first to be buried in flannell
Mrs Mary Chetwind was bury'd in linnen and the forfiture paid by order from sir Charles Woolseley
Edward son of a trvelling woman (strangers child)
A child found in ye street
Dorothy Fernis neice to president Brad-Shaw of execrable memory

It made e wonder was it unusuall for bodies to be wrapped in material when being buried as quite a lot say linnen, flannell and Woolen

Louise

[Gaille]

It made e wonder was it unusuall for bodies to be wrapped in material when being buried as quite a lot say linnen, flannell and Woolen

Louise

Hi Louise.

It was the opposite - there was an act of parliament in 1660/80 that stated that bodies should be buried in a pure Wool shroud unless they were plague victims

They were supposed to  be buried in pure wool shrouds, and no other textile.
The family had to state that the burial WAS in wool, or there was a find to pay, as noted in :
Mrs Mary Chetwind was bury'd in linnen and the forfiture paid by order from sir Charles Woolseley
i.e. Sir Charles paid a fine for using Linen instead of Wool.

The very poor were sometimes noted as being buried Naked, which meant that they had no shroud in the coffin.

The legislation was in place until 1814, but not realy enforced after 1770 ish.

Gaille

[Sloe Gin]

They were supposed to  be buried in pure wool shrouds, and no other textile.

I understand this was to shore up the wool industry - so a purely commercial matter!

[louisemccrea]

Hi

Thanks for that it is interesting to know i was curious as to why they kept mentioning what people were buried in.

Louise

[avm228]

[They were supposed to  be buried in pure wool shrouds, and no other textile.
The family had to state that the burial WAS in wool, or there was a find to pay, as noted in :
Mrs Mary Chetwind was bury'd in linnen and the forfiture paid by order from sir Charles Woolseley
i.e. Sir Charles paid a fine for using Linen instead of Wool.

I read somewhere that those with money would often choose linen rather than wool, as there was a certain social cachet attached to (a) burying in linen rather than coarse wool, and (b) being able to afford to pay the resulting fine!

Anna

[Rosinish]

This one made me laugh 

4 consecutive entries in parish register:

1 Blank space as the date is missing 
2 9th
3 Yesterday         
4 21st

Whoever said Genealogy was boring 

[patty38]

My  G.G. uncle was listed on the 1901 census as "imbecile from childhood", I have often wondered whether this was done by his mother who was head of the house or by the enumerator, whichever and taking into consideration the date I still think it was rather harsh.

[demented]

 While searching for my elusive 5x greatgrandfather I came across a PR which stated  "born in fornication" 

[KGarrad]

As I pointed out in another thread:

Some terms do have a formal definition in the UK although they are no longer used :
Term Idiot  IQ 0 to 25  Modern term Severe learning disability
Imbecile  25 to 50  Moderate learning disability
Feeble minded 50 to 70  Mild learning disability
Those with an IQ of less than 50 usually need care throughout life and are unlikely to educable in the formal sense


Different world back then; different meanings!