Where did all the people (or records) go? (General)

by Roger Griffiths , Monday, June 11, 2012, 15:47 (4551 days ago) @ anthonyworgan

It should be born in mind that from the early 1500's the Brits were spreading their wings and going global. If dying abroad there would be no domestic record. The Society of Genealogists have many printed booklets on family history. One such, 'My Ancestors Moved in England or Wales' by Anthony J Camp is a very useful source. I think somewhere in there it estimates the percentages of missing baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish records.

The parish records were to domicile families to their parish of origin consequent to the Poor Laws. Henry VIII did not want bands of unemployed roaming the land causing a breach of the King's peace. Destitute would be taken back to their original parish (removal orders).

Merchant seamen, Naval and military personnel dying abroad would just disappear off the radar.