I found out early that it is best to get an actual copy of either a birth registration or a baptism record in order to claim a person as a member of your family tree. See my earlier post regarding my grandmother, Evelyn Buck.
Prior to 1837, only Churches recorded birth, marriage and death information in England. By 1837 the Government realized there was a need for more accurate records for voting, tax and defense purposes and created the General Registry Office to cover births, marriages and deaths (BMD). They began the new registration process on July 1, 1837.
Prior to looking at the records, a quick word on naming patterns in early British families. While the following is not a requirement, I have found that most of my ancestors, especially the earlier families, have followed the same pattern below so names do provide clues, either first or middle names.
The most common convention was for the parents to choose names that honored people. Sometimes the people honored were powerful people, such as a local, wealthy landowner. Sometimes the names honored royalty. So there were many Henrys named after King Henry and many Georges named after King George. The most common persons to honor, however, were the gender appropriate grandparents and parents.
While the idea may seem a bit morbid to our tender ears, a child’s untimely death meant the end of the honor bestowed upon someone. Since many children died in the 17th and 18th centuries, parents had no problem with re-using the name of a dead child for a subsequent birth. In my Buck family, a particular branch had four Robert Bucks prior to the last surviving past childhood. How do you explain to the poor boy that the previous three Roberts all died young?
There was even a convention in the order in which the ancestors were honored – probably to avoid insulting anyone. Although it was far from universally used, the usual British naming convention was as follows:
- The first son was named after the paternal grandfather
• The second son was named after the maternal grandfather
• The third son was named after the father
• The fourth son was named after the oldest paternal uncle
• The fifth was named after the second oldest paternal uncle or the oldest maternal uncle - The first daughter was named after the maternal grandmother
• The second daughter was named after the paternal grandmother
• The third daughter was named after the mother
• The fourth daughter was named after the oldest maternal aunt
• The fifth was named after the second oldest maternal aunt or the oldest paternal aunt
The above does create some difficulties for genealogist as you may find multiple people with the same name possibly even in from the same town or village so documents are necessary to get the right direct relative as opposed to a cousin or uncle or aunt.
As mentioned, the above is not cast in stone. When checking on my gg-grandfather, I entered his name in www.findmypast.com one day and to my surprise found a second Gregory Charles Willoughby Smith having been born in 1860 Dumfires, Scotland who died in 1861. Scotland records lead me to James Thomson Smith, Gregory’s brother! I am still working on the reasoning behind the names as Gregory’s father was John and his father was Archibald. Gregory was named after his mother’s father. Possibly there is a significant Charles Willoughby in our past. The Thomson came from the paternal grandmother’s maiden name.
Part 2 will look at baptism records.
Across the Pond 