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+ BEDESMAN/WOMAN – Beadsman + Beads"man\, A poor man, supported in a beadhouse, and required to pray for the soul of its founder; an almsman. Some-one who owed unquestioning loyalty. "Whereby ye shall bind me to be your poor beadsman for ever unto Almighty God."—Fuller.

^BUSHEL - Container which holds a bushel. ^BUSHEL – Used for volumes of dry commodities, mostly in Agriculture. I Imperial Bushel is equal to 36.36 litres or 8 gallons or 56 avoirdupois pounds.

*BYLMAN - He was armed with a bill or spike on a pole. As this spike hadsubsidiary sidecurved spikes, it would do damage. See photosof ceremonial views of the yeomen of the guard at the Tower of London for an idea of what it looked like.

*COPYHOLD - Copyhold was a form of perpetual tenancy, which could be inherited and with the right to sell. Former servile holdings (technically owned by the Lord of the Manor) were converted to copyholds c1500,and from then as long as the family kept going, it passed onfrom father to son -normall ye eldest son,unless the custom of the manor decreed theyoungest son; if there were no sons, the daughters might inherit collectively (and onehusband usually bought the others out or made a straight split). The copy of court roll described the extent and location of the land, in relation to neighbours or to phsical features like roads and streams.The widow generally had aright to remain in the copyhold for life(while widow),enjoying a third of the profits. This depended on the custom. The property could be sold to raise money, technically with theprior approval of the Lord or Steward. A fine (final payment) was made at each death or change of owner, also a heriot (originally the best beast on the holding, later usually a cash sum based on animal values in 1520ish, a cheap period). A small annual rental was payable, a few shillings or sometimes produce in lieu. Originally, services of work on the lord's land were also due, but most of these were bought out in the 1600s. Copyholds were generally on offer for sale to tenants in the 1890s, and the systemended in 1925. (Full details includingexamples of documents and how to extractthe meat from the Latin (to 1733) phraseology in Manorial Records in my guides series.

^CORDWAINER - cordwainer (or cordovan) is somebody who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather. The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the white goatskin leather produced in Córdoba, Spain. Historically, there was a distinction between a cordwainer, who made shoes, and a cobbler, who repaired them. However, this distinction gradually weakened, particularly during the twentieth century, with the predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired the shoes themselves.

In London, the occupation of cordwainers was historically controlled by the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers.

@ ENCLOSURE ACT

"...the Enclosure Acts, that removed villagers rights to the common land and effectively placed the villagers onto a labouring wage with no hope of bettering their position." ... one might have said that enclosure was a necessary step on the way to a modernised, efficient system of agriculture. But clearly, a number of people whose position depended on being able to farm small amounts of land, or make use of rights to graze or collect firewood etc. on common land or 'the waste of the manor' did lose out. Whether they were ever likely to better themselves, I doubt. Perhaps they moved to towns and cities and made a better living for themselves there.

*People qualified for land under the Enclosure Acts by possession of land (either by purchase or inheritance, freehold or copyhold,) then they participated in the share out under the Enclosure.The strips of land held in the various fields were totted up, and the equivalent amount of land, in one block, or possibly two, was allocated.

Even cottagers owning the minimum strips got their share - but nothing for any extra scraps of land on baulks (paths)between two strips,or common grazing rights claimed by usage rather than paperwork. Those acquiring enclosed land were often obliged to fence it, and the cost of the fencing forced them to mortgage or sell part of the land. So the little men ended up with less that their fair share, and the big boys snapped up the spare bits.

& Originally agriculture in England operated under a system of co-operation in large fields that had no obvious territorial boundaries. Enclosure meant the creation of boundaries separating one farm from another, and the abolition of communal obligations and rights. A certain amount of enclosure by agreement had been going on since medieval times, but from 1750 Parliament began to pass bills to allow for the enclosure of all the land of a specific parish or district. This caused the process to escalate. Between 1750 and 1830 in England more than 4,000 Enclosure Acts were passed, and approximately 6.8 million acres across the country became subject to enclosure. In rough terms, 21 per cent of the land area of Britain was enclosed by Parliamentary Acts in this period. But the figure is much greater in Oxfordshire, and more than half its land surface was enclosed in just eighty years. (The process continued, but notso dramatically, through the 19th century.) Whether you will find these enclosure awards interesting depends on what you are looking for, and remember that all legal documents at first glancelook absolutely terrible with their "hereinundertobefores". Obviously if your ancestors were awarded land, you will certainly be interested. But even if they were not, you can find out about the area where they lived. The most useful part of the awards is the very detailed map that always accompanied them, but unfortunately this will probably be too large and delicate for photocopying, and you will have to pay a lot to have it photographed. The only enclosure award I have looked at is that of Headington in 1803. The map accompanying it helps to explain why New Headington village has such a peculiar shape, why new roads curve in an unexpected way, and why some land was developed later than the rest. It also helps to identify houses: for example, I managed to find the house of Charles Tawney for someone on this list by going back to find what land in Headington theWharton family had been allocated by the Enclosure Award of 1803: there was only one possible house on that land that could have been his. The people in Headington who had enjoyed common rights were none too thrilled with enclosure, and the lawless people of Headington Quarry [someof them no doubt Jo's ancestors] were constantly fighting against what they considered a loss of their rights. The Award gave Joseph Lock a parcel of land in Headington, where he built Bury Knowle House as his country retreat and in 1805, he erected a wall across the footpath that was the coffin route from Headington Quarry (which then had no church) to St Andrew's. Three times the Quarry men smashed down the wall, and three times Lock rebuilt it, taking three of the men involved to court. In the end, St Andrew's Church lost out; the people of Quarry turned their backs on Old Headington and arranged to have a Methodist preacher come to them. (The C of E retaliated by building a church in Quarry in 1849.) All this because the Headington Enclosure Award did not bother to list as a right of way the Quarry coffin route that went through the land allocated to Sir Joseph Lock. Later, when Cowley was enclosed in 1853, land on the borderline of Cowley and Quarry was enclosed for the first time, and the Quarry men [including one of Dave Coppock's relations, I believe] rose again the minute Richard Pether (Lord Nuffield's granddad) tried to enclose the open Magdalens, a stretch of open common and wood. The fight for the Open Magdalens continued for some thirty years, taking the form of mass trespasses, large-scale raids for wood, and the illegal grazing of cows. (The story is told in detail in the History Workshop pamphlet "Headington Quarry and the fight for the Open Magdalens").So enclosure had big implications on the lives of some of the people who were around at the time.

ENCLOSURES- MAP - A large map of Oxfordshire was published by Richard Davis in 1797 (surveyed a few years earlier) which shows a mixture of modern enclosed fields and open fields/uncultivated waste.

*GOODWIFE – GOODY -She is an elderly married woman, of ordinary status, who is probablytoo elderly for anyone to remember her Christian name. Elderly = over 60 then, maybe even over 55. Pretty certainly, she was a widow, or the husband's name would have been used. However, for anyone to bother to mention her, she must have been well known in the village

*HUGHENDEN – Place of Resort

Hughenden was a small parish about two miles up the road from High Wycombe – and few of the people married there had any connection with the village at all. In those days, it was sometimes difficult for people who were not Church of England to marry - if they wed in their chapels, this was not really legal. If they wed in the parish church of the place where they lived, the vicar might force them to be baptised first into a religion they did not accept. Hughenden was a tiny parish, tiny income for the clergyman - how to make money? Well, one way was providing a service not available elsewhere, and this succeeding vicars did, by operating a very liberal marriage policy - as long as you had the money, you could be wed, no questions asked - very much a 'two chairs, no waiting' policy. Hughenden had the great advantage of being very close to the coach road from London to Oxford, so couples from London and all over the place travelled down, presumably got horses or a chaise from Wycombe to the little church, and then went back to Wycombe for a feast before going home again.

Huguenots could baptise in their own special chapels. The Huguenots did marry couples, but this did not precisely conform to the laws of England, so, to be sure their children were legitimate, some married in the Hughenden Church.

This casual attitude to marriage was given a severe jolt in 1754, by the Hardwicke Marriage Act. Hughenden's number of marriages per year declined sharply, though there were still some hardy souls who managed to work round the system.

*ILLEGITIMACY - Before 1834, it was the business of the parish overseers, having their suspicions about the changing shape of one of their female inhabitants, to ascertain who the father was by questioning the woman before a magistrate. Generally, in a village, people knew who had been up to what, and simply hauled the man up to ask him what his intentions were. In many cases, the intended marriage was simply hastened. However, sometimes marriage was ruled out as an option. If there was no cottage available, it was not possible for the woman to move into his quarters, for example in the farm loft among the other labourers, so the couple waited till the next baby was due.

LEGAL TERMS – See also Reading Wills

*LEASE OF LIVES

A lease of lives meant a variable term lease - you nominated 3 persons,choosing young and healthy ones (not babies, who died so frequently)Then the land was yours, or your heir's, for as long as the survivor of the three lived. You could normally substitute one life, for a small extra fee. When the 3 plus substitute were dead, the land reverted to theoriginal owner or his heir/s

MEALLEMAKER – Miller

x MILITARY RECORDS - Quote from PRO.  [If you can get onto it use their site and read full text]" Before the outbreak of the civil war there was no regular standing army in England- although there had been a militia since Tudor times. regiments were raised to meet special requirements and were usually known by the names of the colonels who commanded them. There was no central organisation of these regts and thus no systematic records were created. Any info in SP [state papers] or PC [privy council] but it is exceptional to find any information about the family of place of birth.

Civil War and Commonwealth period  -for officers- Edward Peacock- the Army List of Roundheads and Cavaliers [1863] Parliamentary army records in SP [calendared] After 1660 records became fuller and some biographical info.

Officers - see SP 1720-1752 MSS list of Army officers etc."A source I have used for 17thC is class  E157 licences to pass overseaswhich MAY give soldiers names in some docs Also in CO [Colonial Office]  papers there is a chance of some mention -most calendared There are various books by FHS societies etc on researching Army ancestry

*NAMING PATTERNS

1700-1875

First son named for fathers father. Second son named for mothers father. Third son after father. Fourth son after fathers eldest brother. First daughter for mothers mother. Second daughter for fathers mother Third daughter for mother. Fourth daughter for mothers eldest sister.

Few of the Oxlades used the naming pattern though it may come in handy for related families.

*PAUPER - 'Pauper' in registers of 1787 does not necessarily mean 'receivingparish relief'. There was a law imposing a tax of 3d on baptisms andburials, to be collected by the clergyman and transmitted, whole, to thetax collector. This meant the clergyman was working unpaid, not aconcept he enjoyed. There was a get out clause, saying the money neednot be collected from 'paupers'. Result, wholesale increase in thenumber of alleged paupers stated in the register, often coveringeverybody but the big land tax paying farmers.

* PLACES OF RESORT

Chesham Bois, Bucks Fawley, Bucks Hughenden, Buckinghamshire. Pitchcott, Bucks. Radclive, Bucks.

Water Stratford, Bucks Westbury,St Leonards, Bucks

Holy Trinity Minories,London St George, Hanover Square, Westminster, London. St James, Duke Place, London. St James Aldgate, London Manchester Catherdral, Birmingham,

Leeds, Sheffield, Yorkshire

Some at different periods, some consistently pre 1754. Some even continue to take in other people's washing after 1754. It depended on the current vicar and his state of needing or wanting money

It could be handy to have lists of such places all over thecountry if anyone has then to hand.

People didn't actually have to live in London to marry in St George's Hanover Square, Westminster. They would marry anyone to anyone, no questions asked, as long as the money was forthcoming, the trade was brisk and it was popular with people from counties nearby. I have extract 260 Bucks marriages in a period of less than a century. (The origins of the persons as 'Bucks'are not always stated, but I know the family names of the county well and can recognise them)

St James' Dukes Place was a well known place of resort, where they married anyone to anyone without making awkward enquiries about whether they had been baptised and went to church or not. Many people of nonconformist inclinations popped up to London rather than have the local clergy force them to get baptised first. Some of our Haddenham farmers did - one Quaker was accused of `marrying a woman of this world in a steeple house' after a trip to St James DP.

~ RADCLIVE, BUCKS

Starting in about 1677, I noticed that most of the marriages conducted in this parish were between people who did not give the parish of Radclive as their parish of residence. This trend ended about 1751. During that time, 126 marriages took place with 57 marriages by licence.Some of the places that people listed as their home parish were Hillesden, Preston, Syresham (Northhants), Chackmore, Lillingstone Dayrell,Thornborough, Leckhampstead, Biddlesden, Whilton(Northants), Twyford,Wicken (Northants), Water Stratford,*Lethinborough, Gawcott, Isleworth (MDX), Hasely (OXF) , Long Creddon,Steeple Claydon, Newton Longevill,Satchwell, Edgcott, Barton, Shaltsone, Lanton, East Claydon, Aylesbury,Woven, Covent Garden (MDX), Chippenwarden,Marsh Gibbon, Linchlad,Whitchurch, Padbury, Mixbury, Dadford, Hornton (OXF), Brackley, Turweston,Quainton, St. Sepulchre London, Banbury (OXF), Charlton (Northants), Luffield.

*Radclive was one of the `places of resort' where they would marry anyone to anyone without fuss. It was a nice little earner for the clergyman of a small parish where the stipend was a bit minimal. The vicar would get a job lot of licences and issue them to anyone whocrossed his palm with silver - there are half a dozen parishes likethis, a little gold mine for research

QUAKERS - http://www.quaker.org/#8



Reading Old Wills


*YEOMAN - When someone was described as a yeoman it should mean that they were anowner-occupier of land though it depends a bit on the date. Before1500, yeomanhad certain military overtones which we can ignore. As far as land is concerned, the term came to be used for a freeholder occupying his own land.He did not work for others - except to oblige in harvest time, as avolunteer. It then (1750s+) extended tothe really major tenants of great farms belonging to an institution or an absentee Duke (not a hands on local squire). Still meant local status and tolerable wealth. Then in the mid 1800s, it extendedfurther to those who farmed in a big way, whatever their type of holding, and also to their sons,provided they had some financial independence. The 'Yeomanry' in military terms from 1800 were volunteersoldiers from the ranks of the farmers, who could bring along their own horses to manoeuvres, and afford pretty uniforms to wear - half the fun was parading round beforethe local girls.

In the agricultural depression of the later 19C, being a yeoman sometimes represented past status, rather than present financial worth. The independence of mind lasted longer than the freedom from workingfor a master. This century, people are proud to claim they are 'yeoman stock'meaning that maybe their ancestors were independent farmers, though they themselves wouldn't know one end of a cow from the other. They wear the designer jackets and wellies though (not to be got dirty, pul-lease).





Last changed: 18/04/2006, 14:28:45

*Eve McLaughlin - Author of the McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians. Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society http://www.bucksgs.org.uk/

& Stephanie Jenkins on the Oxfordshire L

+ Websters Dictonary Online

@ Paul Betteridge 18 September 2000

x Joyce Hoad – Oxon L - joycehoad@tesco.net

^ Free Dictionary Online

~Marion Walter on Bucks List