SHROPSHIRE PARISH REGISTERS.

LICHFIELD DIOCESE.
VOL. XII.

ISSUED BY
The Shropshire Parish Register Society.

SHROPSHIRE PARISH REGISTERS.

Diocese of Hereford.
VOL. XII.

HONORARY SECRETARY:
W.G.D. FLETCHER, M.A., F.S.A.

PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE
SHROPSHIRE PARISH REGISTER SOCIETY.
1911.

Note for the Reader.

The present volume, which contains the very important Register of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, from its commencement in 1584 to the year 1812, is the first of the Registers of the old parish churches of Shrewsbury that has been printed by the Shropshire Parish Register Society, and it forms the twelfth volume of the Registers of the Diocese of Lichfield.

It has been only possible to print it through the generous aid of the late Mrs. Seymour, the sister of the late Mr. Stanley Leighton, M.P. founder of the Society. It will be followed in due course by the Registers of St. Chad's; and, it is hoped, by those of the other old Town parishes also.

In this volume, as has been the plan adopted by the Council throughout, the Registers are not printed verbatim et literatim, but in abstract form, all mere verbiage being omitted, though every fact is recorded, and all occurrences, remarkable events, terriers, &c., given in the Registers are printed in full. The following abbreviations have been adopted :-

b. - bachelor gent. - gentleman.
bap. - baptized. h. of ind.- House of Industry.
bur. - buried. inf. - infirmary.
C. - Castle. labr. - labourer.
chr. - christened. lic. - license.
ch. w. - churchwardens. mar. - married.
Ch. yd.- Church-yard. p. - parish.
clk. - clerk. s. - son.
co. - county. sp. - spinster.
d. - daughter. St. M. - St. Mary.
dioc. - diocese. w. - wife.
esq. - esquire. wid. - widow (or widower.)
wit. - witnesses.

Thanks are due to the Rev. Prebendary Poyntz, the late Vicar of St. Mary's, and to the Rev. W. G. Pennyman the present Vicar, for leave to print the Register, and for facilities afforded in transcription and collation. Also to Mr. G. William S. Sparrow for transcribing and collating the Register and seeing it through the press, and for his most interesting historical introduction; and to Miss Wight for the Index.

W.G.D.F.
November, 1911.