Shortly after the establishment of the Church of England,
a law was passed which required parish priests to record all the baptisms,
marriages, and burials that they officiated each year. These records,
called registers, were supposed to have started in 1538, although this is not consistent throughout England.
From 1598, every parish priest of the Church of England
was supposed to make a copy of his parish register and send it to the
archdeacon or bishop every year. Generally referred to as Bishop’s Transcripts, these copies were generally produced in the same form as a
regular parish register.
As bishop’s transcripts generally contain more or less the same
information as parish registers, they are an invaluable resource when the original
parish register has been damaged, destroyed, or otherwise lost. Bishop's
transcripts can also be of value even when parish registers exist, as
priests often recorded either additional or different information in
their transcripts than they did in the original registers. Most bishop's transcripts before 1812
were recorded on blank sheets, and then on pre-printed forms from around 1813 onwards.
Many priests stopped producing these transcripts with the beginning of
civil registration in 1837, but some persisted even into the twentieth
century.
It should be noted that many bishop's transcripts may not be
available during the Interregnum, 1642-1660. During this period, the
hierarchy of the Church of England was disrupted, leading to a lapse in
record-keeping and communication in some dioceses.
In general, transcripts contain records of the following events:
- Baptism often called "christening" in Anglican usage, is
the initial rite by which an individual is received into the community
of faith within the Church of England. This rite is normally undertaken
shortly after birth, though it may follow weeks or even months later. Some were years later, or even adult baptisms, and it is not unheard of for several siblings of varying ages to be baptised together.
- Marriage sometimes listed as "weddings". From the seventeenth
to the nineteenth centuries, couples usually (but not always) married in the bride's
parish.
- Burial has historically occurred within a few days of death.
Until the late nineteenth century, burial registers record many
nonconformists, as nonconformists were often buried in Anglican
churchyards when cemeteries belonging to their sects were not available.
In many online databases, Bishop's Transcripts will be marked BT.
