Glossary - The Broket Archive

Glossary and abbreviations

Admon: Administration of estate

Advowson: The right to apppoint a priest to a benefice, especially a parish church (Hey 1998 p 2)

Anglo-Norman: The term for a variety of Old French spoken in aristocratic circles in England between 1066 and c 1475-1500 and written down in literary works, official documents and religious writings. From the early 13th C it began to give way to Middle English.

BI: Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, York University

b: Born

bap: Baptised/christened

BARS: Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service (formerly BLARS)

Beds: Bedfordshire

BC: Birth certificate

BFHS: Bedfordshire Family History Society: bfhs@bfhs.org.uk

BL: British Library, London

BLARS: Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (now BARS)

BM: Briar McKeown of New Zealand

BMDS: Births/baptisms/christenings, marriages and deaths in Scotland, kept at the NAS

BMI: Boyd’s Marriage Index

Branch: A line of descent from one progenitor, not necessarily limited in time or place, = line. Often has a descriptor, like ‘cadet’ branch or ‘eldest’ branch or ‘Foochow’ branch.

British Latin: The term for the language of religion and administration in England between 1066 and 1733. Sometimes termed Medieval Latin.

BT: Bishop’s Transcript [of a PR]

bur: Buried

Byname: A second name before surnames became fixed and hereditary

c: circa about

C: Century

Cadet: A descriptor for a younger son or younger line or branch

Cambs: Cambridgeshire

chr: Christened

Clan: A kin group two or more generations, larger than a family, and whose members were originally geographically close; nothing like the size of a Scottish clan in this context.

CWGC: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

CRO: Cambridgeshire Record Office

CROH: Cambridgeshire Record Office at Huntingdon

d: Died. Also with a preceding numeral: Penny or pence—12 in one shilling

dau: Daughter

DC: Death certificate

DCRO: Durham County Record Office (see also DRO)

DDI: Digger Death Index, an Australian database

DEI: Digger Edwardian Index, an Australian database. Digger Edwardian Index

d/o: daughter of

DPR1: Durham Probate Records series 1. Sometimes DPRI, see also DUASC.

DPRI: Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections

DRO: Durham Record Office (see also DCRO)

DUASC: Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections. Sometimes DULASC see also DPRI.

Dynasty: A family or clan, whose eldest line was particularly wealthy and influential. Four Brockett dynasties can be mentioned: those of Appleton, Wheathampstead, Headlam and Willingale Spains.
Early Modern English: The term for the indigenous language of England between c 1500-1700

Ebor: Pre-1837 York Wills relating to Durham and Northumberland, proved either in the Prerogative Court at York or at the Dean and Chapter Court there. The surviving Probate documents for these Courts are held by University of York, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research.

ERO: Essex Record Office document

f: plus the following page, ff: plus the following pages

Family: A three-generation span from grandparents to grandchildren. A ‘family unit’ indicates a mother, father and children.

FB: Franklin Brockett’s unpublished Family History, see Broket pedigrees.

FMP: FindMyPast, an online genealogy service owned by British publisher DC Thomson since 2007. Prior to 2006 it was called 1837online.

GRO: The General Record Office Index data of Births, Marriages and Deaths for England and Wales from 1837, formerly called ‘St Catherine’s after St Catherine’s House, London, its former home in the UK. qtr 1, qtr 2, or Q1, Q2 etc mean quarter, ie qtr 1 or Q1 = Jan-Mar, qtr 2 or Q2 = Apr-Jun etc. From 1911 mothers’ maiden names are given in the GRO and from 1866 ages at death.

Grouping: An overarching kin group whose members can be distant in time, place and social status. It is described by its ultimate-known origin, like the ‘Bedfordshire’ Grouping, and is best proved by DNA evidence. The word ‘Group’ implies concerted action, which is not the case here. The currently known Broket Groupings are five: the Bedfordshire one, the Lanarkshire one, the Northumberland/Lincolnshire one, the Southern one—comprising clans from counties south of London and perhaps including Somerset—and the Yorkshire one. The Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Brokets, and many of the wealthier London ones, belonged ultimately to the Yorkshire Grouping. The Groupings of some other London clans are as yet undetermined. See also branch, clan, family, household, line, patriline.

GWB: Garth Walter’s chart of Brocketts in South Africa

HALS: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

Herts: Hertfordshire

HGS BI: Hampshire Genealogical Sociey Burial Index

Household: A nuclear unit of parents and children, and sometimes servants

HMI: Huntingdonshire Marriage Index 1601-1700, 1734-1837

HRO: Hampshire Record Office

Hundred: A division of a county. A half hundred was sometimes a smaller division, as with Hitchin in Hertfordshire. See also Wapentake.

IGI: International Genealogical Index

IPM: Inquisition Post Mortem or inquisition after death. Before 1660, on the death of any holder of land who was thought to have held that land direct from the crown—called a tenant in chief by knight service— an inquiry was held by the Escheator of the county involved. A local jury had to swear to the identity and extent of the land held by the tenant at the time of his death, by what rents or services they were held, and the name and age of the next heir.

JH: Janet Houston of Australia

JP: Justice of the Peace

KBR: Kimbolton Burial Register

LCC: Lincolnshire County Council

Line: A line of descent from one progenitor, not necessarily limited in time or place, = branch

LPR: London Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. London.

Mark: Originally equal to 8 ounces of pure silver. After the Conquest 20 sterling pennies equalled an ounce, thus the mark equalled 160 pence, or 13s 4d. Amounts like 6s 8d and 3s 4d are often encountered, equalling half a mark and a quarter.

m or mar: Married. Also m with a preceding numeral: Miles; and with a following

numeral: Membrane, sheet of parchment, mm in the plural

MC: Marriage certificate

Medieval Latin: The term for the language of religion and administration in England between 1066 and 1733. Sometimes termed British Latin.

Middle English: The term for the indigenous language of England between 1066 and c 1475-1500, descended from Old English and coexisting alongside Medieval Latin and Anglo-Norman. Spoken throughout the period, Middle English occurred in texts sporadically at first, and then increasingly replaced first Anglo-Norman and then Medieval Latin. The Middle English of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales represents London English c 1400, but by the 1430s a national written standard was emerging (Wakelin 1988 p 85).

Modern English: The term for the language since 1700.

MP: Member of Parliament

NAA: National Archives of Australia

NARA: National Archives and Records Administration (USA)

NAS: National Archives of Scotland

NASA: National Archives of South Africa

NBI or NBR: National Burial Index, 2nd edition 2004, Federation of Family History Societies and Associations—goes up to 1851—or National Burial Register

n d: no date

NRO: Norfolk Record Office

Old English: The term for the language in England prior to the Norman conquest in 1066. It did not descend from Latin.

Old French: The term for the dialects that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of north Gaul. Also called Langue d’Oïl. Anglo-Norman, Norman and Picard are terms for forms of Old French spoken in England and northern France.

OS: Ordnance Survey

OPR: Old Parochial Register/s of the Church of Scotland. See also SBMD.

p: Page, pp in the plural

p a: Per annum—each year

PCC: The Prerogative Court of Canterbury in London, the highest probate court in the land

Patriline: Descent through the male line

pr: Proved, of a will

PR: Parish Register/s

PRO: Public Record Office, Kew, now usually called the National Archives (TNA).

QMB: Queenie May Brockett—Broket researcher in London c 1930-1990. Her notes are held in the Archive.

s: Shilling—20 in one pound (£1)

s/o: son of

Sheriff: The chief official of a County (Hey 1998 p 415)

SBMD: Births, marriages and deaths for Scotland. See also OPR.

St Catherine’s: See GRO.

TBA: The Broket Archive (this website).

TH: Historical Manuscripts Commission, Tabley House Collection, Cheshire CRO

TNA: The UK National Archives in Kew, formerly called the Public Record Office (PRO).

TR: Transciptions all the Broket entries in Bromham PR made by Terry Rooke, Parish Clerk of Bromham. In his notes he also sketched useful charts of Beds Broket families, sometimes bringing in other evidence.

Tree: A diagram or chart with lines connecting one generation to another and with abbreviated information on, like dates attached to individuals. Not generated from databases, so can include information from unrelated families and any source.

unm: unmarried

Vulgar Latin: The term for the language when spoken Latin was splitting into local dialects that eventually became languages like French, Spanish, Rumanian. After the 5th C the Vulgar Latin spoken in Gaul evolved into numerous dialects. Gaul’s northern dialects are usually grouped under the term Old French.

Wapentake: A former division of a Yorkshire Riding; the equivalent of a southern ‘hundred’

Without impeachment of waste: Not being liable if anyone should proceed legally against you for waste committed—like cutting down trees—while you are a tenant for life.

WAM: Westminster Abbey Archives

WSRO: Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office

Page Last Updated: November 8, 2023