"Gave thanks" in baptism register?

[baytree1970]

I came across several entries in a 1769 baptism register from Bristol where instead of the baptism of a child, it says the parent "gave thanks" - any idea what this means?

[Maggsie]

They couldn't pay anything for the Baptism, it's like having a Blessing.
Maggsie

[baytree1970]

Thanks, I didn't know that. It's crazy, probably half of the entries at least are 'give thanks' in this register - must have been a poor neighbourhood

[arthurk]

I don't think there's ever been a fee for baptism itself, though at one time there might have been to have it entered in the register. 'Poor' in a register usually indicates that the fee was waived.

In this case, the entry reads more like a record of Churchings - the ceremony where women go to give thanks for surviving childbirth; note that the names here appear to be the mothers, not the children. Where an entry says 'not baptised', it would be worth looking for a separate baptism on another day, as poverty shouldn't have been a reason for it not to happen.

The liturgy for the Churching of Women as used at that time is at

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/churching-women

[JenB]

They couldn't pay anything for the Baptism, it's like having a Blessing.

If this is an Anglican register, then, as Arthur has said, there was no fee payable for baptism.
This posting by stanmapstone is useful reading
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=800239.msg6577245#msg6577245

Could you give a link to the register you refer to?

[baytree1970]

Could you give a link to the register you refer to?

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/16275009:61666

It's on Ancestry. It's the 1747-1777 register for St Philip and Jacob, Bristol

[JenB]

Could you give a link to the register you refer to?

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/16275009:61666

It's on Ancestry. It's the 1747-1777 register for St Philip and Jacob, Bristol

Unfortunately I haven’t got access to Ancestry at present so can’t help with that.

[baytree1970]

Here's another page from the same register - on every page there are three columns on the right with numbers entered - I thought these might be money, but for what? If not money, what are they? Very mysterious...

[arthurk]

It looks like sums of money, but you could perhaps check to see if they are totalled up at the end of each month or year, and if it works out correctly in pounds, shillings and pence.

I see that nearly all of them are against the churchings, and as that's not a sacrament of the church, perhaps they felt at liberty to charge (or negotiate) a fee. There are a couple against baptisms, so maybe they were voluntary donations. Or perhaps in some cases they did churchings and baptisms together, so were able to raise a fee, but only recorded the baptisms in the register.