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Arowsmith Surname Ancestry Results

Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'arowsmith'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 3 records (displaying 1 to 3): 

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Court rolls of manors held by Durham priory (1296-1384)
The cathedral priory of Benedictines (black monks) of St Cuthbert at Durham possessed many manors in the county. These were administered by halmotes, or manor courts, held in three sessions (tourns or turns) each year (here marked I., II. and III.), before the terrar (obedientiary), steward, bursar, and/or the prior himself. The court rolls recording proceedings in these courts survive from 1296, 1300, 1309, and from 1333, but with years missing, until becoming fairly continuous from 1365 onwards. Extracts from the rolls from 1296 to 1384 were edited by John Booth and published by the Surtees Society in 1886. The manors under this jurisdiction were Aycliffe, Bellasis, (Newton) Bewley, Billingham, Burdun, Chilton, Coupon, Dalton, Edmondbyers, Ferry (Hill, or Ferrycliffe), Fulwell, Harton, Hebburn, Hedworth, Hesledon, Heworth, Jarrow, Kirk Merrington, East Merrington, West Merrington and Mid Merrington, Monkton, Moorsley, Newton Ketton, Nunstanton, North and South Pittington, East and West Rainton, Ravensflat, Shields, Southwick, Spen, Usworth, Wallsend, Wardley, Wearmouth, Westoe, Willington and Wolviston. The main contents of the records are demises of land held by the bond tenants, neifs, cotmen and others, and of the demesne lands; and bye-laws and pains (penalties) for breach of these; and other minor delinquencies. Normally, when a farm, cottage or piece of land was let to a new tenant, the name of the last tenant is also given, as well as the amount of the rent, and the amount of the gersum (fine on entry). These court rolls contain some of the only surviving evidence for the inhabitants of these townships in this period: but this publication was of extracts, and was not comprehensive. It should also be noted that the third tourn each year (III.) usually took place in January to March, and so by modern dating in the following year. Thus, the third tourn of 1296 was held on 4 March 1297.

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Court rolls of manors held by Durham priory
 (1296-1384)
South County Durham Poll Book: Sedgefield District (1832)
A poll for two Knights of the Shire to represent in Parliament the Southern Division of the county palatine of Durham was taken on 21 and 22 December 1832. This poll book sets out all the electors by polling district (Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Sedgefield, Stanhope and Stockton) and gives registered number; full name (surname first); place of abode; nature of qualification (such as House as occupier, Land as occupier, Copyhold Property, &c.); and the name of the parish, township or place where the property is situate. The votes are set out in the right-hand columns, under P. (for Joseph Pearse, jun., esq.), B. (John Bowes, esq.), and S. (Robert Duncombe Shafto, esq.), the three candidates. A voter could choose two candidates, in which case a dash is put in each of the two appropriate columns, or plump for just one - where a star is placed in that candidate's column. This was the first election after the Reform Act, which extended the franchise in the counties to all adult men possessing freehold worth 40s a year or more, or copyhold or long leasehold of £10 or more, or being tenants or short leaseholders of £50 or more.

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South County Durham Poll Book: Sedgefield District
 (1832)
National ArchivesBritish merchant seamen (1835-1836)
At this period, the foreign trade of ships plying to and from the British isles involved about 150,000 men on 15,000 ships; and the coasting trade about a quarter as many more. A large proportion of the seamen on these ships were British subjects, and so liable to be pressed for service in the Royal Navy; but there was no general register by which to identify them, so in 1835 parliament passed a Merchant Seamen's Registration Bill. Under this act this large register of British seamen was compiled, based on ships' crew lists gathered in British and Irish ports, and passed up to the registry in London. Each seaman was assigned a number, and the names were arranged in the register by first two letters of the surname (our sample scan shows one of the pages for 'Sm'); in addition, an attempt was made to separate out namesakes by giving the first instance of a name (a), the second (b), and so on. But no effective method was devised to prevent the same man being registered twice as he appeared in a second crew list; moreover, the original crew lists were clearly difficult for the registry clerks to copy, and some of the surname spellings appear to be corrupted. A parliamentary committee decided that the system devised did not answer the original problem, and this register was abandoned after less than two years: but it is an apparently comprehensive source for British merchant seamen in 1835 to 1836. The register records the number assigned to each man; his name; age; birthplace; quality (master, captain, mate, 2nd mate, mariner, seaman, fisherman, cook, carpenter, boy &c.); and the name and home port of his ship, with the date of the crew list (usually at the end of a voyage). Most of the men recorded were born in the British Isles, but not all (for instance, Charleston and Stockholm appear in the sample scan). The final column 'How disposed of' is rarely used, and indicates those instances where a man died, was discharged, or deserted his ship during the voyage.

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British merchant seamen
 (1835-1836)

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