£75.00 EBook Add to Basket >>

£90.00 DVD Add to Basket >>

Add this eBook to your basket to receive access to all 50 records.

Our indexes include entries for the spelling blaber. In the period you have requested, we have the following 50 records (displaying 1 to 10): 

These sample scans are from the original record. You will get scans of the full pages or articles where the surname you searched for has been found.

Your web browser may prevent the sample windows from opening; in this case please change your browser settings to allow pop-up windows from this site.

Pipe Roll (1241-1242)
The Great Rolls of the Pipe are the central record of the crown compiling returns of income and expenditure from the sheriffs and farmers of the various English counties or shires. This is the oldest series of public records, and the earliest surviving instances of many surnames are found in the Pipe Rolls. This is the roll for the 26th year of the reign of king Henry III, that is, accounting for the year from Michaelmas 1241 to Michaelmas 1242. Most (but not all) of the entries in which names appear relate to payments for grants of land and fines or pardons arising from the proceedings of the justices. The text was edited by Henry Lewin Cannon for Yale Historical Publications and printed in 1918. The name of the county is given at the head of each page, and variant spellings, omissions and additions found in the duplicate Chancellor's Roll [C. R.] are given in the footnotes.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Pipe Roll
 (1241-1242)
Grantees of offices, commissions and pardons (1413-1416)
The Patent Rolls are the Chancery enrolments of royal letters patent. Those for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of the reign of king Henry V (21 March 1413 to 20 March 1416) were edited for the Public Record Office by R. C. Fowler, and published in 1910. The main contents are royal commissions and grants; ratifications of ecclesiastical estates; writs of aid to royal servants and purveyors; and pardons. The commissions of the peace issued for the English towns and counties and entered on the rolls, being largely repetitive, have been consolidated in a single appendix.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Grantees of offices, commissions and pardons
 (1413-1416)
Landowners and tenants in Norfolk (1345-1485)
Inquisitions ad quod damnum were held by the appropriate sheriff or escheator (or other officer in whose bailiwick the matter in question might lie) to investigate cases in which the royal or public interest might be damaged by proposed alienation or settlement of land (especially alienation to religious uses, into mortmain). The key findings from these inquisitions were as to the tenure of the land and the service due from it; its yearly value; the lands remaining to the grantor, and whether they sufficed to discharge all duties and customs due from him; and whether he can still be put upon juries, assizes and recognitions, so that the country be not burdened by his withdrawal from them. Generally speaking, this process had the makings of a system of licensing such alienations, and raising money in proportion to the valuations. Equally, there are many items that deal with subjects such as the closing of public roads, the felling or inclosing of woods, or the proposed grant of liberties or immunities. A calendar of these inquisitions from the 19th year of the reign of king Edward III to the 2nd year of Richard III was prepared by the Public Record Office and published in 1906. We have now indexed this calendar by surname and county. Most of the individuals appearing in the calendar are either pious individuals seeking to make grants to religious bodies for the sake of their souls; or landowners securing the disposition and settling of their real estate. But some other names do appear - tenants, trustees, chaplains and clerks.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Landowners and tenants in Norfolk
 (1345-1485)
Taxpayers in Sussex (1524-1525)
By Act of Parliament of 1523 (14 & 15 Hen. III, c. 16) a general subsidy was raised, spread over four years, from laymen, clergy and peers. In each of the first two years 1s in the £ was raised from annual income from land; 1s in the £ on capital goods worth over £2 and under £20; and a flat payment of 4d on goods worth from £1 to £2, and also by persons aged 16 and upwards in receipt of £1 per annum in wages. In the third year a further shilling in the pound was payable on land worth £50 and upwards a year; and in the fourth year a shilling in the pound on goods worth £50 and upwards. To raise this revenue, returns were required from every hundred, parish or township. In Sussex, the returns for 1524 and 1525 cover the city of Chichester (divided into Estrata, Westrata, Southstrata, North[strata] and Palenta), the borough of Midhurst, and then the rest of the county divided into rapes, within those into hundreds, and within those into boroughs, tithings, liberties, townships or parishes. It is important to note that the cinque ports of Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea were exempt from the subsidy, except for alien inhabitants; and that the town of Westbourne was also exempted 'as the town was lately destroyed by fire'. Aliens are noted as such, sometimes with nationality; and Brighthelmstone (Brighton), which had been burnt by the French in 1514, is only represented fragmentarily. The Sussex Record Society published this transcript and edition by Julian Cornwall of the 1524 and 1525 returns: the 1524 return was used for the main transcript where possible, names peculiar to the 1524 lists being marked with an asterisk, and those with amendments in 1524 with a dagger. At the foot of each 1524 return the new names from 1525 are given. Only the amount of the assessment is printed (m. = marks). Letters prefixed to the sum give the basis of the assessment, no letter (or G) meaning that it was on goods - A, annual wages; D, annual wages of day-labourers; F, fees or salaries of office; L, lands; P, profits; W, wages; x, no basis stated.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Taxpayers in Sussex
 (1524-1525)
Scottish litigants, rebels and cautioners (1592-1599)
The Privy Council of Scotland exercised a superior judicial authority in the kingdom, and consequently received and dealt with a constant stream of petitions, as well as dealing with the internal security of the state. This register of the council from August 1592 to May 1599, in the reign of king James VI, was edited by David Masson and published under the direction of the Deputy Clerk Register of Scotland in 1882. The publication brings together the contents of the principal register (Acta Secreti Concilii) with acts and bands (bonds) of caution (surety) from the registers called Acta Cautionis (pp 561-730); Acts and Ordinances relating to the Borders and the North (731-748); and Miscellaneous Privy Council Papers (749-769). Many of the individuals mentioned are the complainants, those of whom they complained, and the sureties on both sides: at this period, many of the complainants are alleging serious attacks, often of a feuding nature. Many of the bonds entered into by the cautioners are promises to keep the peace towards such enemies. Failure to answer to the council when summoned was a serious contempt, leading to being denounced a rebel, with serious consequences.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Scottish litigants, rebels and cautioners
 (1592-1599)
Intended brides and grooms in East Sussex (1670-1739)
Sussex was in the Diocese of Chichester, divided into two archdeaconries - Chichester for west Sussex, Lewes for the east. Both archdeaconries exercised active probate jurisdictions, and issued marriage licences. Those issued by Lewes Archdeaconry court in this period were recorded in a series of registers (E3, E4, E5 and E6), which were edited by Edwin H. W. Dunkin and published by the Sussex Record Society in 1907. Each entry gives the date of the licence, the full names of bride and groom, with parish for each, and often stating whether the bride was a widow or maiden. To obtain a licence it was necessary for the parties to obtain a bond, with two sureties. One of these was often the prospective husband; the other might be a relative or other respectable person. From the bonds the names of the sureties were also copied into the register, together with the name of the church at which the wedding was intended to take place. These details are usually given until 1701; thereafter sureties and intended church are usually omitted. One deanery in Lewes archdeaconry, that of South Malling, was an exempt jurisdiction (or peculiar) of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which had separate probate and issued its own marriage licences, also recorded in a series of registers. This volume also includes the contents of registers C1 to C6 of the Deanery of South Malling, for marriage licences from 1620 to 1732. The details recorded are as with the main series, similarly lacking names of sureties and intended church after 1721. South Malling deanery comprised the parishes of Edburton, Lindfield, Buxted, Framfield, Isfield, Uckfield, Mayfield, Wadhurst, Glynde, Ringmer, St Thomas at Cliffe, South Malling and Stanmer.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Intended brides and grooms in East Sussex
 (1670-1739)
National ArchivesMasters of apprentices registered in Sussex (1757)
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 name, 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 indentures themselves can date from a year or two earlier than this return. (The sample entry shown on this scan is taken from a Bristol return. Each entry has two scans, the other being the facing page with the details of the indenture, length of service, and payment of duty.) IR 1/53
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Masters of apprentices registered in Sussex 
 (1757)
National ArchivesMasters of Apprentices (1769)
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks' articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty (late payment of the 6d rate attracted double duty (D D) of 12d): the registers of the payments usually give the master's trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice's name, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. 2 January to 31 December 1769.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Masters of Apprentices
 (1769)
Occupiers of freeholds in Bramber rape, Sussex (1774)
A poll of freeholders to elect two knights of the shire to represent the county of Sussex was taken at Chichester in 1774. This poll book lists each voter's full name; abode; where the freehold lay and of what it consisted (b., barn; f., farm; g., garden; h., house; l., land; m., mill; o., orchard; r., rectory; w. sh., workshop); and the name of the occupier (if any) (often surname only); with dashes in the right-hand columns indicating votes for the candidates, Lord George Henry Lennox, sir Thomas Spencer Wilson and sir James Peachey. The franchise was limited to freeholders of 40 shillings per annum and more. The sample scan shows part of Chichester rape. The rape of Bramber included Bramber, Horsham, Shoreham, Steyning and Worthing and the surrounding countryside.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Occupiers of freeholds in Bramber rape, Sussex
 (1774)
National ArchivesApprentices and clerks (1793)
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 name, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. 2 January to 15 June 1793. IR 1/35
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Apprentices and clerks
 (1793)
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5Next page

Research your ancestry, family history, genealogy and one-name study by direct access to original records and archives indexed by surname.