A bit of a mess - the Baptism of Frederick Goddard

Church of England Parish Registers were valuable manuscripts on the whole carefully kept and were not usually (except for Marriage registers after 1753) brought out into damp, drafty church naves for small ceremonies, such as baptisms and burials.¹ Instead large parishes kept a “day book” (see e.g. Great Yarmouth) in which event details were recorded (often in more detail than the eventual register) before being transcribed into the official register.² In overly-large parishes with lots of curates (like Brighton St Nicholas) the evidence is that each curate kept his own day book and transcribed into the register every few weeks.³ In smaller parishes clerics are reputed to have used scraps of paper. Yes, this is another level of potential transcription error.

The pre-Victorian part of St John the Baptist Church, Newtimber photographed by the author 2nd July 2016

Frederick Goddard is my GGG-Grandfather. He married Mary Ann Isted Upton on 21st December 1837 in The Tabernacle Strict Baptist Chapel, Regency Road, Brighton.⁴ He appears as a resident in Brighton in all the England Censuses from 1841 to 1891 and consistently from 1851 onwards gives his birthplace as Newtimber, Sussex.⁵

Saddlescombe Farmhouse, photographed by the author 2nd July 2016

Newtimber is a small parish on the North side of the South Downs. It’s population in 2001 was 96 and wasn’t much more in the 18th & 19th centuries.⁶ It consists of the church and rectory, Newtimber Place and the farm hamlet of Saddlescombe. The parish registers in the 18th century contain on average 3 entries per year, including, until 1754, marriages. The second parish register was used from 1733 until 1808. The next register (a printed non-conformist registration book) contains entries from 1809 to early 1813 written in one set of handwriting which looks identical (including the ink) and are all “registered” by W. Whistler. It also contains 7 sets of paper slips in a number of different handwritings containing varied sets of events. The parish then bought an official “Rose” Register and the 1813 baptisms were transferred into it.⁷ Entries for Frederick were included inconsistently in both registers and on three of the notes, thus:


1809-1813 Register
1813
Frederick Son of Thos. & Emma Goddard
was born ______ and christened Jany. 26
Registered_________ by me W. Whistler |R|
Notes Set 2, Image 2
1813 January 26 frederick goddard was born Son of Thos Emer

Notes Set 2, Image 2
1813 January 26 frederick goddard was born Son of Thos Emer

Notes Set 4, Image 1
1813
January 2d
Frederic Son Thomas & Sophia Goddard
...
Signed William Tilt Curate

Notes Set 5, Image 1
1813
January 2 6frederick godard was born Son of Thos. & Emer

Baptism Register 1813-1877
Page 1 1813 & 1814
When Baptized Jany 2d
No. 1
Child’s Christian name Frederick 
Parents Names Thos & Sophia Goddard
Abode Newtimber
Quality, trade or profession Labourer
By whom the Ceremony was performed J Tilt Curate

Part of Saddlescombe Hamlets, photographed by the author 2nd July 2016

John Tilt Curate signs the 1813-77 register as “performer of the ceremony” from page 1. Webster Whistler signs an occasional baptism as “Rector” (e.g. in 1828). The only entries with the 2nd January date and the mother’s name as Sophia are signed by John Tilt. Thomas Goddard married Emma Frankland in Brighton in 1809 and John Goddard of Newtimber married Sophia Terry in Poynings in 1812.⁸ I don’t think John Tilt was working in the parish prior to 1813. I think the maintenance of records failed in Newtimber from 1809-13, possibly in the absence of an appointed cleric (lay baptisms could be performed in the absence of a cleric).⁹ I think Webster Whistler made a valiant effort to reconstruct the register, possibly when appointed. I think John Tilt made transcription errors in entering backdated items in the 1813-77 register.

The Frederick Goddard entry on one of the notes (Set 5 Image 1) of entries which could be misread.

My conclusion is that Frederick Goddard was the son of Thomas Goddard and Emma Frankland and was baptised on the 26th January 1813 in St John the Baptist, Newtimber.


Thomas and Emma’s last child (Thomas) was baptised in St Nicholas, Brighton in 1818 (where Thomas Goddard of Newtimber had been buried a few months before). Emma remarried and all her children were brought up, married and died in Brighton. The parentage of Frederick’s father is another matter.

Sources

1. “Marriage Act 1753,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, March 11, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_Act_1753. (Accessed 15th March 2020)
2. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/).
3. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), Parish Registers; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/).
4. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Goddard Frederick and Mary Ann Isted Upton, married 21 Dec 1837; citing 7/407/11, Dec quarter 1837, Brighthelmston registration district; General Register Office, Southport.
5. 1841 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 33, page 13, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO HO 107/1121/4; 1851 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 806, page 6, Fredrick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO HO 107/1645; 1861 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 71, page 5-6, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG9/594; 1871 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 31, page 3, Frederic Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG10/1077; 1881 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 91, page 26, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG11/1080; 1891 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 81, page 22, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 10 Feb 2006); citing PRO RG 12/805
6. “Newtimber,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, March 9, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtimber. (Accessed 15th March 2020)
7. St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England); FHL microfilm
8. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office PAR255/1/1/11, Register of Banns & Marriages 1806-1810," marriage of Thomas Goddard & Emma Frankland, 10 Dec 1809; FHL microfilm 1,067,106, item 2; Holy Trinity Poyings Register of Marriages 1785-1812 (Folder 004428551, Item  18),"  page 8, marriage of John Goddard & Sophia Terry, 6 Apr 1812; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 23 Feb 2016).
9. The Living Church Annual and Clergy-List Quarterly (Young Churchman Company, 1886), https://books.google.com.au/books?id=i0vkAAAAMAAJ (Accessed 15th March 2020)