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base born comment on Baptism record

Bob Spiers

Bob Spiers

LostCousins Superstar
Benjamin Dunkley baptism.JPG

I came across the above record whilst seeking a Benjamin Dunkley (this one is Benjamin Dickins Dunkley) and the year is 1820 in Milton, Northampton. As it turned out it was not the one that applied in my wife's Tree although close but the wrong mother. But that is a bye the bye for now as I want to point out two comments, which I found of interest, and quite new to me.

The first is the one shown below the surname Dunkley (or however spelled) which says 'Base born' and then the sort of footnote on the right which I believe says 'Their forgiven ?). The other researcher tells me they are ecclesiastical short form for "illegitimate" - which I do not doubt, but has anyone come across this before?
 
Base-born is one of the ways that children born outside marriage are referred to in baptism registers - which term was used depended on the incumbent. Although to modern ears the least offensive term is 'illegitimate', there are still people who object to it.

The term 'forgiven' is probably used in the sense of 'forgiving a debt', in other words the incumbent has decided not to charge for the ceremony (presumably because the mother couldn't afford to pay).
 
Pauline said:
I think it probably says "Thus far given in", that is that entries up to this point had been submitted in the BTs. It is not a comment on the entry itself.
Click to expand...
Agreed - a much better fit to the handwriting.

A general comment: when you are having trouble interpreting an entry in a parish register take a few moments to look through the pages of the register for other similar entries. You might discern a pattern - as in this case - or you might find an example where the handwriting is easier to read.
 
I agree with Pauline as on doing a bit of Googling I found the following
" Thus far given in to the Bishop's Register" on multiple occasions in the Hordley Registers for the late 1700's
 
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