Surnames what would our ancestors have with their surname written on it ?

[philipsearching]

I'd be amazed if people then were given Baptism Certificates!!  If so, I've never seen any evidence of them

They most certainly were -- not routinely, but for specific purposes. Churchwardens’ and overseers’ accounts often show sums received by the parish for issuing a baptism certificate.

They might be required to prove all sorts of things, not least a right to inherit assets, or (at the other end of the social scale) to support poor-law settlement etc.

There are some examples of early baptism certificates on Guy’s website ...
http://anguline.co.uk/cert/birth.html

I am wondering if these certificates would have been retained by a family or handed over to whichever organisation required them as evidence.

Philip

[mazi]

A report by a surveyor in the mid 1800s, surveying the land east of Manchester for an extension to the lancs and Yorkshire railway suggests that many people had no concept of a surname.

“Can you tell me your husbands name”
“E be called jack o’ the moor”

From a history of the LYR by John Marshall

Mike

[Bookbox]

I'd be amazed if people then were given Baptism Certificates!!  If so, I've never seen any evidence of them

They most certainly were -- not routinely, but for specific purposes. Churchwardens’ and overseers’ accounts often show sums received by the parish for issuing a baptism certificate.

They might be required to prove all sorts of things, not least a right to inherit assets, or (at the other end of the social scale) to support poor-law settlement etc.

There are some examples of early baptism certificates on Guy’s website ...
http://anguline.co.uk/cert/birth.html

I am wondering if these certificates would have been retained by a family or handed over to whichever organisation required them as evidence.

It’s mainly ‘chance survival’. I’ve seen them included with settlement examinations, army records, applications for school admission, charitable relief etc., all at county record offices.

[Rena]

As the National archives have records of these dated from 1710 - Possibly apprenticeship indentures would have been exchanged between fathers and employers.

Then in the 1790s (and presumably in earlier decades) estate owners raised local regiments, where recruits would be promised a weekly wage and given a small lump sum for their family, when they signed the dotted line.  Again I'm presuming the lump sum would be accompanied by a piece of paper that set out the details = name, etc.

[Kiltpin]

How true it is, I do not know, but I was told, in the early 70s, on a visit to the Imperial War Museum, that for most men joining up in 1914, the first time they saw their name in print was on their army pay book.

Regards

Chas

[pharmaT]

I'd be amazed if people then were given Baptism Certificates!!  If so, I've never seen any evidence of them

They most certainly were -- not routinely, but for specific purposes. Churchwardens’ and overseers’ accounts often show sums received by the parish for issuing a baptism certificate.

They might be required to prove all sorts of things, not least a right to inherit assets, or (at the other end of the social scale) to support poor-law settlement etc.

There are some examples of early baptism certificates on Guy’s website ...
http://anguline.co.uk/cert/birth.html

I am wondering if these certificates would have been retained by a family or handed over to whichever organisation required them as evidence.

It’s mainly ‘chance survival’. I’ve seen them included with settlement examinations, army records, applications for school admission, charitable relief etc., all at county record offices.

I have a family letter from the 1800s where my 5x grt uncle who is in London is asking my 4xgrt grandfather to go into the local church and ask for a copy of his baptism certificate.

[Andy_T]

A Few Random Ideas:

GOOD CONDUCT MEDALS / RENT BOOKS / OUTDOOR PRIVY SEAT / HYMN BOOKS

Andy_T