Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538, and from that date many of our registers begin.[6] But all vicars did not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made previous to 1603.
The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of this business taken from the books of this parish:--
"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."
Henceforth the children are registered as having been _born_, not _baptised_, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the disorder of the previous years ceases.
In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of £5 was inflicted for a violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried in linen, a record of the fine appears--_e.g._ at Gayton, Northamptonshire, where we find in the register--
"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in _Linnen_, and the forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty shillings to ye poor of the parishe."
Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, with reference to this custom:--
"Odious! in woollen! 'twould _a_ saint provoke (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke); No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."
