England Catholics in Early Non-Catholic Records (National Institute)

Catholics in Early Non-Catholic Records
Since Catholicism was to varying degrees illegal from 1559 to 1829 the state and state church (Anglican) monitored and tried to suppress it, resulting in a host of records at national and local levels. Gandy (Basic facts about English Nonconformity for Family Historians. Federation of Family History Societies, 1998) considers that Williams (Sources for Recusant History (1559-1791) in English Official Archives. Recusant History Vol 16 #4, 1983) is the best source for recusant history and Gandy’s two 1996 bibliographies (Catholic Family History: A Bibliography of General Sources. Self-published and Catholic Family History: A Bibliography of Local Sources. Self-published) indicate the vastness of the literature with comprehensive lists for every time period and area.

National Records
Amongst the national records which can be used to trace Catholic families are Recusant Rolls from 1591-1691. These are lists of fines and forfeits for non-attendance at the local parish church, and contain large numbers of Catholics as well as other dissenters. They mainly refer to the more prominent offenders, and some are on film, for instance roll 1 (1592-3) is on ; roll 2 (1593-4) on, and rolls 3-4 (1594-6) on. In the early taxation records called the Lay Subsidy Rolls Catholics were taxed at double the regular rate and can therefore be readily identified.

The Memoranda Rolls in series E 368 contain recusant case histories. State Papers (SP series) of the 17th century have much family history detail and Shorney (Protestant Nonconformity and Roman Catholicism. A Guide to Sources in the Public Record Office. PRO Publications, 1996) should be consulted for more information on the many types and their PRO numbers. He also mentions the Privy Council (PC series), State Papers, Exchequer (E series) and Forfeited Estates Commission (FEC series) records of the 18th century which can reveal much about individual cases, particularly of the upper classes. The PRO leaflet D66 gives more sources on Catholic Recusants.

It should be noted that there was a great difference between reputed/suspected/known recusants and those actually convicted in a court such as Quarter sessions. The term superstitious is also used for Catholics, as in the Commission for Superstitious Lands, an anti-Catholic enquiry in the 1690s. The Catholic Record Society has published a number of such national records, for example English Catholics who attended mass at the Spanish Embassy on Palm Sunday 1613/14 are the subject of a paper in Miscellanea VII on ; examples are below.

Chart: Proceedings against Catholics for Attending Mass at the Spanish Embassy on Palm Sunday 1613/14

Convicted recusants, primarily Catholics, who went through a formal procedure to conform to the Church of England are detailed in the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer’s Memoranda Rolls which are at the PRO in series E 368. Their lands and property were returned and fines usually excused as the state was more interested in the conformity than the money. However, in some cases the conversion was temporary and the same names appear again for similar offences. Catholic Ancestor has published lists of those conforming between 1590 and 1625. Lists of Catholics called Returns of Papists were made in 1680, 1705, 1706, 1767 (the most thorough) and 1780 and what survives are in the House of Lords Record Office in Westminster. Some give only statistics, but those for the dioceses of Chester, Durham and Hereford give names, ages, relationship within household, addresses, and how long in residence Many are published, for example the important 1767 return in Vol 1 Diocese of Chester with a separate index, and Vol 2 Other Dioceses which are in the but are not filmed yet. These parliamentary summaries contain only initials, and the full names are in the originals in the Quarter Sessions records which happily are available on film.

County and Local Records
The original lists from which the many national surveys etc., such as the Returns of Papists, Oaths of Allegiance, Lists of Recusants, Sacrament Certificates Land Tax, and Registration of Catholic Estates were compiled are with county Quarter Sessions or sometimes Petty or Borough Sessions and most of these are available on film. Some Anglican parishes list their papists regularly in their annual Churchwardens’ Presentments particularly in the 16th-17th centuries.

Returns of Papists
Examples of different formats showing an increasing amount of detail can be found below.

Chart:Return of Papists 1680 Kent Quarter Sessions

Chart: Brentford, Middlesex return of Papists 1711 in Quarter Sessions —

Chart: Kensington, Middlesex return of Papists 1711 in Petty Sessions —

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Non-Anglican Church Records offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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