Now what I want is facts…. facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else…

Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Sometimes, when researching a family history, we come across some real gems of information that propel us forward to new searches without even trying. It’s as if the minister in these ancient parishes had predicted that someone, somewhere, would one day need his help in the quest to find their ancestors!

There is no doubt that, prior to George Rose’s Act of 1812, parish register entries were at best disorganized and at worst totally misleading and unhelpful, providing only the basic information. This is why family historians, especially for those researching in the north-east of England, the so-called Dade registers can be so exciting and informative.

The Reverend William Dade, (1740-1790) was a scholar in antiquaries as well as being curate, vicar and rector of five parishes in York and two in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He was passionate that, among other records, parish registers should be preserved for posterity, and should contain as much genealogical information as possible. In the parish register of St. Helen’s, York, he wrote: This scheme if properly put in execution will afford much clearer intelligence to the researches of posterity than the imperfect method hitherto generally pursued.

From the 1770s, particularly in Yorkshire and surrounding counties, a typical example might be like this one:

Born 8 Aug 1789; baptized 26 Aug 1789 Joseph Bramwell, the first son of Richard Bramwell, stone mason of Mansfield and Sarah, daughter of Charles and Amelia Watson of Halifax.

Other examples may include the paternal grandparents as well.

In the case of burials, the entry would include the date of death as well as burial, the cause of death and the age of the deceased. Other family details may be included, such as ‘widow of…’ or ‘son of…’ and parents’ names and their residences may be given.

The content of the registers did vary, because there was no legislation to formalize it, so it was down to the diligence of the minister or the churchwarden who copied details into the register.

Andrew Todd’s excellent book, Nuts and Bolts – Family History Problem-Solving through Family Reconstitution Techniques (2000), cites that between 1568 and 1837 at Hawkshead in Furness, Lancashire, there are examples of burial registers which recorded detailed places of residence, occupations and unusual circumstances of death. Todd refers to these examples of extra information with the delightful phrase Diocesan purple patches .

As well as the exciting extra genealogical information, these registers give an insight into demographic studies of the area – for example, Dade insisted that the registers should include numbers of baptisms and burials, so that comparisons can be made, and patterns in mobility and migration in an area can be identified.

The term ‘Dade register’ has therefore become synonymous with any parish register that include more detail than expected for the period. Details in these registers can be superior to those found in death certificates introduced from 1837.

Dade’s influence spread throughout the Yorkshire area, thanks to the active encouragement of William Markham, the Archbishop of York (1719–1807). His diocese included all of the East Riding, the city of York, most of the West Riding and part of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was not long before this type of register also appeared in Nottinghamshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, even as far away as Essex, Surrey and Devon. Unfortunately, Markham died before he could see the full extent of Dade’s influence.

The then Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington (1734-1826), went even further. Working along the lines of Dade, he introduced a printed format especially for the parish registers, some years prior to the George Rose Act of 1812, so that baptism registers in the diocese of Durham included the child’s date of birth, the mother’s maiden name and the parishes in which both parents were born, as well as the position of the child in the family.

Some registers didn’t use this method for very long at all, as the example on this page from the Ronaldkirk baptism register shows.

Indeed, many clergymen, particularly in the more densely populated industrial parishes, appeared to resent the extra work involved in making these lengthy entries and some refused to follow the new trend, although it was never made official in any case, and incumbents couldn’t be fined for non-compliance. Several letters of complaint were printed in the York newspapers of the time, the main objections being the rather arduous task of duplicating them for the Bishop’s Transcripts. As a consequence, not all fuller register entries were transferred to the Bishop, while others were given to the Bishop having omitted the extra detail from their own registers! It is important, therefore, to check both sources during this period.

George Rose’s Act of 1812 attempted to end the haphazard system of recording in registers; the new printed pages of the registers had limited space for the minister to be as carefree. Nevertheless, the Dade influence continued in many areas even after 1812. We can find snippets of extra information in registers, such as this burial register from Georgeham, Devon:

1840 Jan 23 John Kellaway aged 18 of Hartland, washed in on the sands

Registers earlier than 1770 obviously are not Dade registers, but many nevertheless demonstrate numerous examples of fuller detail – while these are not necessarily helpful genealogically, they are insightful – and sometimes downright amusing! Here are some examples from W. E. Tate’s renowned book The Parish Chest (Phillimore, 1983):

At Rolleston, Notts.
Margerie Deconsonne the wife of Bartholomew Deconsonne… fiftie yeares of age, a tall slender woman, mighty thrifty, I should rather say stingy, shee leaving this life on Monday was buried on Tuesday the 30th of Aprill 1588.

Aug.12 1687
John Wise, a Bachelor, a frequenter of taverns rather than of the Church and Sacrament, attacked by a raging fever, vomiting dreadful curses and blasphemies, died and was buried. In the hour of death Lord deliver us.