Why Did English Priests Start To Keep Parish Registers?
The origin of parish registers for baptisms, marriages and burials lies in the early 1500s. The earliest registers date from 1538 and are the direct result of an injunction issued by the Vicar General of England, Thomas Cromwell on the 5 September of that year. The injunction specified that every christening, marriage and burial should be recorded in a book or register; this book was to be kept in a secure coffer with two locks, the keys of which were held by the parish vicar and one of the churchwardens. The coffer could only be opened when both men were present and the churchwarden was told to witness all the entries made by the vicar. In practice, Cromwell and his injunctions were not too popular and in the very early days of parish registers, these instructions were regarded rather half-heartedly. Many early entries were made on loose sheets of paper and stored in coffers that, even if they were locked, were far from secure from the ravages of damp. Very few, if any, original early
