Rushden Research Group: Abbreviations used & Dates

Abbreviations Used and Dates

For most of our Transcription work we have used these Abbreviations. As a rule we will transcribe all documents
"as spelt in the original" but where the spelling makes it hard to read we may also provide a translation.

Abbreviations used are:-
d	daughter
s	son
w	wife
wid or W	widow
widr or W	widower
bach or B	bachelor
sp or S	spinster
L	marriage by licence
B	marriage by banns
R	marriage by Registrar's certificate
otp	of this parish
botp	both of this parish
bo	both of
wco	with consent of
goody	goodman/goodwife - term of endearment - helpful person
?	denotes the original is unclear or seems wrong
[ ]	uncertain
...	illegible
---	information not given
y	years
m	months
w	weeks
d	days
h	hours
*	note by the transcriber to explain something
Year	this is upgraded for Jan 01 - Mar 25 before 1752
Months	are shortened to the first three letters
Forenames	may have been expanded (if contracted) and modernised
Surnames	are spelt as in the document
County	Chapman County Code is used
Places	some place names may be shortened e.g. Little as Lt., Great as Gt., Wellingborough as W'boro
^	addition (partial or full) from BTs
~	addition from Banns book
<	under e.g. <1m (age in census of under one month)

The year end had been Lady Day, the 25th March, until 1752 when Julian Calendar went out of use in Brittain and was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar. There was a discrepancy of 11 days between the two so the day after September 3rd was set as September 14th but this caused a problem with accounting for annual dues and interest so the eleven days were added to the old year end and the financial year end became April 5th. Today this is still the date used for calculating some yearly figures, especially income tax but some changed to 31st March, losing five days, whilst others opted to make one "annual" calculation for 9 months pro rata and reset their end of year to December 31st in line with the calendar year. Before 1752 dates for events from January to March were sometimes written, for example, March 2nd 1712/1713 indicating the March at the end of the year 1712 and this was called "Old Style". For most of our transcription work we will have upgraded the year for January to March to the "New Style".
Since 1066 some documents may be dated using the Regnal Year of the monarch of the day. "In the twentieth year of the reign of our Sovereign King George the third" would be written as 20GeoIII and this is the year between 25th October 1780 and the 24th October 1781. The list below gives the first and last years of each monarch's reign.
Regnal Years
Monarch	Reign	Monarch	Reign
William I	1066-1087	Mary	1553-1554
William II	1087-1100	Philip & Mary	1554-1558
Henry I	1100-1135	Elizabeth I	1558-1603
Stephen	1135-1154	James I	1603-1625
Henry II	1154-1189	Charles I	1625-1649
Richard I	1189-1199	Commonwealth	1649-1660
John	1199-1216	Charles II-12th	1660-1685
Henry III	1217-1272	James II	1685-1689
Edward I	1272-1307	Willm & Mary	1689-1702
Edward II	1307-1327	Anne	1702-1714
Edward III	1327-1377	George I	1714-1727
Richard II	1377-1399	George II	1727-1760
Henry IV	1399-1413	George III	1760-1820
Henry V	1413-1422	George IV	1820-1830
Henry VI	1422-1461	William IV	1830-1837
Edward IV	1461-1483	Victoria	1837-1901
Edward V	1483-1483	Edward VII	1901-1910
Richard III	1483-1485	George V	1910-1937
Henry VII	1485-1509	Edward VIII	1937-1938
Henry VIII	1509-1547	George VI	1938-1952
Edward VI	1547-1553	Elizabeth II	1952-