The First Oundle Parish Register
By Julia Moss
Although the first surviving Oundle register didn't start until 1625, in England the duty of keeping parish registers dates back to the mid 16th century when the census started. In 1538 Henry VIII’s minister, Thomas Cromwell, a great moderniser, ordered that every parson, vicar or curate should enter in a book every wedding christening or burial in his parish the idea was to provide “a safe coffer” with two locks, one for the Parson and one for the church wardens, for the safe keeping of the registers. Further efforts were made, notably in 1598, to ensure that registers of all events should be kept in a parchment book in every parish and as a result many registers go back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Perhaps the greatest virtue of the parish register is that it provides the most comprehensive existing record of the community prior to the 19th century. From 1525 onwards the names of every man woman or child who was baptised married or buried in Oundle should appear in the registers. Not surprisingly there are important exceptions and two, very different in kind, come to mind. First, the civil war and the Commonwealth were times of considerable religious and political dislocation and this is reflected in the registers. In 1662 the vicar, Benjamin Dillingham, who had replaced the puritan Richard Resbury, wrote “from the yeare 1650 to the present yeare, this book is very imperfect.”
The second exception to the completeness of the register reflects a social rather than a political reality. Women appear but not on equal terms with men. When recording baptisms, the Oundle register shows only the father’s name; for example “Edward, son of John Nethercott’s gent” or “Robert, son of Robert Scotney”. The mothers name appears only in cases like that of “Andrew, son of Ann Williamson, base born”, or more rarely where the mother was a widow. In Oundle in the late 17th century burial entries like this are common “Thomas Worlidge, glover, his wife”. or more often still “Widow Cooper of Elmington”. Children’s names are sometimes omitted too, as in “child of John Bings”.
However, despite the deficiency, the registers can provide us with all kinds of information, depending on our interests and the questions we ask. For some people their main interest is genealogy, tracing the history of their family; for others, social history, what life was like in their community prior to the industrial revolution; while more recently there has been increased interest in historical demography, the statistics of birth, marriage, death, and the incidence of disease and of migration.
One interest can lead to another. In researching your own family history, you may start to ask questions about stability and migration, age of marriage, infant mortality etc.
Struggling with different hands of 17th century parish clerks or possibly vicars, one is struck by the number of surnames which one recognises as local. Among those were Cunnington, Scotney, Binder, Bunning, Thirlbie, Wyles, Willamont, Plowrite, Berridge, Pridmore, Ireson and Moysey. The marriage registers were particularly interesting, because most of the time, they gave the parish of both partners. For instance, in 1627 Thomas Bunning of Werrington married and Oundle girl, Ellen Jerman and one could not help wonder if this was the first Bunning to settle here. One is surprised by the number of marriages in which one partner came from outside the parish, generally from nearby villages such as Glapthorn, Cotterstock, Warmington and Benefield. More puzzling were the marriages where both partners were domiciled elsewhere - why did Samson Mills of Peterborough choose to marry Margaret Simpson of Fletton in Oundle in 1631?
Christian names too can be interesting. Common names during the period were William, Thomas, Ann and Elizabeth, but there were a number of unusual names, which helped to identify the bearer; Jesper or Jasper Finne is one such name and at a time when infant and child mortality was high - around 40% of burials - one notice that Jasper lost five children between 1626 and 1641. One notes too the reuse of a dead child's name for a later sibling. Michal, daughter of Morris Randall was baptised on 15th of January 1729 and buried early in 1730, and on 26th of January 1732 her younger sister was given the same, very distinctive common name.
Not only was child mortality high – childbirth was dangerous and marriage often short. Griffin Tatum and Elizabeth Isbell Austin were married on the 20th of March 1639. Austin, most likely her first child was baptised on 23rd October 1640 and [Elizabeth] Isbell was buried on the same day, followed by the baby six days later. This was a personal tragedy, but the burial register also documents the outbreaks of disease which could devastate the whole community.
The entries for 1625, the year the register started, provide an example of this sort of misfortune. In addition to 34 deaths recorded in the normal way, there were a further section headed “The names of such as died of the plague or vehemently so suspected and were not buried in the churchyard “ On 14th of July “a daughter of William Abel’s who came from London died” , followed a week later by a grandchild of William Able’s. Between then and the 26th of September a further 21 people died, including Abel himself and “goodwife Able.” The other victims were members of the Paige, Cooper, Henson, Thurlbie, Pert and Webster households. Perhaps the saddest entries of all applied to the Pert family - the wife of John Pert, a wench that dwelt with Pert, a child of Pert’s, another child of Pert’s and Pert’s least child.
During both the 1625 and 1666 outbreaks of plague, it was common for several members of the same household to be affected - they may have been shut up together to prevent the disease from spreading. The burial register for the plague year 1666 ends with a rare comment from the clerk, “239 buried sicknes yeare, al deseses”; this was out of a population of less than 2000.
Additional information about this dreadful year can be found in a separate sheet headed, “Oundle 1666 - Burials from April 29 to October 31”, which shows “the places where people died”. These for the most part with the poorer areas such as North End and the Pest House; the better off moved away wherever possible.
These were not the only years of very high or crisis mortality in the town. Looking at the numbers of baptisms and burials for the two ten year periods 1629 to 38 and 1709 to 18, you find that 1638 and 1714 were years of exceptionally high mortality but the registers contain no indication of the causes of death and by 1714 the plague died out in England. In May, June and July that year (1714) there were more than 22 deaths in each month compared to the usual figure of less than four.
A further question which arises is “To what extent do the registers reflect the political and religious controversies of the period?” Already mentioned are the gaps in admissions in the registers and there are certainly some indication of upheavals in the country as a whole. Alterations in the style of registration reflect administrative changes. In 1645, both the baptismal and burial registers contain the statement “These set down according to “The Directory set forth by the Synod and alow’d of by both Houses of Parliament”. This was a reference to “The Directory of the Publique Worship of God” which replaced the Payer Book. Dates of birth and death were to be given and for the few years where this was observed it shows that the interval between birth and baptism is generally short, less than ten days.
In August 1653 another entry in the baptismal register reads “This set down by Act of Parliament by me William Terrewest, registrar”. By this act the custody of the registers was invested
to a secular official - William Terrewest was probably a bookseller - and magistrates were to conduct marriages. We don't know what local people thought of these changes, but we do know that Puritanism has a good deal of support in Oundle.
Arthur Smith, who is vicar from 1621 till his death was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Mildmay’s Puritan foundation. He died early in 1642 and his successor, Richard Resbury , was appointed Puritan Lecturer by the Long Parliament later that year Resbury remained minister throughout the period of the Civil War and Commonwealth, but resigned in 1662 after the Restoration, when the use of the Book of Common Prayer was made compulsory. His successor was Benjamin Dillingham, who signed the register in 1662. Resbury, however, although no longer a minister, continued to live in Oundle until his death here in 1674. Two other puritan clergy, ejected from their livings, found refuge in Oundle. The names of Robert Wild, the well known doctor of Divinity from Aynho, and Edward Cawthorne from Tansor both appear in the burial register. We know from other sources that Dillingham married Cawthorne’s sister. We know too that Dillingham and Cawthorne had both been at Oundle School and Emmanuel College, though not at the same time.
Trawling through the baptismal register one wonders how much importance should be given to the choice of names. It seems likely that names such as Grace, which was quite common, Temperance, Prudence and Charitie and Old Testament names such as Hezekiah and Hannah indicated Puritan sympathies.
The reverse may be true to. There is one unusual entry. On 23rd of Aug 1698 Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Manninge, junior, gent, and Mrs Martha, his wife, was baptised (as reported) by a non-juring (that is a Jacobite) minister. On 5th of January 1715 a son of Thomas Manning, gent, was baptised Charles, which taken together with the early entry, would seem to indicate Jacobite sympathies.
Another unusual entry stands out - the adult baptism on 9th of April 1705 of Sidney Hammond a black. Eight years later Sarah, daughter of Sidney Hammond, was baptised.
Certain other entries contain additional information about the people concerned. Doctor Wild was described at his burial as a Doctor of Divinity with “unconformity” inserted above. The baptismal register for the Commonwealth refers to children of Major Butler and quarter-master John Pickering.
Other men are described as soldiers - Martin Perkins a “souldier” of London, was buried on the 7th of October 1664 and in November 1689 two nameless French soldiers were buried. Throughout the period old men and women were buried from the hospital, either Latham's or Laxton and sometimes poor travellers or strangers died passing through Oundle.
There is no consistent record of occupations, but among those given are labourer, farmer, shepherd, miller, woolcomber, blacksmith, wheelwright, carpenter, mason, slater, butcher, shoemaker, hatter, draper, glover, hemp dresser, gunsmith, pewterer, pipemaker, chandler, grocer, innkeeper, surgeon, schoolmaster, bookseller, tinker and exciseman. Although this list is not comprehensive it is sufficient to indicate a society very different from our own.
By Julia Moss
Although the first surviving Oundle register didn't start until 1625, in England the duty of keeping parish registers dates back to the mid 16th century when the census started. In 1538 Henry VIII’s minister, Thomas Cromwell, a great moderniser, ordered that every parson, vicar or curate should enter in a book every wedding christening or burial in his parish the idea was to provide “a safe coffer” with two locks, one for the Parson and one for the church wardens, for the safe keeping of the registers. Further efforts were made, notably in 1598, to ensure that registers of all events should be kept in a parchment book in every parish and as a result many registers go back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Perhaps the greatest virtue of the parish register is that it provides the most comprehensive existing record of the community prior to the 19th century. From 1525 onwards the names of every man woman or child who was baptised married or buried in Oundle should appear in the registers. Not surprisingly there are important exceptions and two, very different in kind, come to mind. First, the civil war and the Commonwealth were times of considerable religious and political dislocation and this is reflected in the registers. In 1662 the vicar, Benjamin Dillingham, who had replaced the puritan Richard Resbury, wrote “from the yeare 1650 to the present yeare, this book is very imperfect.”
The second exception to the completeness of the register reflects a social rather than a political reality. Women appear but not on equal terms with men. When recording baptisms, the Oundle register shows only the father’s name; for example “Edward, son of John Nethercott’s gent” or “Robert, son of Robert Scotney”. The mothers name appears only in cases like that of “Andrew, son of Ann Williamson, base born”, or more rarely where the mother was a widow. In Oundle in the late 17th century burial entries like this are common “Thomas Worlidge, glover, his wife”. or more often still “Widow Cooper of Elmington”. Children’s names are sometimes omitted too, as in “child of John Bings”.
However, despite the deficiency, the registers can provide us with all kinds of information, depending on our interests and the questions we ask. For some people their main interest is genealogy, tracing the history of their family; for others, social history, what life was like in their community prior to the industrial revolution; while more recently there has been increased interest in historical demography, the statistics of birth, marriage, death, and the incidence of disease and of migration.
One interest can lead to another. In researching your own family history, you may start to ask questions about stability and migration, age of marriage, infant mortality etc.
Struggling with different hands of 17th century parish clerks or possibly vicars, one is struck by the number of surnames which one recognises as local. Among those were Cunnington, Scotney, Binder, Bunning, Thirlbie, Wyles, Willamont, Plowrite, Berridge, Pridmore, Ireson and Moysey. The marriage registers were particularly interesting, because most of the time, they gave the parish of both partners. For instance, in 1627 Thomas Bunning of Werrington married and Oundle girl, Ellen Jerman and one could not help wonder if this was the first Bunning to settle here. One is surprised by the number of marriages in which one partner came from outside the parish, generally from nearby villages such as Glapthorn, Cotterstock, Warmington and Benefield. More puzzling were the marriages where both partners were domiciled elsewhere - why did Samson Mills of Peterborough choose to marry Margaret Simpson of Fletton in Oundle in 1631?
Christian names too can be interesting. Common names during the period were William, Thomas, Ann and Elizabeth, but there were a number of unusual names, which helped to identify the bearer; Jesper or Jasper Finne is one such name and at a time when infant and child mortality was high - around 40% of burials - one notice that Jasper lost five children between 1626 and 1641. One notes too the reuse of a dead child's name for a later sibling. Michal, daughter of Morris Randall was baptised on 15th of January 1729 and buried early in 1730, and on 26th of January 1732 her younger sister was given the same, very distinctive common name.
Not only was child mortality high – childbirth was dangerous and marriage often short. Griffin Tatum and Elizabeth Isbell Austin were married on the 20th of March 1639. Austin, most likely her first child was baptised on 23rd October 1640 and [Elizabeth] Isbell was buried on the same day, followed by the baby six days later. This was a personal tragedy, but the burial register also documents the outbreaks of disease which could devastate the whole community.
The entries for 1625, the year the register started, provide an example of this sort of misfortune. In addition to 34 deaths recorded in the normal way, there were a further section headed “The names of such as died of the plague or vehemently so suspected and were not buried in the churchyard “ On 14th of July “a daughter of William Abel’s who came from London died” , followed a week later by a grandchild of William Able’s. Between then and the 26th of September a further 21 people died, including Abel himself and “goodwife Able.” The other victims were members of the Paige, Cooper, Henson, Thurlbie, Pert and Webster households. Perhaps the saddest entries of all applied to the Pert family - the wife of John Pert, a wench that dwelt with Pert, a child of Pert’s, another child of Pert’s and Pert’s least child.
During both the 1625 and 1666 outbreaks of plague, it was common for several members of the same household to be affected - they may have been shut up together to prevent the disease from spreading. The burial register for the plague year 1666 ends with a rare comment from the clerk, “239 buried sicknes yeare, al deseses”; this was out of a population of less than 2000.
Additional information about this dreadful year can be found in a separate sheet headed, “Oundle 1666 - Burials from April 29 to October 31”, which shows “the places where people died”. These for the most part with the poorer areas such as North End and the Pest House; the better off moved away wherever possible.
These were not the only years of very high or crisis mortality in the town. Looking at the numbers of baptisms and burials for the two ten year periods 1629 to 38 and 1709 to 18, you find that 1638 and 1714 were years of exceptionally high mortality but the registers contain no indication of the causes of death and by 1714 the plague died out in England. In May, June and July that year (1714) there were more than 22 deaths in each month compared to the usual figure of less than four.
A further question which arises is “To what extent do the registers reflect the political and religious controversies of the period?” Already mentioned are the gaps in admissions in the registers and there are certainly some indication of upheavals in the country as a whole. Alterations in the style of registration reflect administrative changes. In 1645, both the baptismal and burial registers contain the statement “These set down according to “The Directory set forth by the Synod and alow’d of by both Houses of Parliament”. This was a reference to “The Directory of the Publique Worship of God” which replaced the Payer Book. Dates of birth and death were to be given and for the few years where this was observed it shows that the interval between birth and baptism is generally short, less than ten days.
In August 1653 another entry in the baptismal register reads “This set down by Act of Parliament by me William Terrewest, registrar”. By this act the custody of the registers was invested
to a secular official - William Terrewest was probably a bookseller - and magistrates were to conduct marriages. We don't know what local people thought of these changes, but we do know that Puritanism has a good deal of support in Oundle.
Arthur Smith, who is vicar from 1621 till his death was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Mildmay’s Puritan foundation. He died early in 1642 and his successor, Richard Resbury , was appointed Puritan Lecturer by the Long Parliament later that year Resbury remained minister throughout the period of the Civil War and Commonwealth, but resigned in 1662 after the Restoration, when the use of the Book of Common Prayer was made compulsory. His successor was Benjamin Dillingham, who signed the register in 1662. Resbury, however, although no longer a minister, continued to live in Oundle until his death here in 1674. Two other puritan clergy, ejected from their livings, found refuge in Oundle. The names of Robert Wild, the well known doctor of Divinity from Aynho, and Edward Cawthorne from Tansor both appear in the burial register. We know from other sources that Dillingham married Cawthorne’s sister. We know too that Dillingham and Cawthorne had both been at Oundle School and Emmanuel College, though not at the same time.
Trawling through the baptismal register one wonders how much importance should be given to the choice of names. It seems likely that names such as Grace, which was quite common, Temperance, Prudence and Charitie and Old Testament names such as Hezekiah and Hannah indicated Puritan sympathies.
The reverse may be true to. There is one unusual entry. On 23rd of Aug 1698 Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Manninge, junior, gent, and Mrs Martha, his wife, was baptised (as reported) by a non-juring (that is a Jacobite) minister. On 5th of January 1715 a son of Thomas Manning, gent, was baptised Charles, which taken together with the early entry, would seem to indicate Jacobite sympathies.
Another unusual entry stands out - the adult baptism on 9th of April 1705 of Sidney Hammond a black. Eight years later Sarah, daughter of Sidney Hammond, was baptised.
Certain other entries contain additional information about the people concerned. Doctor Wild was described at his burial as a Doctor of Divinity with “unconformity” inserted above. The baptismal register for the Commonwealth refers to children of Major Butler and quarter-master John Pickering.
Other men are described as soldiers - Martin Perkins a “souldier” of London, was buried on the 7th of October 1664 and in November 1689 two nameless French soldiers were buried. Throughout the period old men and women were buried from the hospital, either Latham's or Laxton and sometimes poor travellers or strangers died passing through Oundle.
There is no consistent record of occupations, but among those given are labourer, farmer, shepherd, miller, woolcomber, blacksmith, wheelwright, carpenter, mason, slater, butcher, shoemaker, hatter, draper, glover, hemp dresser, gunsmith, pewterer, pipemaker, chandler, grocer, innkeeper, surgeon, schoolmaster, bookseller, tinker and exciseman. Although this list is not comprehensive it is sufficient to indicate a society very different from our own.
