Missing sources resurface!

Heather Falvey

Godfrey Cornwall, who, in 1954, was one of the founder members of the Rickmansworth Historical Society, was a prolific local history author.  In 1960, he contributed to the very first issue of Hertfordshire’s Past and Present.  His article ‘Epidemics in Rickmansworth 1701-1795’ was a report on part of a project undertaken by the Rickmansworth Historical Society on life in the parish during the eighteenth century.  Particular epidemics were not recorded as such in the parish registers so to reveal when epidemics occurred it was decided to study mortality figures during the period: it was assumed that a marked increase in burials when compared with normal figures indicated an epidemic. Rather than extract data from the parish registers it was decided to use ‘the sworn statements of burials in woollen, these being available for the years between 1701 and 1795’.  

The Burying in Woollen Act of 1666 required that the dead, except plague victims and the destitute, were buried in pure English woollen shrouds to the exclusion of any foreign textiles.  This was repealed and replaced in 1678 with a more forcefully worded act. This act required that an affidavit be sworn in front of a justice of the peace (usually by a relative of the deceased), confirming burial in wool, with the punishment of a £5 fee for noncompliance. Burial entries in parish registers were marked with the word ‘affidavit’, or its equivalent, to confirm that an affidavit had been sworn; it would be marked ‘naked’ for those too poor to afford the woollen shroud.

Ever since coming across Godfrey’s article, I had been trying to discover the whereabouts of these ‘sworn statements’ relating to Rickmansworth burials. The online catalogue of Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) had no record of any registers of burials in woollen for Rickmansworth.  Several times, both when over at HALS and when speaking to retired Herts archivists, I asked about Godfrey’s sources. No-one had any idea where they might be. As Godfrey clearly did not invent them, I concluded that those sworn statements must still be held locally. But where?  No-one here had any idea either. 

Then, when over at HALS in early 2024, a member of staff told me that he had found some records that he thought I would be interested in.  They were seven account books compiled in the old parish of Rickmansworth in the eighteenth century, which had recently been added to HALS’s catalogue.  Six had been produced by the overseers of the poor and one by surveyors of the highways (who at that time were parish officers). Some of the books have a title and Roman numeral on the cover. However, the cover of the earlier overseers’ accounts actually say ‘Rates and Accounts. Burials’ and the date span covered.

And the ‘burials’ are indeed burials in woollen.  For each year, after the record of all contributions to the poor rates and payments made to the poor of the parish, there is the following (relevant) title and then the entries for that year: ‘A Register of the Affidavits for the Buriells in Wollen in the Parish of Rickmersworth In the Count’ of Hertford from 25 March 1728 to 25 March 1729’

So here, at last, were Godfrey’s sources.  But why had they not been catalogued at HALS with all the other Rickmansworth parish records?

Over the years, when carrying out historical research I have used not only numerous original documents but also many printed transcripts of documents, some of them published by Victorian (and earlier) antiquarians.  Many of these writers were clergymen who had access to documents that have long since disappeared. Thank goodness that they decided to publish them, otherwise the contents of those documents would be lost to us. But what had happened to the documents in the meantime?  Clearly these historians had had the documents in front of them, in their study; perhaps they were already in poor condition and were discarded once a transcript had been made? Perhaps they had been put in a cupboard and forgotten about, only for someone else to throw them away later?  What has this to do with ‘our’ newly discovered accounts?

Well, they had arrived at HALS (some years ago) as part of a deposit from Three Rivers District Council (TRDC). This was a large collection of pre-1974 predecessor and other authorities: parish councils, Rickmansworth Urban District Council (RUDC), and a few parish items.  Although Godfrey was famous (locally) for being a ‘singing dustman’ in Rickmansworth in the 1920s, subsequently he had various administrative jobs with RUDC, after the Second World War working in the Council Rates Office in The Limes until he retired. 

As TRDC had deposited those account books at HALS with other pre-1974 records, I think Godfrey had them in his office for safe-keeping.

Heather Falvey is the chairman of Rickmansworth Historical Society