Freedom Of the City of London

[Mamsoth]

Wasn't sure where to post this, hope its in the right place. I have a record of an ancestor of mine named John Lingard, it's granting him the freedom of the city (London), he is an innholder. I'm pretty sure I understand most aspects of the document all except one...

It may seem insignificant and perhaps it is, but does anyone know the meaning of the usage of the word "Copy" in the following example...

[horselydown86]

As a suggestion for the future, you really need to post a lot more background with an obscure question like this.

Nevertheless, here is the answer (but see the last line below).

I'm fairly certain the document from which you have taken the clip is an admission to the Freedom of the City of London by patrimony.

A condition of the admission by patrimony is that the candidate be born after the admission of his/her father to the Freedom of the City.

The year next to the word Copy I believe to be the year of the father's admission.  As you can see, it is followed by the year of the candidate's birth.

I'm not sure exactly why the word Copy is used.  Perhaps the City or Livery Company officials are certifying that they have sighted a copy of the father's admission, or that the City or Company has in its archive its copy of the admission.

Disclaimer:  I have deduced this from the records of my own Freemen, rather than by research in an authoritative source.

[Mamsoth]

Thanks horsely, thats really helpful

As a suggestion for the future, you really need to post a lot more background with an obscure question like this.

I've tried doing this before and have been told to remove my posts due to copyright issues.

[horselydown86]

I've tried doing this before and have been told to remove my posts due to copyright issues.

Fair enough.

Note that after examining the handwriting on one of my people's admission I have modified my post slightly.  It appears that (in this case) the word Copy was written by the Livery Company's Warden.

[Mamsoth]

Ok Cheers Horsely

[Bookbox]

I agree with HD. There's an earlier record for a John Lingard, presumably the father, being admitted to Freedom in 1763.

Related thread ...
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=752274.0

[Mamsoth]

I'm also looking at that document, which says that the john lingard admitted in 1763 is the son of either Olto (swedish name) or perhap Xto (shorthand for Christopher?).

Please excuse my ignorance but how many people are we talking being granted the freedom of the city in a given year. Is it like 10, or 10,000. Just a ball park figure so that I know how likely this is to be the same John Lingard who is father of "my" John Lingard.

[Bookbox]

John Lingard is not the commonest of names. One can never be 100% certain, but I would think there is unlikely to be more than one admitted to Freedom in the same Company in the same year.

ADDED - the father of the John Lingard admitted in 1763 is recorded as X^to = Christopher, as was suggested in your other thread (Olto is simply an Ancestry mistranscription).

[Mamsoth]

Thanks Bookbox