By the Rev. W. C. Plenderleath. 883 



males with one hundred and forty occurrences, or one in every 5.7 

 entries. Then came William and Will, one hundred and twenty- 

 two, or one in 6.7. Then Thomas and Tom, sixty-nine, or one in 

 12.9. Then Henry, Harry, Henery, Hennery, or Henrie, fifty-nine, 

 or one in 13.5, Then Robert and James, forty-one each, or one in 

 19.9. And so on down to fifteen names which appear but once each. 

 Of female names, the first is Ann, who under the varying forms 

 of Ann, Anne, Annie, Anna, Nanny, and Nanney, appears one 

 hundred and sixty-one times, or one in every five entries. Then 

 comes Mary, Maria, Meriah, and Mariah, one hundred and fifty-two, 

 or one in 5.4. Then Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Elizebath, Bety, Betty. 

 Betsey, Besepty, and Lizzey, one hundred and ten, or one in 7.4. 

 Then Sarah, Sarak, or Sary, ninety-five, or one in 8.6. Then Jane, 

 eighty five, or one in 9.6. The Rebecca, Rebekah, Rebekak, Rebeckh, 

 Rebekkah, Rebeckah, Rabacco, and Rebca, forty-three, or one in 

 10.9. And so on down to eighteen names which occur only once 

 each. With regard to age at marriage I get little or no information 

 from the registers until the time of my own appointment in 1860, 

 the columns having been in almost every case filled up simply with 

 " full age,^^ or " minor,'' — an evil practice which, as I see from a 

 recent report of the Registrar-General, prevails in about two-fifths 

 of all the returns made to him. I have however myself, when re- 

 gistering a marriage, invariably asked for age, explaining that I did 

 so simply with a view of adding to the value of the record both 

 for statistical purposes and also for those of identification. And I 

 have never in any one instance met with the least hesitation to 

 furnish me with a proper return. Out of the thirty-five marriages 

 thus recorded, I find the average age of the husbands to be twenty- 

 nine years and two hundred and nmety-six days ; and of the wives, 

 twenty-seven years and one hundred and twenty-nine days.^ Nine 

 wives appear to have been older than their husbands, or more than 

 one fourth of the whole number. 



^ This is less than the average of difference in age throughout England, which 

 is stated by Ansell (Vital Statistics, p. 46) to be about four-and-a-half years, 

 and to be still on the increase. 



