Baptism Register entry

[pennywise]

Whilst searching for the Baptism of an ancestor in the Baptism Register of St Clement Danes Westminster for the period 1671-1700 I came across an entry for James a child taken up in hand and holly bush.

Can anyone tell me what this means, and whether it was a common entry in the 1600/1700s.

 

[peter]

Could you please provide a link (or else, precise details of the entry so that we can find it ourselves)?

It's important to view primary sources when they are available as sometimes looking at other pages in the register can provide clues - and occasionally it turns out that the handwriting has been misinterpreted.

 

[pennywise]

The Baptism Register I was looking at is on ancestry.co.uk
The Register in question is shown as

Westminster, London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1558-1812

The Register is for St Clement Danes

The date of the baptism is 30 July 1675

If it's of any extra help, the baptism I was searching for is for Samuel Bevis who was baptised on 18 September 1675, the son of Nathan and Alice

 

[Tim]

Here's a link to the image

 

[peter]

Thanks, Tim that saves a lot of time (others please note).

Now I can see that the full entry reads:

Daniel a Child taken up in Hand and Hollybush Court

In other words, a foundling - so nothing particularly unusual (and sadly we still have foundlings today).

 

[Stuart]

That helpful Mr (or Mrs) Google found me a couple of references to the Hand and Hollybush or its courtyard. One was a list of 17th century coffee houses, taverns, and inns, which has it near St Clements' church. The list has a lot of similar names, referring to signs (which might be a model or a real object, not just a painted board).
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...s_and_Queries_-_Series_12_-_Volume_6.djvu.jpg

There is also a parish account book that notes 1s paid (presumably in out relief) to a "Woman in hand & Holly bush Court" in 1720.
https://www.londonlives.org/browse.jsp?div=WCCDAO35300AO353000053