Berkshire Strays
Project
Leader: Margaret Young
"A stray is a recorded event in which a person is
described in the record as being from, or connected with, a place
outside the area in which they normally lived." (Dictionary of
Genealogy. 5th edition)
We maintain a 'strays index' which includes people
recorded in
events taking place outside Berkshire where the person has been given
some reference to Berkshire.
The most frequent types of strays are from marriage and
census records but other sources include material from poor law
records, death and burial records, monumental inscriptions and
baptisms. Some of the most interesting are: burials in coastal parishes
of drowned seamen washed up from wrecks where the name of the ship is
often given; baptisms of gypsy children with fascinating names; militia
men marrying girls from the parishes in which they were stationed
during the Napoleonic Wars. The list is endless.
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Update
at April 2003:
The BFHS Strays Index now has 11,500 entries. These include 100
baptisms, 400 deaths,
250 burials and 2,000 marriages. There are 8 entries from the
1841 census, 5,000 from 1851, 300 from 1861, 250 from 1871 and 1,000
from 1891. |
Most entries have been sent in by other researchers and
have not been checked for accuracy. Inevitability there are large gaps
in the data and you are encouraged to verify the records yourself.
The Strays Index is included in the Berkshire Name
Search. Searches can be made of the database at the Research Centre or by post.
If you come across a stray that ought to be in our index
then please eMail it to or mail it to:
Margaret Young -
Strays Index
BerksFHS Research Centre,
Yeomanry House, 131 Castle Hill,
READING, RG1 7TJ. United Kingdom
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BerksFHS 
Contents
with any queries