Wheathampstead Parish Registers
Although the actual Wheathampstead Parish Registers before 1690 are lost, entries for some earlier prominent families, including Brokets, had previously been transcribed by the antiquary Richard Gough (1735-1809), and survive in a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.1 These entries were transcribed and published by Busby 1937. Here are his opening paragraphs:2
Spanning 1507-1680 these entries have been copied here from the Bodleian manuscript into 2 tables below, arranged by date and name.
Thomas Cromwell first ordered Parish Registers to be kept in 1538, but it was not until Elizabeth’s accession in 1558 that many parishes began to do so.3 After 1558 the Brocket entries are regular, but even from 1544 they are more or less complete—there was only the one Broket family in the parish till 1558: that of John—later Sir John I. Prior to the 1544 record—a baptism—there are 3 burial records from 1507 and 1525. They date well before Thomas Cromwell’s order and were individual records of prominent members of the community, not part of a systematic list. Lucy’s burial, for instance, was recorded in 1525 but not her husband’s in 1532.
Note: The surname was spelt Brocket throughout, except 2 instances of Brokett: Edward bur 1669 and Thomas bur 1671.
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Page Last Updated: April 5, 2020