Buckland Newton

Arranged according to the Gregorian Calendar, with the Julian year indicated to the left of the forward slash (/) in those years when the Julian Calendar, which ran from March 25th to March 24th, was in use (i.e. prior to 1752, 1751 being the transition year).

Until 1738, Parish Registers were supposed to be kept in Latin. From the Civil War onwards, this rule was respected more in the breach than the observance. Buckland Newton is an exception, with extensive use of Latin up until 1737. It is, however, erratic, swapping back and forth between English and Latin every few years. The standard of the Latin is also variable, making interpretation more challenging. I have therefore translated the Latin entries into English. Those entries with an 'L' shown before the date were orginally entered in Latin.

NB: Translation of christian names into English is problematical in some instances. For example, Jacobi was the Latin version of James, but was also occasionally used in its own right for Jacob, while Elena could mean Eleanor or Helen. Sometimes clerks used dog Latin and their ad-hoc latinisation of English names provides a clue. Where there are no such clues and a name could be translated in a variety of ways, I have chosen the most common alternative. In the 19th Century, certain Latin names (e.g. Maria for Mary and Matilda for Maud) became names in their own right. I have translated these names to the English equivalents that would have been used at the time.

From 1754, there was a separate register of marriages, although some parish clerks continued to make a cursory entry in the composite Parish Register after this date. The Buckland Newton marriage register is unusual in that it is not a book of pre-printed forms; rather it is a lined volume and details of marriages and, up until 1793, banns are entered in freehand. There is an enormous variety of spelling, including within a single entry, where the same name may be spelt in three different ways.

Translation involves choices, and the Parish Register is in any case difficult to read in places, so readers are invited to use this transcript as a guide only and to consult the original at the Dorset History Centre.