598 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 190. 



country. I have heard that he died about forty 

 years ago, near Brompton, England; and would 

 be glad to have the date of his death, and any in- 

 scription which may be on his tomb. W. B. R. 

 Philadelphia. 



[General Arnold died 14th June, 1801, in the sixty- 

 first year of his age. His remains were interred on the 

 21st at Brompton.] 



PAKISH REGISTERS. — RIGHT OF SEARCH, 



In Vol. iv., p. 473. a Query on this subject is 

 inserted, to which, in Vol. v., p. 37., Mr. Chad- 

 wick replied. 



The question, one of great importance to the 

 genealogist, has recently been the subject of judi- 

 cial decision, in the case of Steele v. VVilllaras, re- 

 ported in the 17th volume of the Jurist, p. 464. 

 (the Number for Saturday, 28th May). 



At the opening of the argument, the Court of 

 Exchequer decided that the fees, &c. are regulated 

 by the 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 86., " An Act for regis- 

 tering Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England," 

 -which in the 35th section enacts — 

 " That every rector, vicar, curate, and every registrar, 

 registering officer, and secretary, who shall have the 

 keeping, for the time being, of any register book of 

 births, deaths, or marriages, shall at all reasonable 

 times allow searches to be made of any register book in 

 his keeping, and shall give a copy, certified under his 

 hand, of any entry or entries in the same, on payment 

 of the fee hereinafter mentioned : that is to say, for 

 every search extending over a period not more than one 

 year, the sum of Is., and 6(1. additional for every addi- 

 tional year; and the sum of 2s. 6d. for every single 

 certificate." 



Mr. Chadwick seemed to consider this section 

 only applied to "civil registration;" but this view 

 is, I apprehend, now quite untenable. 



The case was, whether a parish clerk had a right 

 to charge 2s. 6d, where the party searcliing the 

 register did not require "certified copies," but 

 only made his own extracts ; and it is decided he 

 has no such right. * 



Mr. Baron Parke in his judgment says : 



" I think this payment was not voluntary, because 

 the defendant " [the parish clerk] " told the plaintiff, 

 that if he did not pay him for certificates, in all cases 

 in which he wanted to make extracts, he should not 

 make a search at all. / think the plaintiff had at all 

 events a right to make a search, and during that time make 

 himself master, as he best might, of the contents of the 

 hook, and could not be prevented from so doing by the clerk 

 in whose custody they were ; who in the present case 

 insisted that if he wanted copies he must have certi- 

 ficates with the signature of the incumbent. For the 

 Is. he paid, the applicant had aright to look at all the 

 names in one year. He had no right to remain an 

 unreasonable time looking at the book ; nor perhaps, 



strictly speaking, was the parish clerk bound to put it 

 into his hands at all: for the clerk has a right to super- 

 intend everything done, and might fairly say to a man, 

 'Your hands are dirty: keep them in your pockets,' 

 The applicant could therefore only exercise his right of 

 search during a reasonable time, and make extracts that 

 way. If a man insists on taking himself a copy of any- 

 thing in the books, that case is not provided for by the 

 statute : but if he requires a copy certified by the cler- 

 gyman, then he must pay an additional fee for it. 



" It was consequently an illegal act in the defendant 

 to insist that the plaintiff should pay 2s. 61. for each 

 entry in the book, of which he might choose to make 

 an extract," &c, 



Mr, Baron Martin says : 



" With respect to the statute, counsel (Mr, Robin- 

 son) says, because taking extracts is not mentioned in 

 the statute, it is competent for a parish clerk to take an 

 extra payment for allowing them to be made. Where 

 a man is allowed by statute to receive money, it is, as 

 it were, by virtue of a contract that the statute makes 

 for him, and he cannot make a contract for a different 

 sum. The defendant here is bound by tiie entirety of 

 the statute ; he may be paid for a search, or for a certified 



copy, BUT THERE IS NO INT£R5IEI)IATE COURSE," 



This decision will, I hope, have the effect of re- 

 moving the difficulties so often experienced in 

 making searches for genealogical purposes. At 

 all events, the person making such search can now 

 safely make his own notes, none daring lawfully to 

 make him afraid. I have to apologise for the 

 length of this letter. G. Brindley Acworth. 



12. King's Bench Walk, Temple. 



THE HONOURABLE MISS E. ST. LEGER, A FREEMASON, 



(Vol, iv,, p. 234.) 



There is an inquiry in Vol. iv., p. 234., as to 

 whether there is any truth in the story, that the 

 Honourable Miss E. St. Leger was made a free- 

 mason ; and as no account of the circumstances 

 has yet appeared in your pages, I send you the 

 following statement, which has been extracted from 

 Tlie Patrician. Apart from its value as a record 

 of this singular fact, it contains other particulars 

 which you may deem worthy of preservation in 

 "N, &Q." 



" The Hon, Elizabeth St. Leger was the only female 

 who was ever initiated into the ancient and honourable 

 mystery of Freemasonry. How she obtained this 

 honour we shall lay before our readers, having obtained 

 the only genuine information from the best sources. 



" Lord Doneraiie, Miss St. Leger's father, a very 

 zealous mason, held a warrant, and occasionally opened 

 Lodge at Doneraiie House, his sons and some intimate 

 friends assisting ; and it is said that never were the 

 masonic duties more rigidly performeil than by the 

 brethren of No. 150, the number of their warrant. 



" It appears that previous to the initiation of a gen- 

 tleman to the first steps of masonry, Miss St. Leger, 



