Hampshire Baptism Index 1537 – 1659

A searchable index to Anglican (Church of England) baptisms in mainland Hampshire for the period 1537 to 1659. Excludes the Isle of Wight. A NEW index for 2013, the latest release from our 40 years of researching and transcribing family history records; a must have addition to help find your early Hampshire ancestors.

Background Historical Information

In 1538 Thomas Cromwell ordered that all parishes should keep a register of baptisms, marriages and burials. In 1597 an order signed by Elizabeth I required that these parish records had to be on parchment, and that previous entries going back to 1558 (the start of her reign) had to be copied into these registers. The content of early registers is often different, as it depended upon what the individual vicar wanted to record, and they were mostly written in Latin.

What will I find in this index?

It varies, depending on the parish and each individual vicar, but generally you can expect a surname and christian name, baptism date, the father’s name and possibly the mother’s forename. Annotations were often added if the child was illegitimate, these include ‘base-born’, ‘bastard child’ or ‘spurious’. Sometimes other notes were kept such as a father’s occupation or the family’s abode.

Children were usually baptised soon after birth, but you may find examples where children were baptised several years later.

£20.00

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