Protestation Returns Online
A few years ago, I wrote an article stating that the Protestation Returns of 1641-42 were to be digitised and published online. The majority of the surviving returns are now viewable via the House of Common's website and searched using their online map and more images are still to come.
The records are almost an equivalent to a census record whereby they (should) contain the names of all men aged 18 and over in each parish taking, or not taking, the oath of allegiance to the protestant faith. In the vast majority of cases, these returns just included the names of the individuals. Therefore, these records can be used to identify where our ancestors and other relatives lived, before the English civil war (1642-1651) took place.
To search these records, follow this link (which should open another tab) and type in the place where one or more of your ancestors lived at the time. This will show you all the parishes within 10 miles where the records have survived. You can then zoom in or click the church symbol if the red arrow is attached to it to see if the parish is covered. Don't be too disheartened if the parish you are looking for is not covered as only 1/3 of the records have survived; just try another parish or a nearby one. If the records have survived, click on the church symbol and click on 'View in online Archives Catalogue'. This will open a new tab and show a table of information. If the record has been digitised and is available online, click on the URL (bottom row) which should link you to another page. On this page click on the parish's name (below view book) which should, finally, lead you to the digitised image. You can zoom in and out and turn the page using the tools at the bottom of the page.
You will have to check each name, one-by-one as these are images and not transcripts however, there is less error to go wrong this way! Some 'books' are multiple pages long with lots of names, so these will require careful checking.
Published: 18 May 2017
The records are almost an equivalent to a census record whereby they (should) contain the names of all men aged 18 and over in each parish taking, or not taking, the oath of allegiance to the protestant faith. In the vast majority of cases, these returns just included the names of the individuals. Therefore, these records can be used to identify where our ancestors and other relatives lived, before the English civil war (1642-1651) took place.
To search these records, follow this link (which should open another tab) and type in the place where one or more of your ancestors lived at the time. This will show you all the parishes within 10 miles where the records have survived. You can then zoom in or click the church symbol if the red arrow is attached to it to see if the parish is covered. Don't be too disheartened if the parish you are looking for is not covered as only 1/3 of the records have survived; just try another parish or a nearby one. If the records have survived, click on the church symbol and click on 'View in online Archives Catalogue'. This will open a new tab and show a table of information. If the record has been digitised and is available online, click on the URL (bottom row) which should link you to another page. On this page click on the parish's name (below view book) which should, finally, lead you to the digitised image. You can zoom in and out and turn the page using the tools at the bottom of the page.
You will have to check each name, one-by-one as these are images and not transcripts however, there is less error to go wrong this way! Some 'books' are multiple pages long with lots of names, so these will require careful checking.
Published: 18 May 2017
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*Note - No copyright infringement was intended. If there is a breach in copyright contact me through the 'Contact' section so it can be removed. All photos are Copyright © 2017 Harry Clarke. All Rights Reserved. The image for the homepage of this article is courtesy of the House of Commons.