OF THE COMMITTEE FOR PROMOTING THE TRANSCRIPTION AND PUBLICATION OF PARISH REGISTERS, WITH CALENDAR OF REGISTERS Printed and transcribed since the first Report of 1892. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE CONGRESS OF CONGRESS OF ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. Report of the Parish Register The Committee in issuing the present supplement to their Report and Lists of 1892 have great pleasure in caliing attention to the large increase in the number of Transcripts made; many of these, there is reason to believe, owe their existence to the help and stimulus given by the former report. It is to be noted that a large number of the Transcripts have been made for the use of the various Parishes, and will therefore be accessible to the public. It appears to the Committee that the evidence supplied by this supplemental List shows that the supposed impossibility of ever transcribing the whole of the Parish Registers of the Kingdom is imaginary, and that by enlisting and encouraging local effort, the very desirable object may be obtained at no great distance of time. The list of Transcribers' names shows how much may be done by individual workers, and much more might easily be done by some organised effort by Diocesan authorities. The Committee hail with satisfaction the successful formation of a Society for printing Parish Registers, under the patronage of the Archbishops and many of the Bishops. The Hon. Sec. is E. A. Fry, Esq., of 172, Edmund Street, Birmingham, who will be happy to give any information on the subject. The Society has already issued five Registers in return for the annual guinea subscription, and in the event of an increase in the number of subscribers will be able to print more Registers annually. In cases where some local help can be guaranteed, special arrangements can be made for printing Registers. Mr. W. P. W. Phillimore (124, Chancery Lane) is also printing a series of complete Marriage Registers of Counties. Those of Gloucestershire are now being printed, and others for Hants, Kent, Northants, Notts, and Somerset are in active preparation. It is intended to arrange for other Counties. Mr. Wm. Brigg, B.A. (Harpenden, Herts.), is printing in the "Herts. Genealogist" a useful series of Bishops' Transcripts for the periods for which the Parish Registers are lost. It is gratifying to find that, at the instance of the Diocesan Conferences of St. Alban's and Worcester, Committees have been formed to obtain from all Incumbents in the Dioceses returns of the Registers existing in their Parishes, their exact dates and condition. An effort will then be made to get the books put into proper repair. |