I have discovered, while researching my family, an extraordinary large amount of French deaths in the parish registers for St Gluvias, Cornwall. The main years are 1747 and 1756. I understand that prisoners were taken during failed invasion attempts of England.
I should imagine that these prisoners were put to death by their English captors but I'm wondering what the reasoning is behind having their deaths written in the registers. Was it law or was it just normal practice to do so? Can anyone shed some light on the practice for me? Many thanks.
http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/burials_french_cornwall.pdf