some dates

[pete edwards]

Hi all

Found these, might be of some use to some fellow reader,

Shropshire: Albrighton (near Shifnal), Boningale, Donington, White Ladies - Parish Registers, Lichfield Diocese

Note for the Reader.

With the present is completed the third volume of Registers for Lichfield Diocese.
The desire of the Council has been to evoke a general interest in the work by printing registers in different parts of the county, and with this object a diocesan arrangement of the volumes was adopted on the suggestion of the Chairman of Council; though as each parish is also given its own separate pagination, it is open to members to arrange the registers in any mode, local or alphabetical, which happens to appeal to their personal convenience. This, moreover, is facilitated by the separate parish indexes, from which hereafter it may be hoped there will be compiled one general index of names for the whole county.The registers in the present volume are all printed from the commencement down to the year  1812 , which seems a convenient stopping-point, as then was inaugurated a new system of registration by what is known as Rose's Act, which lasted only till  1837 , when our present mode of registration of births, deaths, and marriages was adopted. It may be convenient here to add the following facts in the history of parish registers:--
Thomas Cromwell, the Vicar General, issued the order for keeping parish registers on  29 Sep 1538.
Injunctions to this end repeated  1552  and  1558.
Cardinal Pole required the names of sponsors to be added to the registers of baptisms,  1555.The registers were directed to be transcribed anew on parchment. Copies now known as "Bishops' Transcripts" to be sent to the Bishops;  25 Oct 1597.
These regulations embodied in the 70th Canon in  1603.
The "Directory" orders births as well as baptisms to be entered,  1644 , and during the Commonwealth the date of birth is usually given in parish registers.
The Commonwealth directed "parish registers" to be appointed,  22 Sep 1653.
Civil marriage was instituted  29 Sep 1654.
These civil marriages were legalized by Act of 12 Car. 2, c. 33, in  1660.
Act compelling burial in woollen, 18 Car. 2.  1667.
Act requiring an affidavit of burial in woollen to be entered, 30 Car. 2.  1678.
Duties on the registration of births, marriages, and burials, imposed for five years,  1694  to  1698 , 6 and 7 Will. 3,  1694-98.Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act took effect  25 Mar 1754.
Duty of 3d. on every entry in a register, imposed by 23 Geo. 3, c. 71,  1783.
And repealed 34 Geo. 3, c. 11,  1794.
Rose's Act, 52 Geo. 3, c. 146, took effect  01 Jan 1813.
Civil registration in England and Wales commenced  01 Jul 1837.
It may be well to remind the reader of the "double date." Up to the time of the reform of the calendar in  1754 , the civil year commenced on  25 Mar 1754 , while the historical year, as now, began on  01 Jan 1754. Consequently the period from  01 Jan 1754  to  25 Mar 1754  was in two years. Thus, the  01 Feb 1732 , according to the civil year, was the  01 Feb 1733 , according to our (historical) reckoning, and it is often written  01 Feb 1732-3 , or  01 Feb 1732/3 , the last being the historical one. In parish registers the civil reckoning was usually adopted, and this must be remembered when dealing with entries from  01 Jan 1754  to  25 Mar 1754 , before the year  1754.It will be well to add that the letter "p" or "pauper" occurring in registers against some entries in the period  1783-96 , merely indicates that they were exempted from payment of the tax then levied on register entries.
The Council decided that no really useful purpose was served by printing the registers verbatim et literatim, but that valuable space would be filled and progress delayed. Accordingly, mere verbiage has been omitted, and the following abbreviations freely adopted, save when there seemed to be any special reason for giving the entries exactly as they stand:--
b.:bachelor.
sp.:spinster.
wid.:widow.
widr.:widower.
p.:parish.
wit.:witnesses.bap.:baptized.
chr.:christened.
mar.:married.
bur.:buried.
ch.w.:churchwardens.
ux.:uxor (wife).
sep.:sepultus (buried).
s.:son.
d.:daughter.
w.:wife.
lic.:license.
gent.:gentleman.
esq.:esquire.clk.:clerk.
co.:county.
dioc.:diocese.
f.:filius or filia (son or daughter).
A capital letter after "of" or "p." denotes the parish whose particular Register is being printed (thus "of A."=of Albrighton).
Thanks are due to the clergy, the custodians of the respective registers, for leave to print them, and for facilities afforded in transcription. Their names are mentioned in the respective registers.
It is requisite to specially acknowledge the services in transcription and collation of the Rev. Thomas Priestley, the Rev. J. E. Auden, Miss Isaac, Miss Auden, and Miss Helen Briscoe.

Pete