Anybody with Berkshire roots should light a
candle to the memory of Frederick Simon Snell. He
was one of a small number of people, who with
devoted dedication discovered the vast store of
documents we take for granted today. For 20 years
F.S. Snell kept a series of notebooks on his
research. The early volumes contain much detailed
information on Snell and related families, but
much of his time was spent abstracting and
indexing local and national documents.
He worked at the Bodleian Library, Somerset
House, the old Public Record Office and many
local repositories, including parish churches,
copying wills, Mls, parish registers and any
other documents he could find. When he died his
collection, then numbering almost 40 volumes,
passed into the hands of the Society of
Genealogists.
Not much is known about the man himself. He
was a graduate of Durham University and lived
most of his life in Middlesex, where he died in
November 1914. He lived abroad for a time; one of
his notebooks contains a transcript of two
churchyards in South Africa, so he must have
spent some time there. He also refers in one of
his books to time spent overseas.
He began in 1879 writing in small notebooks
and odd sheets of paper, afterwards transferring
his work into larger volumes. Although not
complete many have lists of contents, but they
only give a brief outline of what to expect. Some
of his work has been superseded by later
research, but much is still quite unique and
deserves to be used not only by Berkshire
historians. For example the almost complete
transcript of the Hearth Tax for 1663/4 provides
easy access to what was a virtual census of the
county at a crucial time when parish registers
were only just recovering from the turmoil caused
by the English civil war.
Of all the material contained in the
collection without doubt the most valuable is the
index to Berkshire wills. Snell made abstracts of
all wills, from the Archdeaconry and the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury, to the beginning
of the eighteenth century. He has left us an
index to all the names mentioned in the wills,
not just testators, but witnesses and
beneficiaries too. As Snell himself writes, it
only awaits another genealogical enthusiast to
complete the task which he began in the closing
years of Queen Victoria's reign. So far we wait
in vain.
Although there is a general index to the whole
collection, some volumes have their own indexes
and are not included, and one or two are not
indexed at all: Volumes 7, 8 and 11 are not
included, Volumes 13, 14, and 15, the wills in
the Archdeaconry of Berkshire are indexed
separately, Volume 16 is the list of Berkshire
wills in the PCC index, Volume 17 the Berkshire
Hearth Tax, is indexed separately, and Volume 21
is the list of Berkshire Wills (continued from
Volume 16).
Most titled people are indexed under their
proper titles, as Marquis, Duke, Bishop, but some
baronets and knights have been indexed without
their titles: 'In indexing several persons of one
surname, I have tried to keep to the alphabetical
order, but as I was pressed for time I have not
always avoided a mistake and in some cases the
Christian names are not quite alphabetical.'
What follows is a general outline of what is
contained in each volume, but with such a vast
work you may find other small amounts of material
that I have missed.
Volume 1. Parts 1 and 2.
Monumental inscriptions for Hampstead, Middlesex,
transcribed during 1883-88.
Volume 2. Monumental
inscriptions copied in 1883-89:
Middlesex: Kingsbury churchyard (complete),
St. Mary's Chapel of Ease, Holloway Road
burial ground, St. James' Hampstead Road
cemetery, Paddington, Finchley, Fulham and
Hendon churchyards, and St. Marylebone burial
ground, Paddington Street
Surrey: Wimbledon, Morden and Merton
churchyards
Kent: Bromley and Hayes churchyards
Hertfordshire: Widford church and
churchyard, Thundridge churchyard (complete),
and Ridge churchyard
Sussex: Battle churchyard
Volume 3. Originally
contained monumental inscriptions for many
parishes, including Berkshire, Oxfordshire,
Sussex, Lancashire, Middlesex, Kent, South
Africa, and documentary abstracts on the same
parishes (and others); unfortunately this volume
was either stolen or lost from the Society in
1941.
Volume 4. Snell family.
Miscellaneous notes and abstracts from parish
registers, Mls and information from directories
and published books.
Volume 5. 'Notes made on a
cycling tour May 5-15,1898, during which time 1
looked through 17 parish registers and took notes
of a number of Mls all relating to the Snell
family'.
Volume 6 (on microfilm only).
Notes on the following families: Blagrave (or
Blagrove), Pile (or Pyle), Maynard, Cheek, Saxon,
Robins, Bancroft, Porden, Roberts, Williams,
Swinstead, Stringfield, Steggall, Adams, Grundy,
Dolby, Deane, Daller, Shakespeare, Thompson,
Blundell, Acworth, Scraggleford, Sturges,
Mortlock, Schnell, Rutherford, Mundy, Ward,
Porter, Snellock, Stratton, Field, Tisdale,
Wallis, Lumb, Cookworthy, and Lister.
Volumes 7 and 8. Typescript
made by Edmund N. Snell in October, 1938. It is
in two parts: the first contains abstracts, in
some cases full copies, of Snell wills, and the
second a scrapbook of notes on families and
genealogies of Snell families. The original was
in the possession of Alfred Saxon Snell of
Reading.
Volume 9. Coleman's Catalogue
of Deeds.
Volume 10. Notes on various
families: Maynard, Cheek, Robins, Blagrave,
Saxon, Pile, Hawtrey, Steggall, Wallis, Lumb,
Bradford, Newbery, Williams, Bertolacci, Willis,
Tomkins, Breedon, Curtis, Douglas, Zinzan,
Darvall, Mortlock, Bye, Vanlore, Brookman,
Shattock, Ireland, Mullis and Palmer.
Volume 11. Typescript by
Alfred Saxon Snell made in 1938 of Snell
abstracts. This volume is indexed in the Society
of Genealogists' Great Card Index.
Volume 12. Notes arranged
under parishes, including registered wills,
curious names, Chancery proceedings and items on
a number of individual families including:
Courtrolls, Latton, Parry and Vachell. List of
surnames, other than those of testators,
occurring in Berkshire Archdeaconry wills (these
are indexed in Volumes 13, 14, and 15). Also
included are churchwardens' presentments
extracted from Archdeaconry of Berkshire
manuscripts at the Bodleian Library.
'In the Bodleian Library there are many
volumes of Mss. originally belonging to the
Archdeaconries of Oxford and Berkshire. As
examples, 'Berkshire Licences for non-Residence':
these are Bishop's Licences to the Clergy for
absence from their cures (Berks. d.3). Licences
for marriage, Libels on Incestuous Marriages etc.,
Divorces, Marriage, Baptism and Burial
Certificates. The Licences are comparatively few
in number, but are bound up with some curious
libels and other papers connected with the
Archdeacon's jurisdiction (Berks. d. 2). Other
volumes are taken up with transcripts of a few
Berkshire parishes and several parishes in
Oxfordshire. The following notes are to be found
bound in a Volume lettered: 'Thatcham, Tidmarsh,
Tilehurst' (Berks. C. No. 137). The papers
connected with Tilehurst extend from 1664-1837.
They are full of much curious and not always
savoury information about the inhabitants of the
village. The presentment took the shape of a
monthly report drawn up as a kind of answer to a
printed list of questions, and concerned the
Church, Clergy, and the parishioners. Each report
is signed by the churchwardens, and sometimes by
the vicar as well. When nothing of note has
happened worth reporting the paper is signed
omnia bene. Of course these formalities apply to
other parishes besides Tilehurst, of which 1 have
some notes. My extracts are taken from all years
between 1664 and 1800'.
(These documents were later transferred to the
Berkshire Record Office.)
Volumes 13, 14, and 15. Index
to surnames, other than those of testators in
Archdeaconry of Berkshire wills 1480-1710.
'The work was started in November 1897 and was
left uncompleted in September 1898. Had I stayed
in England, it was my intention to have finished
the indexing of all the registered wills in this
series. Whether I shall ever get the chance of
completing what has been a true labour of love, I
cannot say, but if not, I hope that at some
future time another genealogical enthusiast will
carry on the work, the greater part of which, I
think, has been gone through by myself. The
following pages may be regarded as supplementary
to the excellent Index of the British Record
Society, but of course there is a larger variety
of names to be found in this than in the printed
work. As regards the surnames scattered
throughout the wills, 1 have made a point of
noting every name that is mentioned as a
relation, witness, executor, overseer etc. etc. -
except of course when the relation, witness etc.
in question bears the surname of the testator as
named at the head of the will. I have thought
well also to take account of all the surnames in
the miscellaneous documents found among the
wills, such as Deeds of Gift and Inventories (containing
names of debtors and creditors) and incidental
names occuring in the Administrations, eg the
names of those bound over by bond."
'To the experienced genealogist, the value of
references to names, however indirect, is known
to be useful circumstantial evidence in tracing
the habitat of families, so that even the bare
name of a witness or creditor may be the means of
suggesting a clue not to be sought elsewhere. 1
have less confidence as the mention of clergy and
lawyers, mostly occurring as Witnesses, as the
names occur again and again, but in comparison
with the large number of other names these form a
very small fraction, and even this fraction may
come in useful. It would have taken too much time
to have expunged these references from the Index,
and as it is I do not regret having left them,
for the reasons given above.
'This Index does not refer to the many
surnames to be found in the 'Inductions to
Livings' and some other ecclesiastical documents
found among the wills. These documents are few in
number, and it is much to be regretted that I
could not spare the time to take the surnames
from them, valuable as they are as evidence for
the locality of names. For the same reason - lack
of time - 1 was obliged to leave out references
to fields, farms and plots of land named by some
families and occasionally referred to in the
wills, as these again are valuable sidelights on
the history and origin of families, as in most
cases the surname appears to have stuck to a
place, long after the family - judging by the
wills had left the neighbourhood. The notice of
these 1 commend to my visionary genealogical
enthusiast of the future.
'I have now one more important omission to
note. In the note of probate as antiquarian
searchers are aware will be found the name of the
executor or executrix, and this is occasionally
different from that of the person named in the
will. For instance when a daughter has married,
or a women has married again, or where some other
person has been called upon to perform the duties
of executor. These cases, however, only occur now
and then.
'All variations in the spelling of surnames
has been carefully noted and the following index
gives a complete list of these variations -
although some of the differences in the spelling
of names is trivial, I thought it as well for the
sake of completeness to note these along with
abbreviations - the latter mostly resorted to by
the original transcribers in the case of the
commoner names and sometimes in names of less
frequent occurrence. To a searcher the various
forms of spelling as catalogued here will serve
as a useful guide to the eye when looking through
the wills.'
'Now-a-days cross references are not popular,
but in an index like the following it is the most
convenient way of classifying the more varying
forms of names and in any case without a very
thorough knowledge of the names of a county, it
is impossible to be absolutely certain as to the
identity of many names. The cross references are
to be taken then as suggestions in many cases -
in some cases of course the suggestion is more
probable than others, but in no instance have I
added a cross reference without some probability
of identification. In the case of difficult forms
of names placed under one heading, these in most
cases are found spelt in the different ways
mentioned, in one and the same will'.
Volume 15a. List of Berkshire
wills Testator Registers A to M. 1480-1658. 'I
have compiled this index from the printed index
of the British Record Society. When making a list
of all the names in some of the registers, I
omitted - for want of time - supplying the name
of testator at the head of each will, with the
exception of the first 40 or 50 pages of Register
1. My object in making the following list is to
make it possible to identify the testator of each
will by comparing this list with the names
entered in Volume 12 pp. 219-442, which is a list
of all surnames other than those of testators at
head of each will in Registers A-I, J (1-578) and
M (1245). 1 also made a list of names in
Register 19, but the British Record Society list
goes no further than Register M, so that the
following names are no use beyond Register J (p.
578) and Register M (p 945)'.
Volume 16. List of Berkshire
wills in PCC 1631-1745,1746-1807 (separate
alphabetical lists). This is the working list
that Snell used in compiling the index to
Berkshire wills in the PCC. 'The materials for
this index were given to me by George F. Tudor
Sherwood who compiled them for his own use from
the Calendars at Somerset House'. List of
Berkshire subscribers to Lewis's Topographical
Dictionary, 1831. Monumental inscriptions from
the cemetery at Somerset Road, Cape Town.
Miscellaneous notes on families.
Snell's Berkshire wills in the PCC - 1391-1737.
Ten volumes, plus 15 volumes of indexes.
The will abstracts themselves are numbered in
chronological order. For example Volume 1
contains will numbers from 1 to loll (from AD
1391 to AD 1580). The 15 volumes of indexes refer
to the number of the will and not the date. There
are 12 volumes of name indexes, plus a three-volume
place index. However, it should be noted that the
place index only covers the period to about 1590.
Volume 17. Miscellaneous
notes on Berkshire collections. Monumental
inscriptions for St. George's, Hanover Square,
burial ground, Mount Street. Biographical and
statistical notes on the Counties of England.
Wytham Mls copied on 16 Sept. 1906; Arborfield
Mls: 'The old church stands ruined and rootless
in the park of a private estate'. Lists of
Berkshire Popish recusants made in 1716. Notes on
the following families: Pile, Pill, Maynard,
Loader of Sonning, Awbery of Tilehurst, Hall of
Sonning, Latton, Wilder, Handock, Parry, Mathew,
Man, Pottinger, Lloyd and Levingston. Hearth tax
for Berkshire (of around go parishes), with lists
of names grouped under each parish followed by a
full surname index. For a detailed introduction
to this volume see Berkshire Family Historian
Volume 23 No. 1 September 1999, pages 26-33.
Volume 18. Notes on
Oxfordshire made during a tour of the County in
September 1906. Including parish register
abstracts, Mls, a list of recusants, Lay
Subsidies, Wills and Chancery Proceedings. Index
to Oxfordshire Marriage Licence Bonds 1634-1665.
Volume 19. Collections
relating to the family Pile or Pyle, 'taken
during a cycling tour in Berkshire and
Oxfordshire in September 1906.'
Volume 20. Miscellaneous
notes on counties and families, including pages
devoted to: Adams, Albrett, Bancroft, Blagrave,
Bowland, Brookman, Buss, Champ, Cheek, Cromwell,
Curtis, Dallow, Darvall, Deane, Delafosse,
Ellerker, Garrick, Heddy, Ireland, Lewington,
Lewis, Lister, Lumb, Maynard, Mortlock, Mullis,
Newbery, Palmer, Pill, Porden/Purdon, Renvoize,
Roberts, Robins, Rutherford, Saxon/Saxton,
Saddock, Shakespeare, Shattock, Snelling,
Sprules, Stegall, Vanlore, Wakeford, Ward, Welch,
Williams, and Zinzan.
Volume 21. Notes on Middlesex
parishes, including MIs from Hendon, Mill Hill,
Harrow, Stanmore, Pinner, Kingsbury, Northolt,
Hampstead, Finchley, Edgware and Paddington. List
of Berkshire wills in PCC 1746-1807.
Volume 22. Notes from
Chancery Proceedings. Hendon, Middlesex, Hearth
tax.
Volume 23. Notes from 388
Chancery Proceedings taken before 1714. Berkshire
Lay Subsidies, 1663. Oxfordshire Hearth tax for
Bensington. Directory of Edgware and Hendon, 1823-4.
Hendon and districts poll, 1784. Welch family
notes.
Volume 24. Abstracts of 658
wills in Register 'Busby' (PCC) 1751. 'I started
this year intending to complete it. The wills are
not full abstracts, but contain the names of all
relatives and occasionally other names such as
witnesses etc.' Index to place names in the Snell
collection (by county), Bedfordshire to Hereford
(incomplete).
Volume 25. Abstracts of 173
wills in Register 'Noel' (PCC) 1699. A few
inscriptions from the Presbyterian burial ground,
Queen's Road, Brighton, Sussex (taken September
1908). Whitchurch (otherwise called Little
Stanmore) churchyard (note: This and the
remaining London and Middlesex inscriptions were
taken in the years l908 and l909). A few
inscriptions from the churchyard of Great
Stanmore, Middlesex, copied 1908. Pinner, copied
l909. Harefield, Middlesex, l909. St. Martin's in
the Fields burial ground, Camden Street, Camden
Town, NW, l909. St. George's Bloomsbury, Friern
Barnet, Middlesex. Bloomsbury cemetery, between
Henrietta St. and Heatheote St., Hornsey,
Middlesex. Various abstracts from wills relating
to Berkshire.
Volume 26. Index to surnames
in the preceding 25 volumes.
