Kent Online Parish Clerks Bromley page already has links to two files of children boarded out from 1885 onwards 1885-1902 and 1902-1910 and I have had a positive response to my transcripts particularly from descendants in Canada and Australia of emigrated children in these records.
I began work on a third record over a year ago working on a closed record with the supervision of Bromley Archivist Lucy Bonner.
This record is an administrative record and is completed in various hands as some of the administrative staff for the Poor Law Union seek the Guardians permission to enlist in 1915 despite being in reserved occupations.
The document is a piece of Social History as well as being valuable to the family history researcher. The development of fostering in Bromley Union by 1908 is well advanced and in 1908 the Union opened its Children's Homes built on the Wellbrook Road land acquired along with the one remaining property adjacent to the Workhouse land. This large detached house and long garden became accommodation for the Workhouse Master. The Childrens Homes were two storey buildings with eventual playgrounds segregated into Boys and Girls Homes. The opening of this accommodation ended the practice of accommodating children on adult wards in the "House" as it became known. The large number of children boarded out by 1908 and an efficient Ladies Committee of Visitors in every parish of the Union enables a clear picture of placement, regular review and integration of medical and educational achievement by the Committee as well as after care when the Board of Guardians legal responsibilities cease.
The Board of Guardians had long sought apprenticeships and training for those leaving school. The training ships for boys provided naval or merchant marine careers for young men. The entrance into domestic service and in some cases pupil teaching and professional qualification was available for girls; The Guardians also contributed to local accommodation for female servants between work as the number of domestic service openings declined as the country saw profound changes in this class system. The Guardians had also offered school leavers the opportunity to be introduced to one of the many Emigration Societies which had been established to support teenagers travelling to Commonwealth countries to enter employment. These Societies offered after care and reported to the Board of Guardians on the progress.
The post 1910 record includes lists of Children for whom the Guardians have parental Rights and Powers with their ages and lists of Boys and Girls that are adopted in 1908 with their ages.
There then follows a section which records children and the names and addresses of foster parents. This is valuable in recording the foster parents who in earlier records of the Committee may be referred to by name and village or district only. Although it is undated the majority of entries appear to be post 1910 and as names are added post 1912.
The record then contains an index page with numbered pages for children. The numbered pages then contain biographical details of the circumstances in which the child came into the Workhouse with descriptions of the parents and their whereabouts if known. The names and addresses of foster parents are entered as well as the child's date of birth. The last entries are for families of children and the efforts taken to place in one village or district to maintain links with siblings.
The breakdown of parental relationships,parental desertion, terminal health or sudden death of parents and in one case the death in war of husband and mother's subsequent alcoholism and institutional decline all illustrate the extent of adversity in young lives.
The period 1910-1918 is therefore the focus of my transcript but for many children entries continue to 1925 and therefore with permission of the Archive the entry is dated with a year range to indicate to the researcher that they can approach the archivist for permission to obtain access to the closed record (currently 1919 onwards). The closed entries are on the same page as open entries and it is possible that some individuals may still be alive. Kent Online Parish Clerks respect international privacy laws and since servers are in Canada a 100 year privacy rule is respected. Children leaving school in the post war years included in this volume often emigrated or were in need of residential care as adults due to health or disability and the Guardians could better support continuous care than the previous notion of Workhouse.
Bromley Poor Law Union had become a district hospital by 1910 providing maternity and psychiatric assessment as well as tubercular wards. The Poor Law Union had provided the Chapel register until 1896 see my earlier blog. The subsequent register of Baptisms is provided by the parish and is Farnborough Hospital Register of Baptisms to reflect this. In both of these registers the maternity ward accepts many family doctor/midwife referrals for delivery of children who are baptised as well as the chapel providing baptisms for the north west corner of Farnborough parish. The attendance of a Registrar accommodated in an office by the Maternity Ward to record Births and Deaths in the Workhouse also offers an increased likelihood of civil registration of birth of illegitimate children born there. The attendance of a Registrar continued in Farnborough Hospital until the 1990's throughout the National Health Service use of the Workhouse site as a District Hospital.
Several boarded out children were illegitimate and several are recorded as originating in London and the Home Counties. This record is therefore valuable along with the Chapel Baptismal records in locating children born to widows and single women.
There is one newspaper cutting of the sentence of hard labour for a mother who deserts her child after her husband dies in the loss of HMS Aboukir on 22 September 1914 and her previous convictions include soliciting in Chatham.
This transcript will I am sure be of interest to those interested in the history of social work in Bromley Kent as well as academic researchers and family historians. My emails from each of these groups continue and I am happy to complete this piece of local history.
The transcript will be published by Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course.
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
Monday 24 December 2018
Thursday 29 November 2018
Farnborough Kent Baptismal Register and Bromley Poor Law Union Births
In theory baptisms at the workhouse were incorporated in the Farnborough Register of Baptisms 1848-1893 an ink blotted volume with space for 1600 baptisms. In transcribing this volume the lack of communication between the Workhouse Chaplain and clergy in Farnborough Parish are evident in frustrated marginal entries. The Chaplain asks the Curate or from 1876 Vicar to reserve space in the register for baptisms which result in blank entries and recorded failure to notify the parish of any baptism. There are also comments about late reporting of baptisms.
Farnborough was required to report entries to the Diocese of Canterbury and this volume includes a series of entries for one year which are loose in the front of the volume and are copies of the register for the year in question. I feel sure that the parish impressed on the Workhouse Chaplain the urgent need to return information before the December return was required by the Diocese but the problem persists throughout the years 1848-1893! Within the Workhouse the Chaplain clearly experiences problems with women who indicate they wish to have a child baptised but then leave before the Chapain can perform the baptism as some enties indicate withdrawal of the need to the parish.
This register is both a record of growth of settlement in the parish with the expansion of building new roads and also a vital record of birth of illegitimate children in the Workhouse Infirmary. Searches of the Census enable searchers to locate both child and mother and such comparison shows that many single women were in domestic service and returned to domestic service after the birth whilst the child is cared for by relatives.
The image of the front cover with heavy ink blots reflects the ink blotting and smudging in the register ( the rear exterior cover is also blotted) and entires in the register are made in black mauve blue and red ink. Some entries also contain marginal queries about the accuracy of parental names recorded.
The Parish register has two entries with Christian names for children with no surname or knowledge of the parents; presumably these children were found abandoned. It is unusual for no surname to given to abandoned infants and since the Bromley Union Creed register is indexed by surname it is not possible to locate the Union surname record. It was usual practice to give a surname reflecting either the place or person of discovery.
The transcript of this register will be published by Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course.
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
Monday 19 November 2018
Saint James School Chapel Farnborough Kent
Within the Farnborough Parish Register of Baptisms from1876 onwards there are references to baptisms at Saint James School Chapel in Farnborough parish.Reverend George William Daroch Hingston had been appointed Vicar of Farnborough in 1876 and moved to a home on the High Road. In the 1881 census this house is entered near Alma and Westbrook Villa on the High Road.
Shortly after taking up residence he had sought Diocesan permission to erect a temporary structure as a chapel of ease and this is the chapel described as Saint James School Chapel. The 1878 Post Office Directory includes an entry "There is a temporary chapel of ease erected on the Vicar's premises for the north western portion of the parish".
Reverend Hingston is taken seriously ill in 1884 and dies on 30 July 1884. It appears that he had attempted to offer some form of education at his home and one entry for baptism in the Parish register describes "Saint James Home". It is possible that he was caring for some children who had reached school leaving age at the Farnborough Board School which had enlarged to accommodate pupils from the Union Workhouse nearby.
The Chapel does not appear to continue after 1884 although Commercial Directories show services are held there on some Sundays at "2-30 Wednesdays Advent,lent and Holy Days 7-30 p.m."
I have written about Reverend Hingston here.
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
Shortly after taking up residence he had sought Diocesan permission to erect a temporary structure as a chapel of ease and this is the chapel described as Saint James School Chapel. The 1878 Post Office Directory includes an entry "There is a temporary chapel of ease erected on the Vicar's premises for the north western portion of the parish".
Reverend Hingston is taken seriously ill in 1884 and dies on 30 July 1884. It appears that he had attempted to offer some form of education at his home and one entry for baptism in the Parish register describes "Saint James Home". It is possible that he was caring for some children who had reached school leaving age at the Farnborough Board School which had enlarged to accommodate pupils from the Union Workhouse nearby.
The Chapel does not appear to continue after 1884 although Commercial Directories show services are held there on some Sundays at "2-30 Wednesdays Advent,lent and Holy Days 7-30 p.m."
I have written about Reverend Hingston here.
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
Reverend George William Darock Hingston M.A.
Reverend Hingston received his M.A. at Trinity College Dublin and was appointed curate to the Parish of Farnborough Kent. he was born 14 February 1842 and married 14 July 1864 Anne Wright.
For centuries the small church of Saint Giles the Abbot had served as a chapel within the Ancient Parish of Chelsfield. Chelsfield had a resident Vicar;Farnborough's spiritual needs were met by a curate or in entries in the parish registers an Officiating Minister. It is not unusual to encounter parish register entries for many surrounding clergymen conducting baptisms marriages or burials.
Some Farnborough Parish registers from 1866 onwards identify Hingston as the Officiating Minister or Curate. Whilst a Curate Hingston resided at Bromley Common at Rhodes Villa;another clergyman who was curate at Holy Trinity Bromley Common resided there too. The Hingston family appear there in in the 1871 census; their first child is listed as being born in Cudham and the Cudham parish register reflects Hingston's ministry there.
The Farnborough Baptismal Register reflects a tension between the Workhouse Chaplain responsible for baptisms of paupers and whichever clergy were responsible for the parish entries;Hingston appears to cope better than his predecessor although there are an unusually large number of blank entries relating to the Chaplain's intention to baptise not coming to fruition. Most workhouse entries relate to illegitimate children and single mothers.
The tradition of the smaller church (and parish revenue) of Farnborough within Chelsfield ended in 1876 when Reverend Hingston became the first Vicar of Farnborough. It is likely at this point he moved to reside in a house on the High Road near to Alma Villa and Wellbrook Villa in the northwest of the parish as he and his family appear there in the 1881 census. In Commercial directories for this period his residence is entered as Waldo Bank. In the Farnborough Baptismal register there is a marginal entry to explain some disorder in entries for the year 1883 which explains that he conducted a baptism on Easter Day which was not entered until December when a return for Bishop's Transcripts was required by Canterbury Diocese. A long and severe illness is recorded as the reason for this entry appearing late in entries for that year.
Reverend Hingston died on 30 July 1884 after leaving Farnborough and his ministry and the parish register reflects that Reverend C H Wilson provides relief until the Reverend Frederick Kelly is appointed Vicar in succession in 1885.
Reverend Hingston recognised the need to provide a chapel of ease within the North West of the parish to the growing community at Locksbottom. I have written about this temporary chapel here.
There is an online study of the Hingston family history see William Edward Hingston's Study,
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
For centuries the small church of Saint Giles the Abbot had served as a chapel within the Ancient Parish of Chelsfield. Chelsfield had a resident Vicar;Farnborough's spiritual needs were met by a curate or in entries in the parish registers an Officiating Minister. It is not unusual to encounter parish register entries for many surrounding clergymen conducting baptisms marriages or burials.
Some Farnborough Parish registers from 1866 onwards identify Hingston as the Officiating Minister or Curate. Whilst a Curate Hingston resided at Bromley Common at Rhodes Villa;another clergyman who was curate at Holy Trinity Bromley Common resided there too. The Hingston family appear there in in the 1871 census; their first child is listed as being born in Cudham and the Cudham parish register reflects Hingston's ministry there.
The Farnborough Baptismal Register reflects a tension between the Workhouse Chaplain responsible for baptisms of paupers and whichever clergy were responsible for the parish entries;Hingston appears to cope better than his predecessor although there are an unusually large number of blank entries relating to the Chaplain's intention to baptise not coming to fruition. Most workhouse entries relate to illegitimate children and single mothers.
The tradition of the smaller church (and parish revenue) of Farnborough within Chelsfield ended in 1876 when Reverend Hingston became the first Vicar of Farnborough. It is likely at this point he moved to reside in a house on the High Road near to Alma Villa and Wellbrook Villa in the northwest of the parish as he and his family appear there in the 1881 census. In Commercial directories for this period his residence is entered as Waldo Bank. In the Farnborough Baptismal register there is a marginal entry to explain some disorder in entries for the year 1883 which explains that he conducted a baptism on Easter Day which was not entered until December when a return for Bishop's Transcripts was required by Canterbury Diocese. A long and severe illness is recorded as the reason for this entry appearing late in entries for that year.
Reverend Hingston died on 30 July 1884 after leaving Farnborough and his ministry and the parish register reflects that Reverend C H Wilson provides relief until the Reverend Frederick Kelly is appointed Vicar in succession in 1885.
Reverend Hingston recognised the need to provide a chapel of ease within the North West of the parish to the growing community at Locksbottom. I have written about this temporary chapel here.
There is an online study of the Hingston family history see William Edward Hingston's Study,
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Bromley Kent Poor Law Union Creed Registers
Some years ago transcribers undertook work for Bromley Archives on the Workhouse Creed registers for the period 1884 to 1894. These were then published online on the former Bromley Archives pages.
For over two years following Bromley Council's reorganisation of its webpages the index was no longer available although visitors to the archive could access the data as well as the archive material for searches.
Bromley Councillors decided to close their museum service to the public and to reorganise access to museum artefacts as well as archive material. Bromley Historic Collections was brought into being. Shortly following this the Councillors considered Library closures but finally decided to transfer libraries and Bromley Historic Collections to a not for profit organisation GLL. This resulted in the change of Bromley Historic Collections telephone and email and in time the reorganisation of the London Borough of Bromley web links to Bromley Historic Collections. Bromley Archivist Lucy Bonner was in time able to reorganise the data and to bring it online once again.
I have received many queries via email through this saga so clearly the interest in the content for this period of Bromley's Poor Law Union history is strong. The series of PDF files can be found on the Bromley website although navigation to the index of PDF files is not simple. The page containing the PDF files can be found Index to Creed registers and each of the PDF files can be downloaded.
The original registers are available in several volumes and volunteers only compiled data for part of the volume under Bromley Historic Collections reference 846GBy/W/I/c/1 which is available on microfilm at Bromley and covers the period March 1870-4 January 1894. Subsequent volumes continue until the formal closure of the Workhouse in 1930.
This series of Creed registers can establish dates of admission and discharge to the Workhouse and of course children born in the Union Workhouse Infirmary. In my experience it is rare to find such children's births registered within Bromley Registration District. The best plan for searchers is to examine the both the Creed Register for an entry and in the case of Church of England as mother's stated religion to examine the baptismal register for Farnborough. Children born in the Infirmary would be referred to the Workhouse chaplain who might conduct a private baptism or do so in the Chapel at the Workhouse or at Saint Giles the Abbot Farnborough. The chaplain would provide details of the baptism to the curate or from Vicar for inclusion in the Farnborough Parish Baptismal Register. Communication between these members of the clergy is often less than efficient resulting in many gaps in the Parish Register reserved for Workhouse baptisms which were reserved but did not take place.
I am currently concluding transcription of the Farnborough Parish Baptism Register which covers the period to 1894 which will be published by Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course.
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
For over two years following Bromley Council's reorganisation of its webpages the index was no longer available although visitors to the archive could access the data as well as the archive material for searches.
Bromley Councillors decided to close their museum service to the public and to reorganise access to museum artefacts as well as archive material. Bromley Historic Collections was brought into being. Shortly following this the Councillors considered Library closures but finally decided to transfer libraries and Bromley Historic Collections to a not for profit organisation GLL. This resulted in the change of Bromley Historic Collections telephone and email and in time the reorganisation of the London Borough of Bromley web links to Bromley Historic Collections. Bromley Archivist Lucy Bonner was in time able to reorganise the data and to bring it online once again.
I have received many queries via email through this saga so clearly the interest in the content for this period of Bromley's Poor Law Union history is strong. The series of PDF files can be found on the Bromley website although navigation to the index of PDF files is not simple. The page containing the PDF files can be found Index to Creed registers and each of the PDF files can be downloaded.
The original registers are available in several volumes and volunteers only compiled data for part of the volume under Bromley Historic Collections reference 846GBy/W/I/c/1 which is available on microfilm at Bromley and covers the period March 1870-4 January 1894. Subsequent volumes continue until the formal closure of the Workhouse in 1930.
This series of Creed registers can establish dates of admission and discharge to the Workhouse and of course children born in the Union Workhouse Infirmary. In my experience it is rare to find such children's births registered within Bromley Registration District. The best plan for searchers is to examine the both the Creed Register for an entry and in the case of Church of England as mother's stated religion to examine the baptismal register for Farnborough. Children born in the Infirmary would be referred to the Workhouse chaplain who might conduct a private baptism or do so in the Chapel at the Workhouse or at Saint Giles the Abbot Farnborough. The chaplain would provide details of the baptism to the curate or from Vicar for inclusion in the Farnborough Parish Baptismal Register. Communication between these members of the clergy is often less than efficient resulting in many gaps in the Parish Register reserved for Workhouse baptisms which were reserved but did not take place.
I am currently concluding transcription of the Farnborough Parish Baptism Register which covers the period to 1894 which will be published by Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course.
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
Monday 24 September 2018
Farnborough Kent Workhouse Casual Ward
The Starts Hill Road car park of a busy Group Practice Doctor's Surgery and consulting rooms contains in is brick boundary wall the only survival of it's former purpose.
The original "casual wards" for men and women had been located close to the entrance to the Bromley Poor Law Union Workhouse. The modern entrance road to the Princess Royal University Hospital site crosses the area of the four buildings;two reception buildings (male and female) with bathing clothing fumigation and storage and two ward buildings linked to reception by enclosed walkways.
The surviving minutes of the Board of Guardians are held at Bromley Historic Collections archives. Over the years of my research of various aspects of the Union records and transcription of the various record series I have developed a detailed understanding of the site development and the work of the Board of Guardians and Local Government Board to adapt the acquisition of land to make improved provision for the developing Infirmary and improve conditions for children admitted.
In the 1880's several Guardians clearly record that the population of the workhouse (which has grown) are largely either the young or the sick and infirm many of whom are cosidered elderly. The Casual wards are clearly needed for other purposes and the Guardians are not in favour of labour in cells. The Bromley Workhouse was rural in location and type of labour- women occupied in the Steam Laundry; men in the Labour Yard which handled some material for road surfaces and in winter provided occupation for working men unable to work on the land or as building labourers. The workyard principally handled timber and produced spiles or tied bundles of kindling.
For a history of casual wards in the London Workhouses see Professor Heginbotham's description. Bromley was markedly different in its desire to put ablebodied men and women to more local occupation. The local commons and some land owned by the Union (Workhouse Field) had been used for spile making- see my blog about spile makers.
Casuals are the exception to the general description of the workhouse population and the Guardians acquisition of land (and eventually the only residential property and large garden) in Wellbrook Road and adjoining Tugmutton Common and what is nowadays Starts Hill Road enabled planning new Casual Wards. In 1907/8 the long planned two storey Childrens Homes were built and opened to join the existing relocated Casual wards.
In planning the casual wards the Local Government Board had insepcted the land and raised the question of Metropolitan Police proximity to the site. The Farnborough Police Staion had been close by the 1844 buildings and before approval was given the Metropolitan Police had to reassure that their beat patrol included all areas of land and buildings surrounding the entire Workhouse site and that the access to the site was not a problem for constables.
The Casual wards were approved and had their own entrance; the later development of Childrens homes had separate entrances facing Tugmutton Common. The northern extension of the Union Workhouse site (originally enclosed orchard) was further enclosed as the Casual ward was constructed.
The image above shows that the modern development on the site of demolished buildings retained part of the old brickwork and incorporated it in the boundary wall. I wonder how many of the staff and patients of the large Doctor's surgery on the site have ever noticed this piece of local history?
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2018
The surviving minutes of the Board of Guardians are held at Bromley Historic Collections archives. Over the years of my research of various aspects of the Union records and transcription of the various record series I have developed a detailed understanding of the site development and the work of the Board of Guardians and Local Government Board to adapt the acquisition of land to make improved provision for the developing Infirmary and improve conditions for children admitted.
In the 1880's several Guardians clearly record that the population of the workhouse (which has grown) are largely either the young or the sick and infirm many of whom are cosidered elderly. The Casual wards are clearly needed for other purposes and the Guardians are not in favour of labour in cells. The Bromley Workhouse was rural in location and type of labour- women occupied in the Steam Laundry; men in the Labour Yard which handled some material for road surfaces and in winter provided occupation for working men unable to work on the land or as building labourers. The workyard principally handled timber and produced spiles or tied bundles of kindling.
For a history of casual wards in the London Workhouses see Professor Heginbotham's description. Bromley was markedly different in its desire to put ablebodied men and women to more local occupation. The local commons and some land owned by the Union (Workhouse Field) had been used for spile making- see my blog about spile makers.
Casuals are the exception to the general description of the workhouse population and the Guardians acquisition of land (and eventually the only residential property and large garden) in Wellbrook Road and adjoining Tugmutton Common and what is nowadays Starts Hill Road enabled planning new Casual Wards. In 1907/8 the long planned two storey Childrens Homes were built and opened to join the existing relocated Casual wards.
In planning the casual wards the Local Government Board had insepcted the land and raised the question of Metropolitan Police proximity to the site. The Farnborough Police Staion had been close by the 1844 buildings and before approval was given the Metropolitan Police had to reassure that their beat patrol included all areas of land and buildings surrounding the entire Workhouse site and that the access to the site was not a problem for constables.
The Casual wards were approved and had their own entrance; the later development of Childrens homes had separate entrances facing Tugmutton Common. The northern extension of the Union Workhouse site (originally enclosed orchard) was further enclosed as the Casual ward was constructed.
The image above shows that the modern development on the site of demolished buildings retained part of the old brickwork and incorporated it in the boundary wall. I wonder how many of the staff and patients of the large Doctor's surgery on the site have ever noticed this piece of local history?
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2018
Sunday 18 March 2018
Farnborough Kent's Earliest Composite register
The Curates vary in their record keeping; there are from the outset yearly composite entries which contain a mixture of baptisms marriages and burials. However the entire register contains burials until 1678 only with a note "here ends the register of burials in this book". From 1679 onwards only baptisms are recorded and the marriage entries appear in the last pages of the bound volume after several blank pages. This suggests that supervision of the recording was lax and that in some years entries may under record baptisms.
Farnborough lost the third of the George Smiths who had served as rectors of Chelsfield and Farnborough in 1650 during the period of the Commonwealth 1640-1660 and Parliament installed as Rector of Farnborough John Montague. This ended in 1660 when the Acts of Commonwealth Parliaments were declared non existent. The entries of Farnborough events throughout the Commonwealth period are conained in the Farnborough pages of the Chelsfield Parish register and are online at Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough page.
There are gaps in years and I have previously blogged about some misunderstandings and eccentric spellings of Farnborough families with one entry for George recorded as Jarg which reflect the unfamiliarity of clergy with long established parish families.
Marriages contain only names of spouses until the 1700's when some entries record marriages by Licence and spouses from other parishes. It is noteworthy that Farnborough became popular for marriages of individuals from Tonbridge,presumably because it was a point for changing horses for coach services.
The size of the settlement in Farnbough does not appear to alter if the number of entries per year is compared through the register and the population appears modest. The traveller population is reflected and deaths of unnamed strangers suggest the village was travelled through by carts and coaches as well as others.
My completed transcript will appear in due course at Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough page previously quoted and linked.
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2018
Thursday 15 February 2018
Farnborough Kent's Come-by-Chance
As I transcribe the Composite Register for Farnborough in Kent I have encountered several clergy treatments of illegitimate children's baptisms.
It is a rare treatment to describe a child born out of wedlock as " a come-by-chance" but on 25 January 1690/1 John Green was baptised and is so described in the baptismal entry.
The register in earlier and later years applies the terms "base born" and bastard child but I appreciate an entry in an earlier period which is in Latin to conceal the child's status. Familiarity with nuanced Latin identifying both parents and illegitimacy would ensure that no parishioner would be able to read the entry!
I also encountered how clergy unfamiliar with a strong local pronunciation could render George as "Jarg" and produce Mare for Mary and Haner for Hannah in 1690's Farnborough. This period results in some well established surnames in the parish and register undergoing variation in spelling Budgen becomes Budging; Jeale becomes Jail .
Hopefully the transcript presentation at Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course will aid searchers to locate families despite such challenges.
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2018
It is a rare treatment to describe a child born out of wedlock as " a come-by-chance" but on 25 January 1690/1 John Green was baptised and is so described in the baptismal entry.
The register in earlier and later years applies the terms "base born" and bastard child but I appreciate an entry in an earlier period which is in Latin to conceal the child's status. Familiarity with nuanced Latin identifying both parents and illegitimacy would ensure that no parishioner would be able to read the entry!
I also encountered how clergy unfamiliar with a strong local pronunciation could render George as "Jarg" and produce Mare for Mary and Haner for Hannah in 1690's Farnborough. This period results in some well established surnames in the parish and register undergoing variation in spelling Budgen becomes Budging; Jeale becomes Jail .
Hopefully the transcript presentation at Kent Online Parish Clerks in due course will aid searchers to locate families despite such challenges.
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2018
Friday 12 January 2018
Farnborough Kent Composite Register 1749-1812
My email correspondents have recently queried why their Downe ancestor was not buried in the churchyard at Downe;invariably my answer has included burials in nearby parishes and recent answers were found in the Churchyard at Farnborough.
This lead me to the Composite Register which broadly covers the years from 1752-1912. The register is not capable of being digitally scanned and evaded the Genealogical Society of Utah filming at Bromley in the 1970's. It is preserved in two paper conservators ring bound volumes which contain the fragmentary pages in protective covers which are sealed and stitched.
The history of this volume has been pieced together from various sources. In the late 1890's to 1903 it was handled in the parish by antiquarian Henry Wilson who lived at Farnborough Lodge. In 1903 he completed a foreword for a book entitled the Parish Registers of Farnborough which was printed and published in 1904 and which he is designated as editor. Henry Wilson died in 1908 and a large gravestone remains in the churchyard of Farnborough Saint Giles the Abbot.
Henry describes the volume he handled as " 168 pages of parchment 12 and three quarter inches by 7 inches and bound in rough calf. It has marriages from 1752 to 1791 and at the other end marriages from 1792 to 1800. It also includes christenings from 1749 to 1812 and burials from 1792 to 1800."
Between 1903 and its arrival in 1974 at Bromley Archive the designated Diocesan Record Office for Bromley Borough Anglican parishes the volume was subject to fire and water damage. It was handed to the Maidstone Record Office when it left the parish and returned in 1978 for recovery and conservation. Although I have searched for any record of a fire at the Church and made enquiries of Farnborough residents; when and where this volume was damaged eludes me. The Kent Record Office at Maidstone included a paper conservater who took all steps to conserve the pages. The cover of the volume did not survive and conservation decisions omit any blank pages. The sequence of the entries in the original format has not been maintained so searches are complicated. Henry Wilson's transcript published in 1904 follows the entry sequence of the original and describes intervening marriage entries in both Baptism and Burial page sequences. As the burials were located largely at the end of the volume they are particularly affected by fire damage. Burial entries from 1801 to 1812 survive and I have been able to locate and transcribe them all but heat and water have curled both sides of the pages which means dates are complicated due to curling and shrinkage. The conservation treatment has also resulted in sorting pages in a sequence which is anything but chronological and Henry Wilson's page descriptions are useful in showing the undamaged volume sequence. There are gaps in the recording of the original register for the burial sequence and therefore some years are missing.
I have found Henry Wilson's transcript to have one or two surname errors and date errors but these are less than 1% of the total.
The sequence of christening entries owes its inconsistency to the original record keeping and is further complicated by treatment by the conservation. The condition of pages for the baptismal sequences in both of the two surviving conservation volumes are better than those for burials and with only a handful of entries is there any difficulty. Although difficult to search for an individual these pages will benefit from computer handling to sort the data into alphabetical order for publication on the Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough parish page in due course.
Henry Wilson also encountered a gap between 1624 and 1660 for entries and found at the mother parish of Chelsfield that Farnborough entries omitted from the earliest Composite register for the parish. The Chelsfield content includes marriages from 1538 to 1557 and many entries which largely fill the gap from 1624-1660 although entiries are incomplete in the later years of this period.
Despite the helpfulness of the Henry Wilson register the original publication is only available in photocopy form at the Society of Genealogists and the Bromley Historical Collections photocopy of the Society's photocopy suffers from the method of photocopying a bound volume.
It is hoped that work on the surviving record will enable online searchers to locate entries which are time consuming to locate in the original. Searching the volume for a single entry can take up to one hour research time so that an easy search for surnames will benefit many people who do not have access to Bromley Historical Collections.
I have found the challenge of the transcription rewarding. The inclusion of detail of cause of death after 1800 quite moving in several cases. I am once again reminded of the frequency of death by waggons running over people or ponds being site of drowning or suicide.
The Baptisms were originally added at head or foot of pages otherwise filled by marriage entries with witness signatures. There are several severely damaged pages which refer to marriages which are now virtually lost;however Henry Wilson could clearly read the entries and this helps overcome some problems. The Marriage entries are chaotically placed out of chronological sequence as Wilson found before the record was damaged. Baptismal entries on marriage pages are many years different from the dates of marriages and there is one whole page recording the Whiffen children a large family with wide date range.
I'm grateful to Bromley Historic Collections for access to these two conservation folders which are close to being unable to be handled and have a sense that few people have handled them since 1974-1978 when they came to Bromley. The register serves as a reminder how close we can come to losing records vital to family historians for significant periods of history.
My transcripts are now online at Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough parish page.
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2017
This lead me to the Composite Register which broadly covers the years from 1752-1912. The register is not capable of being digitally scanned and evaded the Genealogical Society of Utah filming at Bromley in the 1970's. It is preserved in two paper conservators ring bound volumes which contain the fragmentary pages in protective covers which are sealed and stitched.
The history of this volume has been pieced together from various sources. In the late 1890's to 1903 it was handled in the parish by antiquarian Henry Wilson who lived at Farnborough Lodge. In 1903 he completed a foreword for a book entitled the Parish Registers of Farnborough which was printed and published in 1904 and which he is designated as editor. Henry Wilson died in 1908 and a large gravestone remains in the churchyard of Farnborough Saint Giles the Abbot.
Henry describes the volume he handled as " 168 pages of parchment 12 and three quarter inches by 7 inches and bound in rough calf. It has marriages from 1752 to 1791 and at the other end marriages from 1792 to 1800. It also includes christenings from 1749 to 1812 and burials from 1792 to 1800."
Between 1903 and its arrival in 1974 at Bromley Archive the designated Diocesan Record Office for Bromley Borough Anglican parishes the volume was subject to fire and water damage. It was handed to the Maidstone Record Office when it left the parish and returned in 1978 for recovery and conservation. Although I have searched for any record of a fire at the Church and made enquiries of Farnborough residents; when and where this volume was damaged eludes me. The Kent Record Office at Maidstone included a paper conservater who took all steps to conserve the pages. The cover of the volume did not survive and conservation decisions omit any blank pages. The sequence of the entries in the original format has not been maintained so searches are complicated. Henry Wilson's transcript published in 1904 follows the entry sequence of the original and describes intervening marriage entries in both Baptism and Burial page sequences. As the burials were located largely at the end of the volume they are particularly affected by fire damage. Burial entries from 1801 to 1812 survive and I have been able to locate and transcribe them all but heat and water have curled both sides of the pages which means dates are complicated due to curling and shrinkage. The conservation treatment has also resulted in sorting pages in a sequence which is anything but chronological and Henry Wilson's page descriptions are useful in showing the undamaged volume sequence. There are gaps in the recording of the original register for the burial sequence and therefore some years are missing.
I have found Henry Wilson's transcript to have one or two surname errors and date errors but these are less than 1% of the total.
The sequence of christening entries owes its inconsistency to the original record keeping and is further complicated by treatment by the conservation. The condition of pages for the baptismal sequences in both of the two surviving conservation volumes are better than those for burials and with only a handful of entries is there any difficulty. Although difficult to search for an individual these pages will benefit from computer handling to sort the data into alphabetical order for publication on the Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough parish page in due course.
Henry Wilson also encountered a gap between 1624 and 1660 for entries and found at the mother parish of Chelsfield that Farnborough entries omitted from the earliest Composite register for the parish. The Chelsfield content includes marriages from 1538 to 1557 and many entries which largely fill the gap from 1624-1660 although entiries are incomplete in the later years of this period.
Despite the helpfulness of the Henry Wilson register the original publication is only available in photocopy form at the Society of Genealogists and the Bromley Historical Collections photocopy of the Society's photocopy suffers from the method of photocopying a bound volume.
It is hoped that work on the surviving record will enable online searchers to locate entries which are time consuming to locate in the original. Searching the volume for a single entry can take up to one hour research time so that an easy search for surnames will benefit many people who do not have access to Bromley Historical Collections.
I have found the challenge of the transcription rewarding. The inclusion of detail of cause of death after 1800 quite moving in several cases. I am once again reminded of the frequency of death by waggons running over people or ponds being site of drowning or suicide.
The Baptisms were originally added at head or foot of pages otherwise filled by marriage entries with witness signatures. There are several severely damaged pages which refer to marriages which are now virtually lost;however Henry Wilson could clearly read the entries and this helps overcome some problems. The Marriage entries are chaotically placed out of chronological sequence as Wilson found before the record was damaged. Baptismal entries on marriage pages are many years different from the dates of marriages and there is one whole page recording the Whiffen children a large family with wide date range.
I'm grateful to Bromley Historic Collections for access to these two conservation folders which are close to being unable to be handled and have a sense that few people have handled them since 1974-1978 when they came to Bromley. The register serves as a reminder how close we can come to losing records vital to family historians for significant periods of history.
My transcripts are now online at Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough parish page.
© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2017
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