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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1640s | - 1640s: Independents
Separatists became known as Independents
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| 2 | 1641 | - 1641: Protestation Oath
In taking the Protestation Oath the swearer promised to defend "the true reformed religion expressed in the doctrine of the Church of England" and expressed his "duty of allegiance" to "maintain and defend His Majesty's royal person and estate, as also the power and privilege of Parliaments". Parliament ordered all males over 18 to take the oath.
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| 3 | 1641/2 | - Mar 1641/2: Relief for distressed Protestants in Ireland
A collection ordered by Charles I from every parish for the relief of English Protestant settlers in Ireland that had been ousted by the Catholic Irish. Lists of receipts include many women and can be used to supplement the contemporary Protestation Returns.
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| 4 | 1642/50s | - 1642/50s: Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism becomes the foundation of Church of England (Commonwealth period). Civil parish officers are appointed by Cromwell to perform and maintain records of births, marriages and deaths. Few of these survive unless the civil officer had previously been associated with the parish during ecclesiastical rule, such as a former clerk of the parish church. Many people travelled to such parishes to have their church rites performed. Thus it is always advisable to examine the registers of nearby parishes for this time period.
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| 5 | 1643 | - 17 Aug 1643: Solemn League and Covenant
An oath subscribed by "We, noblemen, barons, knights, gentlemen, citizens, burgesses, ministers of the Gospel, and commons of all sorts, in the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland" for the purposes of reformation and defence of religion, the honour and happiness of the King, and the peace and safety of the three kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland.
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| 6 | 1644 | - 6 Dec 1644: Parish Register Book of Velim
It was ordered that "it be referred to the committee for bringing in the ordinance for the establishing the Directory, to bring in a clause in that ordinance for registering the time of baptising of children, and their parents' names, and for registering of burials." In the same year it was further ordained that "there shall be provided at the charge of every parish or chapelry, a fair Register Book of velim to be kept by the minister and other officers of the church, and that the names of all children baptized, and of their parents, and of the time of their birth and baptising, shall be written and set down by the minister therein, and also the names of all persons married there, and the time of their marriage; and also the names of all persons buried in that parish, and the time of their death and burial; and that the said book shall be shewed by such as keep the same to all persons reasonably desiring to search for the birth, baptising, marriage, or burial of any person therein registered, and to take a copy or procure a certificate thereof."
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| 7 | 1649 | - 1649—1660: Commonwealth Interregnum
The period during which Oliver Cromwell and his son, Richard, held power and authority in England and Wales and marks the time commencing with the execution of Charles I to the restoration of Charles II.
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| 8 | 1650s | - 1650s: The Quakers
The Society of Friends (Quakers) was founded by George Fox.
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| 9 | 1653 | - 24 Aug 1653: Civil Parish Registers
Ministers were required to give up their register books to laymen, who were to be called "parish registers." These new officials were to enter all publications of banns, marriages, births, and burials. For marriage entries they were empowered to charge a fee of I2d., and 4d. for each entry of birth and burial. The lay register was to be chosen by the householders of each parish on or before 22nd September 1653, and as soon as he had been sworn and approved by the local justice, his appointment was to be entered in the register book. The enactment by this same Act brought in civil marriage.
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| 10 | 1660 | - 1660: Civil Marriages Legalised
Marriages performed before justices during the Protectorates of Oliver and Richard Cromwell (1653-1660) were legalised by Act of Parliament (12 Car. ii, c. 33) during the latter part of the year.
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| 11 | 1667 | - 1667: Burial in Woollen
First act enacted requiring all burials to be in woollen in an effort to protect the wool trade from imports of silk cloth.
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| 12 | 1672 | - 1672: Declaration of Indulgence
Enacted by Charles II.
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| 13 | 1678 | - 1678: Burial in Woollen
Act re-affirmed requiring all burials to be in woollen in an effort to protect the wool trade from imports of silk cloth. An affidavit signed by the parish clerk was required to be made attesting to such burial. A fine was levied for failure to comply with the Act. Eventually, during 1814 this Act was repealed.
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| 14 | 1689 | - 1689: Act of Toleration
Enacted by William and Mary this Act gave everyone freedom to worship at their choice, Roman Catholics excepted. Few registers of dissenters exist prior to this time.
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| 15 | 1690 | - 1690: United Brethren
Presbyterians became closely affiliated as the United Brethren.
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| 16 | 1694 | - 1694—1706: Parish Register Taxation
A short-lived Act was passed whereby a tax of 2/- was levied on each birth, 2/6 for a marriage and 4/- for a burial. In order to assure that tax was collected, the incumbent was to be notified of any births within 5 days whereupon he was to receive a fee of 6d for recording them in the parish register. Bachelors and widowers were also taxed. The tax was rescinded in 1706.
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| 17 | 1696 | - 1696: Association Oath
This oath was a loyalty oath embodied in the "Act for the better security of his majesty's royal person and government" pledging loyalty to the Sovereign was administered to holders of public office following the discovery of an attempt to assassinate William III and was reminescent of the 1584 Association. Subscribers were to "heartily, sincerely, solemnly profess, testify and declare, That his present Majesty, King William, is rightful and lawful King of these Realms", and promised to revenge the King's death should an assassination attempt prove successful. Under the Act of Parliament only officeholders were required to swear the oath. In some parts of the country the rolls were also subscribed by most residents of substance. Many rolls for 1696 are located in The National Archives among the Chancery records (class mark C213/68-92). Other rolls can be found at the county record offices as part of the Quarter Sessions series.
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| 18 | 1700 | - 1700: Non-conformists
Onset of many Baptist and Independent meeting houses. Roman Catholics still prohibited from worshipping, buying or inheriting land
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| 19 | 1702 | - 1702: Abjuration Oath
This Oath was required to be signed by all holders of public office pursuant to an "Act for the further Security of His Majesties Person, and the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line", declaring that "our Sovereign Lord King William is Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm" and abjuring "any Allegiance or Obedience" to the young James III. Following the death of William III a further Act was passed amending the text of the oath to account for the change of monarch.
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| 20 | 1707 | - 1707: Act of Union
United Scotland with England and Wales to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
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| 21 | 1710 | - 1710: Records of Apprentices
From the year 1710, whenever a boy was apprenticed to a trade a stamp duty had to be paid, and these records of the binding of apprentices survive to provide the name of the apprentice, that of his father or widowed mother, and his master, as well as his parents' abode. Churchwardens and overseers of the poor were empowered to apprentice to husbandry any child under the age of 16 whose parents they judged unable to maintain him. If a master could be found in a neighbouring parish, this form of apprenticeship was often a convenient way of getting rid of a pauper child, because the apprenticeship conferred settlement after a period of forty days. "Husbandry" for a boy and "Housewifery" for a girl, simply meant being a servant on the land or in the house: later, in the industrial revolution, it might mean life in the mill, or even down the mine.
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| 22 | 1711 | - 1711: Register Pages to be Ruled
An order was made to the effect that all register pages were to be ruled and numbered. The order was widely ignored and clerks continued to record in their registers without the benefit of guiding ruled lines while neglecting to number their entries.
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| 23 | 1715 | - 1715: Oath Act
"An act for the further security of his majesty's person" (1 George I, c. 13) required holders of certain public offices to take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration as defined in that Act first binding the swearer to "be faithful, and bear true Allegiance to his Majesty King George" and the second, ostensibly an anti-Catholic oath, condemning as "impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and Position, That Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope" could be deposed or murdered by their subjects or any foreign power.
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| 24 | 1720s | - 1720s: Moravians
Arrived in London and Oxford.
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| 25 | 1723 | - 27 May 1723: Loyalty Oath Act
Oath Act
"An Act to oblige all Persons being Papists..., and all Persons... refusing or neglecting to take the Oaths appointed for the Security of His Majesty's Person and Government..., to register their Names and real Estates" (9 George I, c. 24, as defined in the previous act of 1 George I c. 13). The Act required "every Person and Persons" aged 18 years and older to swear loyalty oaths to King George by 25 December 1723. Those who refused to take the oaths were to registers their names and real estates by 25 March 1724. Individuals who refused to either swear their allegiance or register their property risked forfeiting their estates. The oaths administered were those of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration. A large proportion of these oaths were recorded at courts of Quarter Sessions.
- 27 May 1723: Catholic Taxation Act
"An Act for granting an Aid to His Majesty by laying a Tax upon Papists" was designed to raise the sum of £100,000 through a tax imposed upon all Papists aged eighteen years and over, and was in addition to the existing double land tax already imposed upon Roman Catholics. The Act detailed the amounts to be raised from the Catholic communities in each English county. Those liable to pay the additional tax were defined as anyone who refused to take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration as embodied within the 1715 Oath Act. It was designed to deter Catholic powers on the continent from supporting any future attempts at restoring the Stuart monarchy by highlighting the potential impact upon Roman Catholics in Britain.
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| 26 | 1733 | - 1733: Official Language - English
English adopted as official language for public records. Until this date, legal documents were in Latin.
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| 27 | 1740 | - 1740: Wesleyan Religion
The Wesleyan religion was formed but most did not break away from the Church of England until 1780s.
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| 28 | 1741 | - 1741—1837: Protestant Dissenters' Registry
A registry for Protestant events was set up at Dr. Williams Library in London, closed 1837 with 50,000 entries.
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| 29 | 1742 | - 1742: Moravian Split
Moravians split and some became the Congregation of Unity of Brethren.
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1638 -