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Reference and General Information

This page contains useful information relevant to the records found on this website. In particular, information on calendars, abbreviations and occupations:

A summary of the different names, professions and locations of the people mentioned in the Bridgnorth Burgess Book can be found .

Forename Abbreviations

Below is a list of forenames found on this site, and their common abbreviated forms. Whilst these abbreviations were usually indicated by superscripts, punctuation and overscoring, the transcriptions on this site will usually simply write the superscripts as normal text. To clear up any uncertainty caused by this, the first name field will be indexed as the correct full name in its modern spelling.

Forename	Abbreviations	Notes
Abraham	Abr^m. or Ab^m. or Abra: or Abram:
Alexander	Alex^r.
Andrew	And^w. or Andr:
Anthony	Anth^y. or Anth:
Arthur	Arth^r. or Ar: or Arth:
Bartholomew	Barthol. or Barth:
Benjamin	Benjⁿ. or Benj:
Charles	Cha^s. or Charl:
Christopher	Christ^r. or Chr^r. or Xtopher
Daniel	Dan^l.	Often spelled with a double 'l'.
Edmund	Edm^d.
Edward	Edw^d.
Elizabeth	Eliz. or Eliz: or Eliz^th.	Without the punctuation, "Eliza" simply means Eliza.
Ephraim	Ephr^m. or Epha:	Often spelled Ephahim.
Francis	Fra^s. or Fris or Fr:	Capital 'F' is frequently written as a double 'f'.
George	Geo. or Geo:
Henry	Hen^y. or H^y. or Hen:
Humphrey	Hum^y. or Hump^y. or Hum.
James	Ja^s. or Ja:
Jeremiah	Jerem^h.
John	Jn^o: , Joⁿ. or Jo:	These are not Jonathan - they are clearly used as standard abbreviations for 'John'. Different clerks seem to have a preference for one or the other.
Jonathan	Jonaⁿ. or Jonath:	Often written in full to distinguish it from John.
Joseph	Jos^h. or Jos:	Jos^h. is not Joshua - the superscript 'h' is the last letter of the name. As the database does not allow superscripts this abbreviation will appear as 'Josh.' but be indexed as Joseph.
Joshua		Usually written in full. Sometimes spelled Josuah.
Lancelot	Lan^t. or Lanc^t.	Sometimes spelled Launcelot.
Matthew	Math^w. or Math:	Frequently spelled with a single 't'.
Michael	Mich^l. or Mich:	Often spelled with a double 'l'.
Nathaniel	Nath^l. or Nath:	Often spelled with a double 'l'.
Obadiah	Obad^h.
Richard	Rich^d. or R^d. (or Ricus. or Rici.)
Robert	Rob^t.
Roger	Rog^r.
Rowland	Row^d. or Rowl^d. or Row:
Samuel	Sam^l. or Sam:	Often spelled with a double 'l'.
Stephen	Stephⁿ.
Thomas	Tho^s. or Tho: or Thom:
Timothy	Tim^y. or Tim:
Walter	Walt^r.
William	W^m. or Will^m. or Will:
Zachariah	Zach:

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Occupations

Below is a list of some of the more unusual-sounding professions mentioned in earlier records on this site, with descriptions and/or later equivalents where known.

Occupation	Synonyms	Notes
Armiger	Esquire	Armiger is the latin name, and is often abbreviated to Ar:
Brazier		A person who makes or repairs brass household items.
Capper		A person who makes cloth caps.
Chapefiler / Chapemaker		The 'chape' is the working part of a buckle - the bar and prongs. Chapemaking was part of the Wolverhampton buckle-making industry, but a separate trade.
Chapman		An itinerant pedlar, or keeper of a booth or market stall.
Chirurgeon	Surgeon
Colour Man		A mixer of dyes in the textile industry, or seller of paints.
Cordwainer	Shoemaker / Corvisor
Corvisor	Shoemaker / Cordwainer / Clogmaker
Cricker		A man who carries heavy loads on a horse.
Currier		A person who cures or tans animal skins.
Cutler		A person who deals in, makes or sharpens knives, scissors and other blades.
Cutter	Castrator	The word 'cutter' can also be used for engravers and tailors, but seems to be a synonym for castrator in the Bridgnorth Burgess Book.
Drawer	Wiremaker
Husbandman	Tenant Farmer
Joiner	Carpenter
Limner	Illustrator	Painter of ornamental decoration - possibly in illuminated manuscripts.
Mason	Bricklayer
Scrivener	Clerk / Notary
Shingler		A person who tiles roofs with wooden tiles (shingles).
Sowcutter
Towdresser	Flaxdresser
Trowman	Waterman/Boatman	The 'trow' was a type of cargo boat traditionally used on the Severn.
Turner		A person who works with a lathe.
Typefounder
Wash Leather Dresser
Wharfinger		A person who owns or works on a wharf.
Wherryman	Waterman / Bargeman
Whitesmith		A person who works with tin.
Whittawer	Glover / Tawer	A person working in white leather - often synonymous with 'glover'.

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Julian v Gregorian Calendars

The Julian Calendar, used since Roman times, had 365 days in a year, and added a leap-day every fourth year. This gave an average year-length of 365.25 days, but as the correct value is nearer 365.2422 the Julian Calendar gained an extra 3 days every 400 years. The Gregorian Calendar fixed this by only allowing century years to be leap years if they divided by 400.

The Gregorian Calendar was not accepted in England until 1752 (Scotland began to use it in 1600). By this point, the Julian Calendar was 11 days ahead, and some days had to be skipped during the changeover.

To add to this difficulty, the Julian Calendar used 25th March (Lady Day) as the beginning of the year, even though it wasn’t the beginning of a month. (So at that time September, October, November and December really were the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months.) In effect, this meant that, for example, the day after 24th March 1688 was 25th March 1689. The Gregorian Calendar, on the other hand, used 1st January as New Year’s Day.

When protestant England finally decided in 1751 that the Gregorian Calendar was not a popish plot, and decided to accept it, the changeover worked like this:

24th March 1750 was immediately followed by 25th March 1751.
31st December 1751 was immediately followed by 1st January 1752. This meant that the year 1751 had only 9-and-a-bit months as 1st January 1751 to 24th March 1751 were completely missing. It also meant that 1752 was the first year to begin on 1st January.
2nd September 1752 was immediately followed by 14th September 1752. This meant that September 1752 was eleven days short, as 3rd September 1752 to 13th September 1752 were completely missing.
31st December 1752 was immediately followed by 1st January 1753.

The main effects of this for historical researchers and genealogists are that dates between 1st January and 24th March written before 1752 are actually a year later than they appear. A date written "22nd February 1714" in the Julian Calendar is really "22nd February 1715" in the Gregorian Calendar, and should be transcribed as "22nd February 1714/5".

[Technically, the Gregorian date would be "11th February 1715" because of the missing 11 days, but we are usually less concerned with this than with getting the year right.]

So if your 6-times-great-grandparents were married on "26th March 1745", and had a baby baptised on "20th March 1745", then that baby was born a year after the wedding, rather than a week before!

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Regnal Years

Dates in old records are sometimes given as regnal years rather than in the Julian or Gregorian Calendars. For example, 27th June 1. W: 3. means the 27th of June in the first year of William III’s reign.

Most instances of regnal dates occurring on this website are dates of the Stuart kings and queens - particularly Charles II, James II and William III/Mary II.

In order to convert regnal years to Julian/Gregorian dates, you need to know the dates on which the reigns of individual monarchs began and ended:

Monarch	Start_date	End_date	Notes
Henry VI	31st August 1422	4th March 1460/61	Henry VI was briefly restored to the throne in his 49th regnal year, from 31st October 1470 to 11th April 1471.
Edward IV	4th March 1460/61	9th April 1483
Edward V	9th April 1483	26th June 1483
Richard III	26th June 1483	22nd August 1485
Henry VII	22nd August 1485	22nd April 1509
Henry VIII	22nd April 1509	28th January 1546/47
Edward VI	28th January 1546/47	6th July 1553
Mary	6th July 1553	17th November 1558	Although Mary only ruled from 19th July 1553 she claimed her regnal years from 6th July ignoring Lady Jane Grey.
Phillip (with Mary)	25th July 1554	17th November 1558	Phillip's regnal years count from the date he married Mary, up to the date of her death.
Elizabeth I	17th November 1558	24th March 1602/3
James I (VI)	24th March 1602/3	27th March 1625
Charles I	27th March 1625	30th January 1648/9
Charles II	30th January 1648/9	6th February 1684/5	Charles II dated his regnal years from his father's execution on 30th January 1648/9, but his regnal dates were not used until the Restoration of the Monarchy on 29th May 1660.
James II (VII)	6th February 1684/5	11th December 1688	James II was considered to have effectively abdicated on 11th December 1688 when he dropped the Great Seal of the Realm into the Thames and attempted to flee to France, in the Glorious Revolution.
William and Mary	13th February 1688/9	28th December 1694	William III and Mary II were called to the throne by Parliament to reign jointly, replacing James II (VII) after a small interregnum.
William III	13th February 1688/9	8th March 1701/2	Although Mary died on 28th December 1694, William still dated his regnal years from 1688/89, but as William III
Anne	8th March 1701/2	1st August 1714
George I	1st August 1714	11th June 1727
George II	11th June 1727	25th October 1760	The reign of George II includes the change to the Gregorian calendar, so his regnal years begin on 11th June up to 1752 and on 22nd June afterwards.
George III	25th October 1760	29th January 1820
George IV	29th January 1820	26th June 1830
William IV	26th June 1830	20th June 1837
Victoria	20th June 1837	22nd January 1901

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