The following databases were added at The Original Record this week:
1442-1449 – Workers building the Trinity Aisle of Thame church, Oxfordshire
The building accounts of Thame church give details of the expenditure entailed in the building of the Trinity Aisle or north transept from 1442 onwards, listing payments to individual workmen, carting and cutting stone, bringing sand and timber.
1644-1645 – Astrologer’s Clients
William Lilly, an astrologer, kept practice books listing his clients, their questions and the figures or horoscopes that he cast. Their questions relate to stolen property, probable success in any undertaking, ships at sea, health, long-life, love, marriage, pregnancy, &c. The books came into the possession of Elias Ashmole, who bequeathed them to Oxford University. This calendar was prepared by William Henry Black and printed in 1845. He lists the clients by folio number, remarking ‘the names are often omitted, and usually written invertedly, or disguised in some other manner’. Where a date of birth is specified in the practice book, it is given in the calendar. Practice Book I is for consultations from 30 March 1644 to 4 June 1645.
1748 – Subscribers to the Devon & Exeter Hospital
List of the governors and other subscribers and contributors to the Devon and Exeter Hospital for Sick and Lame Poor, before the Bishop of Exeter and the other governors. Those subscribing £5 or more per annum were standing members of the committee, by virtue of their subscriptions; those subscribing £2 or more a year were thereby governors; those marked with a star were in 1748 the present members of the elective part of the committee. There were also fourteen governors by virtue of their past benefactions, ranging from £20 to £123 8s.
1798-1800 – Board of Stamps Apprenticeship Books: Country Collectors’ Returns
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks’ articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master’s trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice’s name, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. There are central registers for collections of the stamp duty in London, as well as returns from collectors in the provinces. These collectors generally received duty just from their own county, but sometimes from further afield: in 1770 a change was made to describe many of the collectors according to their county rather than their town, but no change was made to the rule that they might stamp indentures from all the surrounding area, so these labels are deceptive. The indentures themselves can date from a year or two earlier than this return. There are returns from Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Brecknockshire, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Cheshire, Chester, Cornwall, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Essex, East Kent, Essex, Flintshire, Glamorganshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxfordshire, Scotland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, and Yorkshire, each of which has been indexed separately. IR 1/69
1818 – Yorkshire Tenants of William Long Wellesley
The election for a member of parliament to represent Wiltshire drew various accusations against one of the candidates, William Long Wellesley, which in turn elicited this testimonial from his Yorkshire tenantry, signed at York 20 April 1818: ‘We do not affirm that those unforeseen evils, or the unprecedented distress, which has been of late so universally felt by the great body of agriculturists throughout the kingdom, has been altogether unfelt by us; but we do affirm, that this burthern has been rendered comparatively light by your well-timed and liberal interference.’
1827 – Retired East-India Company Officers
The official list of retired military officers of the Hon. East-India Company gives name (surname and christian name or initials); rank; establishment; and date of retirement – corrected to 1 September 1827.
1845 – Prisoners in County Durham
A total of £2272 11d was disbursed by the County Treasurer of Durham from 31 December 1844 to 25 August 1845 to attorneys conducting prosecutions in the county sessions and assizes. The accounts list date of payment; attorney’s surname; full name of prisoner; when prosecuted; and cost. The abbreviations used are 1 S. for Epiphany Sessions; 2 S., Easter Sessions; 3 S., Midsummer Sessions; 4 S., Michaelmas Sessions; Spl. S., Special Sessions; Sp. A., Spring Assizes; S. A., Summer Assizes; W. A., Winter Assizes.
