What is a Vestry?
The word 'vestry' refers to both a room in the parish church and
a meeting of parish officials. It was where the minister kept his vestments
and prepared for divine service. The name of the room came to signify the group
of men who governed a parish because it was where they met. The name did not
change even if the location did, which happened frequently particularly on cold
winter nights. In this example the proprietor of the inn had recently joined
the vestry.
". . . We the undersigned, being the officers of this parish who have met
at the church to settle last month's accounts, having gone through part of the
business do unanimously agree to adjourn this Vestry to the Bell, the inclemency
of the weather making it hardly possible to transact the whole here . . ."
(Vestry Minutes, Upminster, Essex, 4th February 1799, quoted in A History
of Upminster and Cranham, by John Drury, 1986)
Evolution of the Vestry
The dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII left a vacuum
in social assistance. Times of severe hardship towards the end of the 1500s
led the government of Elizabeth I to assign to the parishes an increasing amount
of secular parochial responsibility. It was easy to do because parish churches
already had the authority to levy a rate for the maintenance of the church buildings
and fittings. Acts of Parliament added the powers to assess and collect rates
for the support of the poor and maintenance of roads within the parish.
The assignment of new authority was happening at a time when the influence of
the manor courts was in decline. There was overlap for a time but eventually
the manor courts lost their authority, their duties going to the vestries and
the courts of quarter sessions.
The vestry took one of two forms, either open or select. An open vestry was
comprised of all the male ratepayers, a form that worked in smaller parishes,
but became a problem in populated areas. Members of a select vestry might be
appointed or elected, generally from the more important men of the parish. In
some parishes the same people served over and over again. In others there was
a sort of rotation every few years and some managed to change officers yearly.
It was customary for the incumbent minister to sit as chairman of the vestry.
The vestry appointed the local officers, usually the following: churchwardens,
sexton, parish clerk, overseers of the poor, surveyor of the highways and constable.
Sometimes the minister appointed one of the churchwardens. Appointments of the
overseers of the poor, surveyor of the highways and constable would be endorsed
at the court of quarter sessions. Duties were onerous and it is not surprising
that someone wrote a handbook, The Compleat Parish Officer, (1734 and
rep. 1996 by the Wiltshire Family History Society). There are detailed descriptions
for each official; a good way to catch some of the flavor of parish life.
Population growth and industrialization strained the old system. In the 1800s,
due to huge rises in parish poor rates, the authority of select vestries was
challenged and by the end of the century parish administration was completely
different. Legislation in 1834 changed the poor laws and in 1894 created a new
form of local government.
Records of the Vestry
The vestry and its officers kept records of parish business collectively referred
to as the parish chest. Vestry minutes and accounts were among these. Today
those that survive are deposited in county record offices. Some have been filmed
for the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and are
cataloged by town or parish.
The vestry was the principal authority in the parish because of its role in
the appointment of other officers and its ability to make rules or policies
for the entire parish. Parish officers presented their reports and accounts
to the vestry for acceptance. The broad responsibilities of the vestry led to
a great variety of parish information being recorded in the minutes, including
permission for the minister to keep pigeons and approval for the expenditure
of funds on a quart of gin for an expectant mother (see Tate, W. E., The
Parish Chest, 1983). Parishioners names appear frequently in vestry minutes
and accounts. The records are therefore genealogically valuable as well as a
remarkable account of the social life of a parish.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry
for thirty years. She is an instructor and study tour leader for Samford University's
IGHR, and teaches for the online family history program of Vermont College.
Sherry is President of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is
the author of:
Ancestry Daily News
