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Melsham Surname Ancestry Results

Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'melsham'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 16 records (displaying 1 to 10): 

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Inhabitants of Cheshire and North Wales (1390-1399)
The county of Cheshire had palatine status, being in some measure independent of the rest of England: moreover, from the Statute of Wales of 1284, after king Edward I's subjugation of North Wales, until the union of England and Wales in 1536 to 1543, much of the administration of North Wales (county Flint in particular) was directed from Chester. When the Chester Recognizance Rolls were moved from Chester to the Public Record Office, they were placed among the Welsh Records. These rolls, so called because they do include recognizances (of debts &c.) among their contents, are in fact the Chancery Rolls of the palatinate, containing enrolments of charters, letters patent, commissions and other documents issued under the seal of the palatinate. Deeds and other evidences of a private nature were also enrolled on them. A calendar of the Recognizance Rolls from their commencement to the end of the reign of Henry IV was prepared by Peter Turner and included in the 36th Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in 1875. We have now indexed this, dividing the enrolments into decades. This is the period from the 13th year of king Richard II, who had intended to raise the earldom of Chester into a principality, to his overthrow by Henry IV.

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Inhabitants of Cheshire and North Wales
 (1390-1399)
Freemen of London (1540-1550)
The long series of mediaeval registers and books of admission of the freemen of London was destroyed by fire in 1786. Thirty surviving charred leaves were gathered together and rebound, becoming Egerton MS 2408 in the British Museum. The order is jumbled and generally speaking none can be dated with certainty, although all belong to the very end of the reign of Henry VIII and the start of the reign of his son, Edward VI. These are pages from the admission books. Each entry here usually gives the name of the person admitted to the freedom; his father's name, address and occupation; his entitlement to the freedom, usually by having served out an apprenticeship to a citizen, naming the master and his trade. Then there may follow a cross-reference to M. or N., being two volumes of another set of official books denoted by the letters of the alphabet, and following each other in chronological sequence, which evidently gave details of entries into apprenticeships. These other books no longer exist: but the dates given for entry do identify the start of the apprenticeship, and so give by implication a date for the eventual admission to freedom. In the margin is the name of the city ward and the total of the fee and fine paid on admission.

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Freemen of London
 (1540-1550)
Inhabitants of Suffolk (1568)
By Act of Parliament of December 1566 a subsidy of 8d in the £ on moveable goods and 4s in the £ on the annual value of land was raised from the lay (as opposed to clergy) population. These are the returns for Suffolk, printed in 1909 in the Suffolk Green Book series.

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Inhabitants of Suffolk
 (1568)
London and Middlesex Feet of Fines (1485-1569)
Pedes Finium - law suits, or pretended suits, putting on record the ownership of land in London and Middlesex.

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London and Middlesex Feet of Fines
 (1485-1569)
Official Papers (1611-1618)
The State Papers Domestic cover all manner of business relating to Britain, Ireland and the colonies, conducted in the office of the Secretary of State as well as other miscellaneous records.

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Official Papers
 (1611-1618)
Wiltshire freeholders (1625-1645)
Inquisitions post mortem were held after the death of freeholders who held their estates in capite or in chief, i. e., directly from the crown. The inquisition, held by the royal escheator upon the oath of jurors from the county who were also normally freeholders, recorded what estates the deceased had held, by what tenure, what they were worth, the date of death, who was the next heir, and whether the heir was of age. The sample scan shows an unusually brief inquisition: these abstracts usually run to two or three pages of print.

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Wiltshire freeholders
 (1625-1645)
Allegations for marriages in southern England (1660-1669)
The province or archbishopric of Canterbury covered all England and Wales except for the northern counties in the four dioceses of the archbishopric of York (York, Durham, Chester and Carlisle). Marriage licences were generally issued by the local dioceses, but above them was the jurisdiction of the archbishop, exercised through his vicar-general. Where the prospective bride and groom were from different dioceses it would be expected that they obtain a licence from the archbishop; in practice, the archbishop residing at Lambeth, and the actual offices of the province being in London, which was itself split into myriad ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and spilled into adjoining dioceses, this facility was particularly resorted to by couples from London and the home counties, although there are quite a few entries referring to parties from further afield. The abstracts of the allegations given here usually state name, address (street in London, or parish), age, and condition of bride and groom; and sometimes the name, address and occupation of the friend or relative filing the allegation. Where parental consent was necessary, a mother's or father's name may be given. The ages shown should be treated with caution; ages above 21 tended to be reduced, doubtless for cosmetic reasons; ages under 21 tended to be increased, particularly to avoid requiring parental consent; a simple statement 'aged 21' may merely mean 'of full age' and indicate any age from 21 upwards. These are merely allegations to obtain licences; although nearly all will have resulted in the issuing of the licence, many licences did not then result in marriage.

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Allegations for marriages in southern England
 (1660-1669)
Suffolk householders (1674)
Hearth tax was raised by assessing each householder on the number of chimneys to the dwelling. This provided a simple way to make a rough judgment as to the value of the dwelling: paupers were issued exemption certificates, but they too were listed at the end of each return. The returns were made by township, grouped by hundred. A complete copy of the hearth tax return for each shire was sent to the Exchequer: this is the return for Suffolk for Lady Day (25 March) 1674 (E 179/257/14) as printed in 1905 as Suffolk Green Book no xi, vol. 13. The numbers given are the numbers of hearths: where two or more people are grouped together with one number, it may be assumed that they were heads of separate households sharing a single building with that number of chimneys.

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Suffolk householders
 (1674)
National ArchivesMasters and Apprentices (1723)
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks' articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master's trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice's father's name and address, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. 7 January to 31 December 1723.

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Masters and Apprentices
 (1723)
National ArchivesApprentices registered in Berkshire (1741-1745)
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks' articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master's trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice's father's name and address, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. There are central registers for collections of the stamp duty in London, as well as returns from collectors in the provinces. These collectors generally received duty just from their own county, but sometimes from further afield. (The sample entry shown on this scan is taken from a Norfolk return)

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Apprentices registered in Berkshire
 (1741-1745)
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