The accuracy of the London parish registers, 1580-1653.

Abstract

Abstract In a recent discussion of London mortality experience, and in particular of the impact of the plague from 1563 to 1665, based on the Bills of Mortality, Dr I. Sutherland wrote: ‘...family reconstitution studies on the London parish registers do not appear to be a practical proposition.’ He went on to explain why this was so. ‘It seems likely that during the period under review all the burials came to the notice of the parish authorities, and that deficiencies, perhaps of the order often per cent, will have occurred by omissions either from parish registers or the bills of mortality.... The deficiencies in christenings before the Civil War will certainly have been greater than those in burials....’1 However, because it is impossible to verify the aggregate totals of baptisms and burials given in the Bills of Mortality because they are not broken down by parish, conclusions based on the use of this source will always be open to question. This is why a reconsideration of the London parish registers ...