Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837 Read online

  Nonconformist clergy had to have their premises licensed for worship after 1688. These requests are usually found with the quarter sessions at the county record office in question, giving details of the minister and the location of the chapel. Catholic priests had to do likewise, after 1791, and letters by all these men can be found at the LMA. Close Rolls at TNA give information about deeds referring to use of land and property by Nonconformists (C54 and, from 1902, J18). These have been indexed and so are relatively easy to use.

  It was not only Catholics who appear on lists during this time. In 1745 there were many who wished to assert their loyalty to George II. Many counties formed volunteer units to assist the regular troops and to counter any possible local Jacobite action. To pay for these forces, voluntary subscriptions were called for. This led to lists of subscribers being drawn up, together with sums of money promised. Many still exist. There are lists for Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Hull, Middlesex, Scarborough, York and Yorkshire, among others. Some of these have been published, some exist at the county record office in question and those for Yorkshire are reproduced in Jonathan Oates’s Responses in North East England to the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745. These lists are sometimes in alphabetical order. Nobility, gentry and clergy appear disproportionately in these lists, as they had most to lose from a defeat of the religious and political status quo, as well as having more spare money. Yet many less affluent people are also listed, albeit paying smaller sums.

  Another rebellion against the Crown which led to a mass of loyalist addresses was that in the American colonies in 1775. From September 1775 to March 1776, addresses, with lists of those who signed them, were published in The London Gazette newspaper. These can be seen at TNA, the British Library and at the British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale. Although these petitions don’t give any personal information, they are useful for two reasons. First, they give an indication as to an individual’s politics and secondly they show where he was living at that time.

  Other Lists

  There are many other lists of people drawn up through the centuries for a myriad of different reasons. Two examples are two valuable works by the Camden Society (published in 1847 and 1848 respectively) which include extensive lists of people: ‘The Diary of Henry Maclyn’, a very busy undertaker, for 1550–63, which lists those he buried, and ‘The Obituary of Richard Smyth’, covering 1627–75, with much biographical information about the middling people of the capital. Both are indexed. As with other Camden Society publications, they can be viewed at TNA.

  Friendly Societies and Masonic Lodges

  These groups were prominent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and promoted brotherhood among members (and sisterhood for the former). During the 1790s, with fears about revolution spreading from France, the government ordered that societies register themselves with the JPs. This became annual and resulted in lists of names of members being created. These can be found, when they survive, at county record offices.

  Freemen’s Rolls

  For urban residents, it was important that a man was admitted to the freedom of the city. This allowed him to practise his craft or trade, and to vote. Freedom was achieved on the completion of apprenticeship, by following a father’s trade or could be granted by the order of the mayor and corporation. Names were recorded on an annual basis, from the thirteenth century onwards, though these are less useful from the eighteenth. They can be found at county or borough record offices. Some have been published. They can note name, date of admission, name and occupation of father or name and occupation of master, depending on how admission was gained. Many townsmen were never freemen, of course, and these include servants, apprentices and labourers. Women and children were excluded.

  A degree of luck will determine whether the types of lists mentioned here will be of use to you. Many have been published by county record societies and have been indexed. They should be easily available at the appropriate county record offices and libraries, and there is a large national collection at TNA’s library.

  Chapter 12

  MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES

  It is worth remembering that almost any document can contain information relevant to your research. Clearly, those documents which cover the period and place which coincides with your ancestor’s whereabouts may be very rewarding.

  Personal accounts, such as diaries, memoirs and memoranda books, even if they were not written by your ancestor, are one example. If your ancestor lived in East Hoathley in Sussex between 1754 and 1765, it would be worth reading the diary of Thomas Turner, a shopkeeper there, and whose diary extracts were published in 1984 (a copy of the complete diary is at the Bodleian Library, and the original is in the USA). Turner made many references to fellow parishioners who he came into contact with, either as fellow parish officers, customers of his shop, friends, family and neighbours. Not all these are flattering. He wrote of one Jeremiah French thus: ‘quite stupid through drinking’, he ‘would never willingly be without a dram of gin in his hand’. Even if your ancestor was not mentioned there, the diary gives a firsthand account of what it was like to live in that village at that time. There are many other diaries of course, those of John Evelyn, Samuel Pepys and the Revd James Woodforde being other well-known ones. These have all been published and are often well indexed by name, so searching for an ancestor is straightforward. Published correspondence, such as that of Horace Walpole (1717–97), which has been indexed by name, can be very useful.

  Immigration

  Most people tend to think of those people who have arrived since 1945 when the word immigration is mentioned. Yet it should be remembered that many people will have ancestors who arrived into England in previous centuries. Many came in search of work, such as the Irish, from the Middle Ages onwards. Following the Reformation of the sixteenth century, Protestants arrived in England, fleeing religious persecution in Catholic France or Germany. Jews were allowed to resettle in England in the 1650s, following one of Cromwell’s rare liberal pieces of legislation. Revolution in France in 1789 led to many Frenchmen journeying to England to escape the Terror with their lives.

  Most of those arriving in Britain before the nineteenth century were from the European Continent. These were French Huguenots and German Protestants who were fleeing religious tyranny from their home Catholic states. The former are well known, in part because of the work of the Huguenot Society, in publishing and indexing relevant records. Returns of Aliens in London, 1523–1625 is a published source, giving names of foreigners in the capital and the taxes paid by them (alien was a term for a foreigner). Then there were three surveys of aliens living in London, two in 1571 and one in 1618. These can be viewed at TNA in SP12/82 and 84 and in SP14/102. Huguenots in London tended to settle in Spitalfields and Soho. The Huguenot Society (www.huguenotsociety.org.uk) can be contacted directly about Huguenot ancestors (for a fee), or you can see the published documents at TNA or Guildhall Libraries. Palatine (German) refugees in London can be found in TNA, T 1/119, giving names and numbers of dependants.

  Statue of William III. Paul Lang’s collection.

  Other sources include the indexes to the Calendars to State Papers Domestic (1509–1704) at TNA, and also the Calendars to Treasury Papers; again available at TNA and the British Library. Passes for incoming people in the eighteenth century were issued by the Secretaries of State, and noted in SP44/386–411 for 1697–1784 and FO366/544 for 1748–94. There are some indexes to these; in the forementioned State Papers calendars, up to 1704, then in the Calendar of Home Office Papers, 1760–75. The political turmoil caused by the French Revolution in 1789 led to a new surge of refugees from France, this time escaping political, not religious terror. Some returns to the Aliens’ Office for 1810–11 survive at FO83/21–2. Newcomers, from 1793–1836, were subject to the Aliens Act of the former year, but very few records survive. Newcomers had to register with the justices of the peace, giving name, address, rank and occupation. This information was sent in the form
of certificates to the Home Office. After 1826, such records are found in HO2, and are indexed up to 1849 in HO5/25–32. Alien arrivals for 1810–11 and 1826–69 can be searched online by name at ancestry.co.uk.

  The LMA has a few records relating to the registration of aliens for the late eighteenth century. There are accounts for aliens in Middlesex completed and signed for a number of northern Middlesex parishes for 1797, and returns made by overseers or householders for a few other parishes in Middlesex and Westminster. These aliens include French, Italians and Germans. One example is of a house in the parish of St Anne’s, where it was noted, ‘Charles Chevalier de Beaumont, alien, has taken the house no. 43 Gerrard Street … on the 5th of October, 1797’. Living with him were four named lodgers, all French, and ‘belonging to the opera house’. These are listed under MR/A for Middlesex and WR/A for Westminster.

  Naturalization

  Many immigrants became legally British subjects by either receiving letters of denization or, in later centuries, by being naturalized. This meant that they had all the privileges of natural born Britons, which included voting rights. Letters of denizen exist from the sixteenth century, when about 7,000 were granted. A number of volumes of the Huguenot Society cover the centuries prior to 1800. These are vol. 8, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalisation for Aliens in England, 1509–1603, vol. 18, for 1603–1700, and vol. 27, covering 1701–1800. The latter two volumes also cover Ireland.

  Emigration and Foreign Travel

  Many people have had to travel overseas in centuries past. Usually a licence was required. Certainly from the sixteenth century to 1677, the government issued licences to do so. These can be found at TNA, E157. They include those given to soldiers serving in the Low Countries, people travelling to Europe and to the colonies. Passports from 1791 onwards are also held there, at FO610. Passenger lists survive for those travelling from Bristol to the American colonies from 1654–79 at Bristol Record Office.

  Charities

  From the sixteenth century wealthy individuals left sums of money to be invested in property or stock in order that an income be created to pay for a charitable purpose. This might be educational or to relieve poverty. Usually a number of trustees would administer these funds and disbursements. However, recipients of such sums are rarely mentioned. Rather it is the benefactors and trustees’ names which are most likely to be found in such documentation.

  Coroners

  The office of coroner has existed in England since 1194, but their functions have varied over the centuries. The medieval coroner was usually a knight and he dealt with felons’ appeals, outlawry, felons’ abjurations as well as holding inquests on sudden or suspicious deaths. By 1487 only the latter function remained. After 1660 they dealt with treasure trove.

  Although coroners’ records survive from the thirteenth century onwards, their existence for the early centuries is patchy. Most medieval ones are held at TNA in record series JUST2. Later coroners’ records for London and Middlesex are also held here, at KB9 (1485–1675) and KB10 (post-1675) and for other counties in KB11.

  Patent Rolls

  The Court of Chancery issued letters from 1201 to 1946. Copies are held at TNA. They include grants to individuals and corporations and refer to lands, privileges, licences and denization. There are printed calendars at TNA, for 1216–1582 and 1584–7. Those for 1509–47 are in the Calendars of State Papers for the reign of Henry VIII.

  Hospitals

  There were a number of hospitals in the cities of medieval and early modern England, and especially in London, with further establishments being founded in the eighteenth century. Few relevant documents survive from these times, however. The British Lying In Hospital catered for expectant mothers, especially those whose husbands were in the armed forces, but entrants had to have a sponsor. For the period 1749–1868, there are the hospital’s admission registers, which list the parents’ names, father’s occupation, mother’s age, place of settlement, expected date of delivery, date of admission and birth, dates of discharge or death, and name of recommender. The archives, which list 42,008 admissions, are to be found at TNA, RG8/52–61.

  Another London hospital was Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital of 1741, to look after infants which would otherwise be abandoned. From 1760, parents could petition for their babies to be placed here. Baptism and burial registers are at TNA, RG4/4396 and 4328. Apprenticeship records are at the London Metropolitan Archives, as are the aforesaid petitions.

  Seals

  Individuals often appended documents with their personal seal, made of wax and bearing an image and wording about the edge. These were usually round, but could be oval in the case of clergy and ladies. The seals for the Duchy of Lancaster (several thousand) have been made available online from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries and can be searched by name on TNA’s website.

  Tontines and Annuities

  The former were named after Tonti, an Italian banker, in the seventeenth century, and was a method of the government raising money and of investors securing an income. Basically people paid into the funds and reaped an annual income from it. The income ceased at the death of the nominee chosen by the fund holder (usually a young child was chosen), but as nominees died off, their share was returned to the fund, thus ensuring a greater yield for the remainder. When the last nominee died the capital was returned to the government. There were three English tontines: in 1693, 1766 and 1789. About 15,000 people participated in it; usually the better off. Archives pertaining to these tontines can be found at TNA, NDO1–2. There are indexes and information in these archives refers to the participants and their nominees.

  Annuities paid out an income for life after an initial investment, but the amount received did not increase as others died off. The archives are in the source listed above. Often these were purchased by those who wished to cease their current occupation and had a lump sum to invest to provide them with a future income.

  There were also private tontines, such as the British Tontine of 1792. Its records were taken by the Chancery Courts during a dispute and can be found in TNA, C114/166–8. These volumes list the tontine’s subscribers.

  Heraldry

  Coats of arms belong to specific individuals and their heirs usually through the male line, not to everyone who shares that surname, and date from the twelfth century. The system of coats of arms has been policed since the Middle Ages by Officers of Arms and Heralds, and now by the College of Arms. These officials have created records which may lead you to another avenue in your research.

  There are several sources which you can use. First, is to contact the College of Arms at Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4BT. However their resources are closed to the public and you will need to pay them for research. Or you could try the Heraldry Society at PO Box 722, Guilford, Surrey GU3 3ZX, whose library is open to fee-paying members. Or you could try investigating armorials. These are alphabetical lists of those eligible to bear coats of arms, such as Burke’s The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, containing tens of thousands of names.

  Coat of arms of William Whitehead, Saffron Waldon. Author’s collection.

  The Herald’s Visitations of 1530–1684 have been published on a county by county basis by the Harleian Society in over 100 volumes. They have been indexed and can be located at large libraries and record offices. These were inspections undertaken a regular intervals by the heralds to ascertain and verify those who had the right to bear a coat of arms. In order to do so, they had to check the genealogy of those who claimed to bear such arms. Therefore the heralds would amass a number of pedigrees, which include family trees stretching back centuries.

  Existing Pedigrees

  It is possible that someone may already have researched part of your family tree. Before the late twentieth-century enthusiasm for genealogy, there were previous phases of history in which the pastime was popular, albeit for small sections of society. Many wanted to prove their descent from aristocracy or royal
ty. The results of their labours have often been deposited in archives and libraries. There are many at the British Library (see www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts.html), the College of Arms and the Society of Genealogists’ Library. Not all were manuscripts, as many have been published in works such as Burke’s and Debrett’s as previously described, but Victoria County History volumes (see Bibliography) sometimes contain pedigrees. Volumes on the descendants of medieval monarchs include The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal (1928), listing 50,000 names and The Royal Bastards of Medieval England (1986).

  The temptation is, of course, to try and link these trees to your own and to save yourself a lot of work. However it is essential to check the information provided, as earlier researchers may have erred by optimism. As with every piece of non-primary evidence, use it as a tool, but do not depend on it unquestioningly.