William Blood (bef. 1551)

Born before 8 May 1551 in Dalbury, Derbyshire, England

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Garry Blood [send private message]

Biography

William was baptised at the parish church of All Saints in Dalbury on 8 May 1551,^[1][2][3] indicating a birth sometime in the week prior. He was the son of John Blood and an unidentified mother.

Research Notes

Date of Birth: The parish records for the Parish of Dalbury Less are, frankly, a chaotic mess in terms of organisation by year. Sometimes the parish officers appear to use the normal-for-the-period Old Style/Julian calendar, changing years on 25 Mar. Sometimes they appear to use the more modern New Style/Gregorian calendar and change around 1 Jan. In other years they seem to change years around the middle of December. And sometimes it appears they just did whatever they felt like on the day. Case in point is William's birth entry, under the heading for 1550. The complete list of entries for that year is:

• Isabell the daughter of John [surname not relevant] baptised the 31st of July.
• John the son of William Blood baptised the 9th of August.
• Agnes the daughter of Henry Blood baptised the 14th of January.
• William the son of John Blood baptised the 8th of May

The next heading is then 1551 and the first entry for that year is in August! What are we to make of this? Well, it appears that for 1549 to 1550 and 1550 to 1551, the parish was at the time using some date in July as New Year's Day. This isn't that unusual for this parish, to be fair, and in later years they sporadically shifted back to the July date to change years. The only reasonable interpretation of this is that, on the modern NS/Gregorian calendar, William was born on 8 May 1551, and not 8 May 1550 as listed in every online genealogical database. This same problem is seen for this much later William Blood who, if we use the OS/Julian system that should have been in use at the time, was buried about a year before he was baptised. To add to the impression that the parish officers were less than attentive concerning the dating of the parish records, that particular William was entered as being baptised on 30 Feb.

Note: The year changes used by the parish also don't match the regnal years for Henry VIII, which started on 22 Mar.

~Garry Michael Blood

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", online database, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NKT9-MVS : accessed 17 Oct 2022); data from entry -- Name: William Blood; Christening Date: 8 May 1550; Christening Place: Dalbury, Derbyshire, England; Father's Name: Johnn Blood.
2. ↑ "England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975," online database, FindMyPast.co.uk (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_932182670 : accessed 18 Oct 2022); data from entry -- First name: William; Last name: Blood; Baptism date: 08 May 1550; Place: Dalbury; County: Derbyshire; Father's name: Johnn; Father's last name: Blood.
3. ↑ "Derbyshire Births And Baptisms," online database, FindMyPast.co.uk (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_22561722506 : accessed 18 Oct 2022); data from entry -- First name: William; Last name: Blood; Baptism date: 08 May 1550; Father's first name: Johnn; Father's last name: Blood; Place: Dalbury; County: Derbyshire.