Protestant Nonconformity and Roman Catholicism: A Guide to Sources in the Public Record Office

140 Pages·1996·12.053 MB·English

by  David Shorney

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Other titles available in the Readers’ Guide series:
1. Making Use of the Census by Susan Lumas
2. Army Records for Family Historians by Simon Fowler
3. Records of the Militia from 1757 by Garth Thomas
4. Never Been Here Before? (a beginner’s guide to family history
research in the Public Record Office) by Jane Cox
5. Tudor Taxation Records by Richard Hoyle
6. Using Manorial Records by Mary Ellis
7. ‘Never Complain, Never Explain’: a guide to State Papers Foreign
and the records of the Foreign Office 1500-1960
by Louise Atherton
8. RAF Records in the PRO by Simon Fowler, Peter Elliott,
Roy Conyers Nesbit and Christina Goulter
9. Maps for Family History by William Foot
10. Records of the Royal Marines by Garth Thomas
11. Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors by Guy Grannum
12. Sources for Labour Historv bv Simon Fowler
))
Essex County Council
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Protestant Nonconformity
and
Roman Catholicism
a guide to sources in the
Public Record Office
0 ETE
30130 123910431
Saltaire United Reformed (formerly Congregational) Church, West Yorkshire, designed by the
Bradford architects Mawson and Lockwood in 1859, for the Congregationalist industrialist
and philanthropist, Sir Titus Salt.
PRO Readers’ Guide No 13
Protestant Nonconformity
and
Roman Catholicism
a guide to sources in the
Public Record Office
David Shorney
PRO Publications
Acknowledgements
It was Dr. John Post, formerly Principal Assistant Keeper, Department of Medieval and
Early Modern Records, who first suggested that I should write this guide. To him, Mandy
Banton, Sue Lumas, Julia Wigg, Jim Murray, Melvyn Stainton, Marion Edwards, John
Watkins and many others in the Public Record Office I am greatly indebted for help and
advice at different stages in compiling it. It was Christopher Pick who skilfully and
painstakingly slimmed down a manuscript which was initially far too long and unwieldy.
His editing, I believe, has made it a much more useful tool for the researcher. I am also
indebted to a large number of archivists and librarians in record offices throughout England
and Wales who have courteously and patiently answered my queries. My wife, Judy, took
the photograph of the United Reformed Church at Saltaire in West Yorkshire and helped
me with checking the final draft of the guide. My debt to numerous different scholars,
many of whose writings are cited in the bibliography, will be obvious to most readers of
this guide. My greatest debt is, however, to my parents and those many relatives and
friends, who over the years, have inspired me with a love and respect for the dissenting
tradition, both Protestant and Catholic, and it is to their memory that I would dedicate this
book.
Cover picture: Preacher and congregation, David Deuchar, 1803.
Courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the V & A.
PRO Publications
Chancery Lane
London
WC2A ILR
© Crown Copyright 1996
ISBN | 873162 27 8
A catalogue card for this book
is available from the British Library
Contents
Illustrations
Vil
Using the Public Record Office Vill
Introduction
1 The emergence of a Protestant dissenting tradition
Lollardy
The first Nonconformists
Protestant immigrants
Anabaptists
The Family of Love
The development of separatism
Brownists
Recusants
Nonconformity from 1603 to 1641
Early seventeenth-century ‘Nonconformity’
FRCHK RWWON NN
in the Church of England
The growth of separatism
The Civil War, Commonwealth and Protectorate 10
Nonconformity after the Restoration 11
Quakers 14
The Declaration of Indulgence 14
Continuing growth of Nonconformity ry
Anti-Nonconformist sentiment 18
Nonconformity in the eighteenth century Hee
The Evangelical Revival 23
Methodism 23
Nonconformity in the nineteenth century 27
2 Nonconformist baptismal, marriage and burial registers 30
Registration before 1837 30
The registration commissions ao
Content of registers 34
Methodist registers 39
Denominational labels a
Registers of smaller Nonconformist denominations 40
Moravian registers 41
Quaker registers 45
3 Other Nonconformist records Sil
Registration of meeting houses a
Trust deeds 52
Nonconformist burial grounds 56
Returns supplied by incumbents in 1831 56
The 1851 ecclesiastical census 56
4 Roman Catholicism in England and Wales 58
The survival of Catholicism 58
Catholic-state relations 60
Increasing toleration 63
Urbanization 64
5 Records of Catholicism 66
The sixteenth century 66
Recusancy 69
Recusant rolls 69
Other PRO documents 71
The seventeenth century he
The eighteenth century 74
The Forfeited Estates Commission 77
Other returns 78
Catholic non-parochial church registers pie,
6 PRO classes relating to Nonconformity and Roman
Catholicism 82
Glossary
94
Some other archive collections 106
Bibliography bi
Index 121
V1
Illustrations
Frontispiece Saltaire United Reformed Church, West Yorkshire
Figure | Elizabeth I’s speech to her bishops and ministers, 1584.
(SP 12/176 no. 68)
Figure 2 Application for licences to worship from John Bunyan’s
Bedford congregation and others, 1672. (SP 29/321 no. 58)
Figure 3 Oath of loyalty to William III by Cumberland Nonconformists,
1696. (C 213/61) ee
Figure 4 John Wesley’s trust deed, Kingswood, Gloucs., 1746.
(C 54/5771 no.19) 2
Figure 5 Wesley’s Deed of Declaration, 1784. (C 54/6686 no. 16) 26
Figure 6 Allostock Church covenant, Cheshire, 1689 [1690]. (RG 8/4) 35
Figure 7 Plan of burial ground, East Tytherton Moravian Church,
Wilts, 1748. ( RG 4/3061) 42
Figure 8 Fulneck Moravian Church burial register, Yorks., 1764.
(RG 4/3343) 43
Figure 9 Marriage certificate from Watford Quaker register, 1671.
48
(RG 6/1248)
Figure 10 Plan of Eltham Congregational Church, London, 1859.
(C 54/15311) a
Figure 11 Plan of the old and the new Methodist New Connexion chapels,
Great Wyrley, Staffs., 1860. (C 54/15451) Jo
Figure 12 Eltham Dissenting (Congregational) Church trust deed, 1859.
(C 54/15311) 54
Figure 13 Lord Stormont’s instructions to London magistrates during the
Gordon Riots, 1780. (SP 37/20 f 3) 61
Figure 14 Protestant Association handbill, 1780. (SP 37/20 f 128a) 62
Figure 15 List of nine papists and a Brownist imprisoned in the Clink prison,
London, 1584. (SP 12/170 no. 10) 66
Figure 16 Instructions to commissioners to hunt down papists, Jesuits and
others, 1591. (SP 12/240 no. 72) 67
Figure 17 Cardinal Allen’s letter to English Catholics, 1592.
(Sh f243 1 225) 68
Figure 18 List of Newcastle-upon-Tyne recusants in Recusant Roll, 1654-5.
(E 377/60) 70
Figure 19 List of Durham recusants, 1640s. (C 203/4)
Figure 20 The evidence of John Sergeant and David Maurice relating to the
Popish Plot, 1678. (SP 9/251 f 161) 75
Figure 21 Examination of Edward FitzHarris in aftermath of Popish Plot,
1678. (SP 9/251 f 163) 76
Figure 22 Catholic baptism register, Lawkland Hall, Yorkshire, 1745-1748.
(RG 4/2645) 80
Vii
Using the Public Record Office
At present (1996) the records held by the Public Record Office (PRO) are divided
between two sites, at Kew and Chancery Lane. The majority of the records described
in this guide are held at Chancery Lane, but a few are at Kew. If you are in doubt
about which to visit, telephone beforehand. By the end of 1996 it is envisaged that
the Chancery Lane building will close and all original records will be housed at Kew,
but certain popular classes viewed on microfilm will be seen at a central London
microfilm reading room, including the Nonconformist registers in the record class
RG 4.
Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Surrey TW9 4DU.
Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR.
The telephone number is the same for both sites: 0181-876 3444.
The Office is open from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday. The Census Rooms
and the Microfilm Reading Room at Chancery Lane are also open from 9.30 am to
5.00 pm on Saturdays. You do not need to make an appointment. The office is closed
on public holidays and for annual stocktaking (usually the first two weeks in October).
The museum and shop are open from 9.30 am to 4.45 pm.
When you first visit the PRO, please bring with you formal documentary proof of
identity bearing your name and signature. If you are not a British citizen you will
need to bring your passport or national identity card. You will then be issued with a
Reader’s Ticket. Without a valid ticket you cannot be admitted to the reading rooms
or order documents. You do not need one to visit the Census Rooms, Microfilm Reading
Room or the Museum at Chancery Lane.
You may use only graphite pencils in the reading rooms. Pens of any kind are not
allowed. You may use personal computers, typewriters and tape recorders in designated
areas. A full list of Reading Room rules is available on request.
Each document has a unique three-part reference. The first part is the lettercode, for
example CP for the Court of Common Pleas, E for the Exchequer, HO for Home
Office and PC for the Privy Council, according to the government department or
other body which created the document. The second part is the class number, which
represents the series within the lettercode; these often equate to types of documents,
for example oath rolls, burial registers or clergy census returns. The third part is the
piece number, which represents the individual document. E 377/60, for example,
forms part of the series of Exchequer (Pipe Office) recusancy rolls from 1591 to
1691, and is the roll for 1654-5.
To identify the lettercode and class, consult the published Current Guide, which is
the primary guide to the holdings of the PRO. The Current Guide is in three parts.
Part | describes the history and functions of government departments. Part 2 briefly
describes each class with information such as the covering dates and number of pieces.
Part 3 is the index to the other two parts. There is no general detailed index covering
records in the PRO. Once possible classes have been identified, the next step is to
consult the class lists which briefly describe each piece. These are available in the
PRO reading or reference rooms.
Vill