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Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2006-11 > 1162978748


From: Adrian Gray <>
Subject: [Ess] Under-recording of burials in parish registers
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:39:08 +0000


Dear all,

I am currently writing an essay on what information the local (as
opposed to family!) historian can extract from Parish registers, and was
struck by a mention in one of the authorative tomes that it could be
assumed that burials were unlikely to be under-recorded because of the
problems of disposing of a decomposing corpse. However I find this odd
as I am sure that I recall reading elsewhere that burials may be
under-recorded by up to a third (ie as many as one in three are never
entered in the records) largely because the priest or clerk does not
have the register with him in the churchyard. I've certainly found
evidence that agrees with this figure in some Victorian undertakers
accounts, and at Spitalfields the interval between death and burial
could be as long as 21 days (yuk!).

Can anyone else recall reading this, and more importantly WHERE? It is
not important to have a copy of the original to quote from as I can
borrow it from the Bodleian Library, but it would be nice to know where
I read it, and how good a source it was!

Hoping someone can help!

Many thanks,

Adrian

P.S. It's this local history course keeping me away from family history,
in case anyone wondered where I have been!



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