PARISH RECORDS

Parish Registers were instituted in 1538 by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Vicar General, “to avoid disputes relating to title,” etc. The incumbent of each Anglican church, in the presence of the two churchwardens each Sunday, had to enter the baptisms, marriages and burials which had taken place during the week. The 1598 Act dictated that the entries should be made on parchment (since paper had proved to be too flimsy) and all entries from the start had to be copied on to the new material. The documents were to be kept in a parish chest which should have three keys. Each Bishop would take a transcript of the records.

Solihull Registers survive from 1538, as do those of Elmdon. Bickenhill and Tanworth-in-Arden date from 1558; Castle Bromwich from 1601, Meriden 1646, and Knowle 1651. The first entry for Solihull baptisms was Anne Preston on 27 August 1539 (since the first two pages of the register were missing); for marriages, Anthony Welde & Joanna Shaw on 10 November 1538; and for burials, Isabell Fowle on 11 November 1538. Each was a simple entry with no parents’ names, addresses, occupations or ages. In the late 19^th century County Record and Parish Register Societies began to be formed which transcribed the documents with indices by name and place, and published them for subscribers. Solihull’s were published in 1904, edited by the Rev’d Harvey Brooks, the Rector.

The Civil War and its aftermath was a time of confusion. In 1653 Oliver Cromwell appointed officers called Parish Registers to keep the records in Civil Registers. Marriages could not take place in church, but were made by declaration to the Parish Register. After 1660 Anglican priests had to conduct marriages but not necessarily in church. Many were held in London’s debtor prisons where impecunious clergy resided: an example of such a marriage was Edward Twist of Solihull in 1719.

Lord Hardwick’s Marriage Act of 1753 regularised marriages, which had to be conducted by a priest in the parish church after banns had been called on three successive Sundays beforehand. Parents’ consent was necessary for anybody marrying under the age of 21. Pre-printed registers were introduced with the signatures of the minister, bride, groom and two witnesses – but there was no column for ages. Jews and Quakers were exempted, apparently because their records already met the new standards. The first entry with the new format in Solihull’s register dated from 12 May 1754. In 1812 George Rose’s Parochial Registers Act introduced a pre-printed format for baptisms and burials, and age at burial had to be recorded.

Civil Registration began on 1 July 1837 for births, marriages and deaths (NB not baptisms or burials). The occupation of the father was now shown on birth and marriage entries. Two copies were made, one held locally and the other went to the General Register Office. Sometimes the local records also held notices of banns, stillbirths, churchings (40 days after giving birth; the last entry for Solihull was 1962), besides baptisms, confirmations and burials.

The Parish Chest not only contained the church registers, but also lists of the names of the churchwardens, overseers of the poor, constables, surveyors of the highways, ratepayers, and the militia. Quite frequently churchwardens’ accounts and constables’ records were also there. Many records related to paupers, eg Poor Relief, illegitimate children and parish apprentices.