Some Q's about Places and abreviations on records.

[james84]

I'm currently looking through parish records from St Andrew Holborn christenings 1792-1805 and there are some general questins I have.

• First being, After the names of all family members for the record it has their residence location. Some say Southampton Buildings and alot say Baldwins Gardens. Can anyone tell me more about these places?
• Some records are written down different from the rest. the go like...Fred son of Fred smith gent and where his from & his wife Mary smith, Baldwins Gardens. Most of them are just Sons/Daughters names of Father & Mother the family name and location. Some also have the Esq forr esquire, all of them are in the format I mentioned at the start of this point. I guess I'm asking whats the difference between a gent and esquire ?
• Some records have the location down as "from St Pancas, clerkenwell" Why would they go to a different church to get the Christening done ?

Thanks in advance

james

[kylejustin]

maybe using a different church had family meanings, or they fell out with the vicar?

[margaretmarch]

Someone described as a gent is a person who does not necessarily work but lives off dividends or other funds - maybe a business. The term esquire is just a polite and old fashioned way of saying 'Mr' and it could be that is how the person said their name.

As regards the other church name that was used as a civil boundary too as in the census enumeration districts so it might just mean they don't live in this parish but come to this church.

To find out about the addresses I would google them and maybe look for a local family history society whose memebrs mmay be able to help.
Margaret