Burial Records

Records are supposed to be for the date of burial, and not death, although both dates are sometimes recorded. Also, the early registers often use the word 'Departed' (or 'depted') - this probably means the date of death but it is not clear.

The 1665/1666 records clearly show 'buryed' as well as 'depted'.

If the person buried had not lived in the parish they may be referred to as a ‘stranger’.

If a child was not expected to live they may have been baptised at home soon after birth. This would normally be recorded in the register with an annotation, for example, 'privately baptised', 'PB' or ‘half-baptised’. If the child survived, it was usually ‘received’ into the church by a public baptism and a second entry would therefore be recorded.

The early records usually show just the name of the father, although both the father and the mother are shown in later years.

Following the Restoration, Britain’s sheep farmers were producing more wool than was being used. To boost the wool trade, in 1666 Parliament passed an Act ordering that all bodies had to be buried in a shroud made of woollen cloth. In 1678 a second Act was passed with more stringent regulations, ordering an affidavit signed by a magistrate to be produced to confirm that a burial had met the necessary requirements. In 1680 a concession was made allowing the affidavit to be signed by a minister. If one simply chose to ignore the law the fine was £5, of which 50% was paid to the informant and the balance to the poor.

Of course, it was one rule for the rich and another for the poor. If you were Lord of the Manor you could simply pay to by-pass the law, as Sir Robert Long did in Draycot Cerne in 1757 for Mrs Dorothy Long.

There are at least two references to affidavits in the Sutton Benger registers. In the following example Ann, the wife of Thomas Thompson, Vicar (of Sutton Benger), was buried on 10 May 1717.