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  1. #1
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    Default Abbreviation in Clerkenwell Registers

    I've spent a lot of time searching for a definition of an apparent abbreviation in the 16th century St. James, Clerkenwell baptismal registry, with no conclusion. The abbreviation appears to be 'Le' (Secretary hand) immediately after the father's name, and just before the baptismal date, of nearly every entry. Given its location and the fact that it is a common alphabetic feature of every entry, I'm assuming that it has something to do with either the nature of the ceremony or the registry entry itself. If anyone has knowledge of or other speculation on its meaning, I would be most interested.

    I've attached a small graphic of a couple of lines from this registry as an example, with the abbreviation underlined in red.

    Thank you.



  2. #2
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    Looks like "do" to me which is an abbreviation for ditto but I could not conform without seeing the first entry of either the page, month or even year which may contain the word "Baptised"

    Cheers
    Guy
    As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

  3. #3
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    This abbreviation first appears in Nov 1582, before which entries usually contained the word 'cristend' or 'crist'. The second part of the abbreviation looks like the 'c' that was used, though it's hard to see the first part as 'w' (for was).

    I did wonder if the first part was meant to be a Greek 'X' (chi - usually transliterated as 'ch' in English, and the first letter of christened), which would make the abbreviation 'chc'. However, the second part is also a bit like 'e', making 'che', but neither 'chc' nor 'che' seems to make much sense.

    The burial entries for the same period have a capital 'B' instead of the word 'buried'. This one looks like more than just a fancy 'C', but since it's in every entry I doubt it means anything other than just 'christened'.

  4. #4
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    Thank you, gentlemen! You both bit into the translation solution. Frankly, it never occurred to me that the abbreviation might represent the concept of "ditto", and I'm embarrassed to say that I also never thought to follow these entries back in time to see if earlier ones might offer a clue (and I've done that in past for other issues, which makes this all the more embarrassing). I feel confident now that this abbreviation represents the word "christened". Thank you again - I'm grateful for your help.

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