Date: Jun 1641 to Apr 1642
Location: Nottinghamshire, England
Surname/tag: Blood

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Contents 1 The Protestation Returns of 1641 to 1642 and the Bloods of Nottinghamshire 1.1 Background 1.2 The Study 1.3 Significance for the Bloods of New England 1.4 Annex: Extracts from Selected Nottinghamshire Protestation Returns 1.5 Notes & Sources

The Protestation Returns of 1641 to 1642 and the Bloods of Nottinghamshire

Author: Garry Michael Blood, 15 Sep 2020

Background

The Protestation Returns of 1641 and 1642^[1] are lists of English males over the age of 18^[2] who took, or did not take, an oath of allegiance "to live and die for the true Protestant religion, the liberties and rights of subjects and the privilege of Parliaments." This was by order of the House of Commons in 1641 and applied to all counties of England. While there was an initial voluntary phase conducted in the summer of 1641 (which Nottingham town participated in), the better-known mandatory phase didn't start in earnest until the late winter of 1642, with most counties accomplishing the task in February and March of that year. These lists were usually compiled by parish or town within each wapentake (hundred),^[3] then sent to Parliament in London. Thus, the Protestation Returns are the closest thing we have to a census of 1642. While the returns only survive for about one-third of English parishes, we are fortunate that they are nearly complete for Nottinghamshire.

The Protestation Return was taken very seriously in the counties. From the dates of the protestations it appears that, when possible, the men gathered on a Sunday, probably before or after church, and swore the oath as a group. In most cases a single scribe wrote down all the names as a single list. In other cases, each man made his personal mark next to his name on the list. In a very small number of cases the various letter forms indicate that the men themselves both wrote their own names and made their marks. But these are the exceptions. In the majority of examples, the return is a single list written by one designated person, and without personal marks.

In most cases in Nottinghamshire an effort was made to account for all males of the parish. In the few cases where someone refused to swear, they were listed as having refused (“recusants”) -- and were automatically suspected of being Catholics if not already known to be. Many of the lists include some form of the phrase “and none refusing” or “this is all of us and none refused.” In a few examples people absent for good cause (sick in bed, elderly, away on business) are listed as well. Therefore, it appears that, at least for Nottinghamshire, a real effort was made in most cases to account for all the males over 18 in the parish whether they swore the oath or not.

Wapentakes of Nottinghamshire

The Study

I have gone through all the protestation returns for the wapentakes of Bassetlaw (57 lists), Rushcliffe (26 lists), Thurgarton (44 lists), Bingham (28 lists), Newark (20 lists), Broxtowe (26 lists) and the town of Nottingham itself. The survey shows eight male Bloods 18 or over in three of the southern and western wapentakes of Nottinghamshire, with none found in Thurgarton, Newark, or Bassetlaw. These are distributed as follows, going counterclockwise from Broxtowe Wapentake:

Broxtowe Wapentake (2 Bloods)
Nottingham Town^[4]: William Blood, Jr. and William Blood, Sr. (Nottingham town participated in the voluntary phase in the summer of 1641, administering the oaths in two sessions in Jun and Aug)

Rushcliffe Wapentake (4 Bloods)
Edwalton^[5]: Richard Bludd
Remptsone^[6]: Robert Blood and William Blood
West Bridgford^[7]: Richard Blood

Bingham Wapentake (2 Bloods)
Hickling^[8]: Edward Blood
Kinoulton^[9]: William Bloud

Bloods in Protestation Return of 1641 & 1642

However, this obscures the actual disposition of adult male Bloods in 1641 and 1642. Yes, they are present in three wapentakes, but it’s really just Rushcliffe Wapentake and the immediate area around it. The Bloods in Broxtowe Wapentake are all in Nottingham town, at the apex of the rough triangle that is Rushcliffe Wapentake. The Bloods in Bingham are in the extreme southwest of the wapentake, less than three miles from the boundary with Rushcliffe Wapentake. And four out of the eight Bloods in the Protestation Returns are in Rushcliffe Wapentake itself, in the area immediately south of Nottingham town.

All Bloods of Nottinghamshire, 1566 to 1637

Compare this to the situation in the preceding 75 years or so, when Bloods were found deeper into both Broxtowe Wapentake and Bingham Wapentake. But even then, their strongest presence was still in Nottingham town and Rushcliffe Wapentake, especially in the villages of Ruddington and Rempstone. Therefore, Nottingham and the area of Rushcliffe Wapentake immediately to the south appear to have been the heart of the Blood presence in Nottinghamshire, with Ruddington having the largest presence in the official record during this period.

Significance for the Bloods of New England

The main significance in our effort to understand the movements of the Blood emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony is the situation in Ruddington, from where the majority of them (possibly all) originated. And the situation there is that there were no adult male Bloods left in 1642.^[10] This means that Richard Blood, Senior of the 1633 will of William Lakin was either dead or had moved away by this time. It also means Richard Blood, the emigrant to Lynn and later founder of Groton in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was not living in Ruddington parish by 9 Mar 1642 (the date the protestation list was made there).^[11] When we take into account that English emigration to the New World effectively ceased at the end of 1640, this is strong circumstantial evidence that Richard Blood had migrated by then. This makes it even more likely that the marriage per licentiam of a Richard Blood to an Isabell Wilkinson on 15 Apr 1639 in Southwark, London was in fact Richard of Ruddington on his way out of the country.

This leaves Robert and John Blood, who had an even stronger tie to Ruddington in that they owned property there. The fact there were no adult male Bloods in Ruddington in 1642 begs the question – if they were still there, who were they living with? The logical answer is that they were no longer in Ruddington; they had departed with their probable brother Richard after the death of their father Richard, Senior, but before the end of the Puritan Great Migration in Dec 1640.

Since James Blood of Nottingham’s presence in the Massachusetts Bay Colony is confirmed by records of Jun 1641, the Protestation Return has no bearing on him or his family.

Annex: Extracts from Selected Nottinghamshire Protestation Returns

Note that because England was still using 25 Mar as New Year's Day (the Old Style calendar), the year of 1641 for them would be 1642 for us today.

Clifton Parish
Preamble: “A bill of all the names and surnames of those that have taken the p[ro]testat[i]on this first of March, 1641"
Closing: “Wee have none W[i]thin our towne of Clifton or Glapton that have refused to take the p[ro]testat[i]on”

Edwalton Parish
Preamble: “Ewalltone in Commit[atus] Nott[ingham]. xiii dio marius 1641. The names of all the inhabitants whoe have made the p[ro]testation there as followeth //”
Closing: “Recusants wee have not any”

Plumtree Parish
Preamble: “A bill of all the names in our parish which tooke the O[a]th[e] of protestation and none[e] refused”
Closing: None

Rempstone Parish
Preamble: “Rempston dom[ini] : 1641 : March 6
This is to certifie to whom it Doth or May Concerne that wee the Inhabitants of Rempston have taken the protestation and thereunto have subscribed our names in the p[re]sence of o[ur] minister Hugh Armstrong”
Closing: “None did refuse to take the p[ro]testation”

Ruddington Parish
Preamble: “Ruddington, Commit[atus] Nott[ingham]. ix dio marius 1641. The names of all those who have taken [the] p[ro]testation as followeth //”
Closing: “Recusants we have non[e]”

Notes & Sources

1. ↑ The Protestation Returns of 1641 to 1642, UK Parliamentary Archives, online at https://archives.parliament.uk/research-guides/protestation-returns/
2. ↑ There were exceptions to this in Nottinghamshire and in other counties. In some parishes the oath was taken by those 18 and over, and not just over 18. In one parish in Nottinghamshire males 16 and over were asked to swear the oath, and in another parish both men and women over 18 took the oath.
3. ↑ The Hundred was a secular administrative division below the level of county but above parish. Hundreds grouped parishes by geographic area. The wapentake was the equivalent Danish term and was still in use in the 17th century in those counties that had once been under Danish rule (the Danelaw).
4. ↑ Protestation Return for Nottingham (town), Jun & Aug 1641 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/18, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/18
5. ↑ Protestation Return for Edwalton, 13 Mar 1642 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/54, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/54
6. ↑ Protestation Return for Rempstone, 6 Mar 1642 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/63, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/63
7. ↑ Protestation Return for Remstone, 6 Mar 1642 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/51, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/51
8. ↑ Protestation Return for Hickling, 5 Mar 1642 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/68, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/68
9. ↑ Protestation Return for Knolton (Kinoulton), Mar 1642 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/71, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/71
10. ↑ Protestation Return for Ruddington, 9 Mar 1642 (digital image of original document), Ref. HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/64, Library of the House of Lords, Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Available online at https://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/JO/10/1/101/64
11. ↑ He was about 25 years old in 1642, so must have been included had he resided there.