U3A Family History Group Programme for 18 th June 2008

1. U3A Family History GroupProgramme for 18th June 2008 • U3A 10yr Celebration Event • Land Tax Assessments • Group Discussions • Future programme

2. New Members & Last month’s meeting • 10 Yr Celebration – thanks to all those who contributed Family History data. Function was well attended and considerable interest was shown in the Family History stand. • Presentation by Gloucester CRO – OK but did it provide new information for anybody? • Any Feedback?

3. Group Discussions • Distribute data between members of the group; including Phone & e-mail data. Everybody OK with this? • Allow communications between groups to arrange visits / provide help. • Map with research locations on. • Publish a list with Surname, County, Parish & Timescale as a means of recording who is research “who, where & when”. • Those with e-mail, please update and return form

4. Group Discussions – Example Template

5. Land Tax Assessments • My ancestors in Devon were tenant farmers, but the Parish Records for the period 1739 – 1813 have been lost or destroyed. So I searched the Land Tax Assessments & Bishops Transcripts. • What was the Land Tax? • Introduced in 1692, in the reign of William III and Mary, and finally abolished in 1963. • The first assessments of 1692-3 were "An Act for granting to their Majesties an aid of four shillings in the pound for one year for carrying on a vigorous war against France". (20% Tax Rate – hasn’t changed much!) • Few lists survive from 1692 to 1780.

6. Tythe Map of Washford Pyne 1839

7. Apportion-ment of Washford Pyne Land 1839

8. Land Tax Assessments • The annual records from 1780 to1832 have survived in much greater numbers because the Clerks of the Peace in various counties used them to establish men's electoral rights. • From 1780, payment of land tax on freehold property worth £2 or more a year qualified a man to vote. • In the documents, titles such as Reverend, Dr., Sir, Esquire and Mr.(a gentleman) are used to define status. However, many owners were non-residents. Woodland in a parish could be "occupied" by landowners whose mansion houses were many parishes away.

9. Land Tax Assessments • Male heads of household are always listed, where they exist, but other members of the household will not be mentioned. Labourers were usually not named individually – e.g. the occupiers of a row of cottages may be listed as "William Soper and others", and tenants of small pieces of land may not be listed individually. • In 1832 land tax assessments lost their electoral function when separate electoral registers were introduced. Those contain incomplete lists of owners and occupiers, as those redeeming the land tax with a lump sum no longer had to be included on the lists.

10. Annual Land Tax Assessment Return - 1781

11. Annual Land Tax Assessment Return – Composite data

12. Electral Registers • Voting qualifications were restricted as follows: • 1832 - Men owning property worth at least £2 per year • 1867 - Men owning or renting property worth at least £5 per year • 1884 - Men owning or lodging in property worth at least £10 per year • 1918 - Men over 21, women over 30, soldiers and sailors over 19. • 1928 - All men and women over 21 • 1969 - All men and women over 18 • These lists are available for Washford Pyne from 1832 to 1900

13. Bishops Transcripts • From 1598 an annual return was made to the Bishop of a copy of all entries from the Parish Register for that year to about Easter or Lady Day. • Therefore when Parish Records are lost / destroyed, they provide invaluable source of data. They were sometimes copied by a Church Warden and can include more details that the Registers. • The earliest English Parish Registers date from 1538 and are quite rare.A start date in the 1650's can usually be expected (or even later).

14. Bishops Transcripts • Early B.T.’s (~1732) could be written in Latin. Not common for Mothers name to be included or fathers occupation. Some early entries may even omit the fathers name! • From 1754 Banns books survive in some parishes as marriages from that date took place either by Banns or Licence. • Each entry included the name of the bride and bridegroom and age if under 21, their residence, marital status, signatures of bride and groom and those of two witnesses.

15. Bishops Transcripts • The HARDWICK MARRIAGE ACT 1754 made clandestine marriages illegal. • The Churches of the Church of England being the only place where marriages could take place. • The minimum age for a marriage until 1929 was 14 for a male and 12 for a female with parents or guardians consent. From that date the age went up to 16 with the same proviso.

16. Bishops Transcripts (1797)

17. Bishops Transcripts (Marriages 1792)

18. Bishops Transcripts • LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ACT 1751-52. Changed the calendar from Julian to Gregorian. Until this act the new Year had begun on the 25th March, Lady Day. • “When the Gregorian Calendar was first implemented it was to cause uproar throughout the Roman-Catholic world because it required the deduction of thirteen days in order to bring the calendar back into line with the seasons, and many uneducated people rioted in the streets thinking that these days had somehow been deducted from their lifespans.” • Thus 1752 began on the 1st January 1751/2. The 2nd September 1752 was followed by the 14th September 1752 to adjust the calendar. This change should be carefully noted when reading Parish Registers and transcripts.

19. Future Programme • July – Another session at Thornbury Library – date to be agreed • July - Talk by Jane Maw-Cornish about when she could come to the group to talk about 'What she found in the attic' • Aug – No Meeting • Sept – Subject to be discussed – have you any ideas?