St James' Church - Burial Registers
Parish Registers
The Abinger Parish registers are retained in a purpose-built database written by Philip Rawlings.

Sources include:
- Burial register 1559 - 1812 [A]
- Burial register 1813 -1846 [C]
- Burial register 1877-2019 [B]
- Burial register 2020- [D]
- Baptism register 1559-1812 [P]
- Inscriptions and Graves in Abinger Church and Churchyard, transcribed by John A Gibbs 1933 as recorded in 1934
- Surrey Manning & Bray, vol II(1809)
- Epitaphs of Surrey, A B Bax, ms. in Surrey Archeological Society Library (1890)
Reports
Reports from that database are shown below, other sorts/selections are available from the webmaster.
Burial Register 2020-
Burial Register 1877-2019
Burial Register 1813-1839
The original Abinger Parish burial registers for 1813-1839 were lost, but were earlier published, a scan is shown here.
Burial Register 1599-1812
The Abinger Parish burial registers for 1599-1812 were published as The Parish Registers of Abinger, Wotton, and Oakwood Chapel, Co. Surrey (Mitchell Hughes & Clarke, London, 1928), a scan is shown here.
Baptism Register 1599-1812
Originals lost but transcibed into a bound volume "This volume has been printed by a few friends in grateful memory of John Harcourt Chichester Evelyn (1876-1922), of Wotton House, Patron of these three livings, who lost his life in the service of his country; and also of Mrs. H. E. Malden (1852-1919), who transcribed the Register."
Notes to the Registers
- The registers from 1812-1887 are lost. Some inscriptions were transcribed by John A Gibbs in "Inscriptions and Graves in Abinger Church and Churchyard with Index" presented to St James' in 1934 Also from "Epitaphs of Surrey", A B Bax, ms. in Surrey Archeological Society Library (1890); these data are included in the current database
- 'Affidavit': in The Burial in Woolen Acts of 1660-1689 "No corps should be buried in anything other than what is made of sheep's wool only; or put into any coffin lined or faced with any material but sheep's wool, on pain of forfeiture of £5." Excepting plague victims and the destitute. In addition, an affidavit to that effect was required not later than 8 days after the burial. The act was repealed in 1814 but ignored after 1770.
- The Stamp Duties Act of 1783 required payment of 3d (£0.0125) to register a baptism, marriage or burial. Repealed in 1794.
- 'Certificate': a certificate brought (presented) affirming burial in 'woolen'.
* Assumed, except otherwise stated, that a woman takes the surname of the husband (often burial register has only, for example, Joan the wife of John Smith).
- Assumed, except otherwise stated, that a child takes the surname of the father (often burial register has only, for example, Jane the daughter of John Smith).
- Spellings of names and places are idiosyncratic in the registers. As far as practicable, original spellings have been retained.
- Names are often prefixed with Goodman or Goodwife (abbr. Goody) in the earlier registers. Archaic form, known from 13th to mid-18th century. Signifies lower social standing than those addressed as Mr, Mrs, Mistress.
- See the History of Parish registers in England for the register requirements from 1538 (King Henry III). Our registers began in 1559 following a law enacted by Queen Elizabeth I.
Source Data
You can download (StJamesRegisters.xml) the entire registers dataset. Then open the XML file as an XML table, or in any XML-friendly application.
Parish Records Held at the Surrey History Centre
Records of baptism, marrigage and burial are held at the Surrey History Centre, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking GU21 6ND as below
Baptisms | 1559-1898 | Originals, Microfiche
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| 1813-1840 | Printed
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| 1559-1812 | Transcript
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Marriages | 1559-1959 | Originals, Microfiche
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| 1813-1840 | Transcript
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| 1559-1812 | Printed
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Burials | 1813-1840 | Transcript
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| 1559-1812 | Printed
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