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

Catholics in Early Non-Catholic Records (cont.)
Chart: Return of Papists in Winchester Diocese 1767 A variety of amounts of detail were provided as shown here.

Oaths of Allegiance
These were required at the beginning of each new reign. Catholics had refused to take the Oath of Supremacy for over two centuries, but in 1778 the Catholic Relief Act provided a special oath of loyalty to the crown for them, but lower and middle classes generally felt no need to do this.

Lists of Recusants
It is worth noting that any list of Non-Anglicans can include Catholics and in certain parts of the country, for example Lancashire, these are likely to constitute a sizable number, if not the majority.

Sacrament certificates
Gandy (Pocket Guides to Family History: Tracing Nonconformist Ancestors. PRO Publications, 2001) sums these up nicely ‘Catholics should not be in them, so appearance is evidence of either apostasy or hypocrisy’!

Land tax
This tax was inaugurated in 1692 and Catholics were charged double until 1829 so can be identified. The returns are with the Quarter Sessions and have largely been filmed.

Papists Estates
During the long period when Catholics were not allowed to own land, many had trusted Protestant friends in whom they vested their land, and some lawyers specialized in this business. However, when he died the nearest Protestant was able to claim the land, which would give rise to court records with much genealogical detail. An example of an inquisition post mortem from a manor court, which recognizes the heir to the deceased’s estate, is that of Thomas Wiseman of Wimbish, Essex, 1586, on film 0,599,708.

After the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion over 3,000 Catholics from Lancashire alone were involved with the Forfeited Estates Commission. Since most were not affluent and would have fallen on poor relief they were not prosecuted.

Until 1778 Catholics could not officially be executors or administrators of wills, nor guardians of children, but sympathetic Protestant friends would often assist in disguising such acts, for example by wording a will so that named executors dispose of estates as they see fit or according to my mind which they know.

During the penal period Catholics could not be educated at the universities since this would involve denying their beliefs. Some did go, nonetheless, and many went instead to the Inns of Court on London where the oath was not applied so rigorously.

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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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