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  • Bishop's transcripts

    I'm a bit confused about these. Someone had a look at a parish's register for me, but couldn't find what I was looking for & someone else has suggested she might have missed it if it was only in the bishop's transcripts. Would this mean that the original parish register might have been lost while the bishop's transcripts might have survived or do the bishop's transcripts sometimes contain additional details ? I'd have thought that "transcript" would indicate, if anything, that less detail was included.

    Thank you

  • #2
    The Bishops transcripts I have seen contain basically the same information as the parish register, sometimes in a more abbreviated form. They can be useful if the parish register itself has gone missing or is illegible through age etc. Because they were most likely compiled by the same scribe at about the same time, there was always the opportunity for "corrections" and additions to be made. Of course there was also the chance to introduce extra mistakes!!!!

    Anne

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    • #3
      Thanks very much Anne.....I'm just looking at an advert for Leicestershire parish CDs. The advert stresses that the contain the parish register entries & not the bishop's transcripts, & I wasn't sure if that was seen as a great advantage or a warning

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      • #4
        I consider the parish register to be the primary source and the bishop's transcripts to be a secondary source, but that is very simplistic of me! The BT was supposed to be written up once a year as an exact copy of the parish register but of course it's almost certain that it wasn't done that way all the time and that each Vicar/Parish clerk had his own way of doing it, some keeping a running register, some collecting bits of paper ina biscuit tin and some only ever doing the BT and not bothering with the parish register.

        Rule of thumb: consult the parish register first, then the BT and compare. If you only have one of the two, you have to go with whichever one you have.

        OC

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        • #5
          bt's arn't always helpful. a lot of the time, the surviving bt's have large gaps (30-40 yrs in my experience) in them. especially for small parishes, they may have the parish you need, but the time frame you need for an ancestor could be in the parts not covered by the transcripts.

          i had the north otterington bt's, they had the 1790's, which was the time i wanted, but further inspection had a gap of 1712-1785 in the transcripts. so i found the parents of the man i wanted, but i couldnt look for their baptisms. since the name is uncommon and the place small, i have found others who will be related, but because f the gaps, i'd need the archives to find the original registers!

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          • #6
            There are at least 134 Bishops Transcripts that start at an earlier date than the existing Parish Register.

            Some Bishop’s Transcripts are the original register with the copy (or transcript) being retained by the parish as a replacement.

            In the occasional Parish there are up to 5 different versions of the “Parish Register” each giving slightly different information.

            My advice is to view every source available before coming to any conclusion which is the most accurate.
            Cheers
            Guy
            Guy passed away October 2022

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            • #7
              hi Grey,
              my derbyshire cds stress that they are the parish registers and they only fill in the damaged bits with the bishops transcripts.I like the parish registers best because if you have a chatty vicar he tells you things on the deaths.
              I love all of my derbyshire cds sometimes they have inquest reports and parish photos etc.
              the meercat.

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