Chancery Proceedings
(C 8 Mitford)
Manuscript volumes
Instructions for volunteers
Introduction
The Court of Chancery dealt with thousands of disputes over inheritance and wills,
lands, debts, marriage settlements, apprenticeships, etc. Most of its records are in
English, and give very detailed information. Chancery was a very popular court, and
every parish in England will have produced lawsuits over this period, with many
thousands of people involved. These records are of huge potential interest to all kinds
of researchers, but they are effectively inaccessible except to people with weeks of
time to read through the paper catalogues page by page. Making them searchable on
the online catalogue will really open them up for everyone.
This volunteer project will tackle these many volumes of detailed manuscript and
typescript catalogues of Chancery and similar court records from 1558-1714. The
volumes provide the names of the litigants, the subject of the dispute and the place
involved (usually at parish level). The manuscript catalogues date from the 1920s and
1930s, and although the hand takes a little getting used to it is normally quite clear.
The idea is for volunteers working from home to work from paper copies of the
volumes, typing the data into a standard spreadsheet. This then needs to be checked,
and converted to catalogue entries at The National Archives.
You need to have a computer with EXCEL or equivalent and be able to send your
completed spreadsheet by email.
So far, the project has worked on C 2, C 3, C 5 and C 7: C 8 is our new challenge.
Amanda Bevan
The National Archives
March 2014
C 8 Mitford (manuscript volumes)
Method: Data is to be entered into supplied spreadsheets from the manuscript volume.
Please reread your entries for sense and accuracy, and if you have any queries, please
highlight them and put a note in the query column.
General spreadsheet instructions:
 Don’t type full stop at end of cell.
 Use [unknown] for missing names
 Insert brackets when they appear in the original
 If you are not sure that you’ve read the manuscript accurately, put a note in the
Query column
Column A (Bundle): use the number which appears top centre or in the left margin of
the manuscript (sometimes changes part way down the page but usually has the word
‘bundle in front of it). Type the bundle number on every line.
Column B (Item): This is the consecutive number which appears in the ‘No.’ column on
the manuscript adjacent to the plaintiff’s name
Column C (Plaintiff 1st surname): In order that we can create a short title (Smith v
Jones) for the case in our online catalogue, please type the surname or title of the first
plaintiff only, in this column.
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If the first plaintiff is a peer or senior clergy, enter just their title i.e. Earl of Derby,
Bishop of London, Attorney General etc.
If the first plaintiff is a Sir, just enter the surname without ‘Sir’
Where the plaintiff has an alias, just enter the first surname in this column i.e
John Smith alias Smythe, you would just enter Smith.
Welsh names– include the ‘ap’ and the name that appears after the first ‘ap’ as
the short title. For example ‘Thomas ap Evan ap John ap Lewis’ you should enter
‘ap Evan’ as the short title.
Column D (Named plaintiffs): Type the names of all plaintiffs in full but reverse the
names to read in natural word order ie turn ‘Dand, Rowland into Rowland Dand’.
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Many entries will name only one plaintiff but refer to ‘others’ or ‘another’ - use
Column F on the spreadsheet to record ‘others’ or ’another’.
Repeat surnames and first names as necessary e.g.
o John Smith and Alice his wife – type John Smith and Alice Smith his wife
o William Egyll alias Morys – type William Egyll alias William Morys
Include the word ‘widow’ if given
Capitalize titles: Lord, Lady, Earl etc
Abbreviate ‘knight’ to kt, ‘baronet’ to bart
Peers’ surnames. Ideally we want these, but they are not usually given. Please
put John [unknown], Earl of Nowhere, and an ‘x’ in Column N
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Column E (Code): These do not appear in the manuscript but we would like you to add
them as an attempt to identify types of plaintiff. There are three codes but not all
plaintiffs will need one.
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SFP a female as the only plaintiff
JFP two or more female plaintiffs (with no male plaintiffs)
CBP corporate body plaintiff (e.g. Attorney General, Mayor, company, college,
church etc)
UBP unincorporate body plaintiff (e.g. tenants of a manor, churchwardens, the
poor of..)
Column F (Other plaintiffs): Please use this column to record ‘another’ or ‘others’
where these appear in the plaintiff column on the manuscript. This should self-fill once
you have typed it in once.
Column G (Defendants 1st surname): As for column C but using the information from
the Defendant column on the manuscript.
Column H (Named defendants): As for column D but using the information from the
Defendant column on the manuscript.
Column I (Other defendants): As for column F but using the information from the
Defendant column on the manuscript.
Column J (Date): Enter the date from the date column on the manuscript. If none given,
leave blank.
Column K (Place or subject): Enter the information shown in the Place or Subject
column on the manuscript as seen, except:
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Do not use a capital letter to start the first word unless it is a place name or put a
full stop at the end i.e ‘lands in Much Dunmow’ as opposed to ‘Lands in Much
Dunmow.’
Do not use italics, quotation marks or underline, even if they appear in
manuscript
Expand ‘&c’ to ‘etc’
Put document type such as (answer) in Column L (Type), not here
Remove full stops from place names – St Austell
Expand St to Street where relevant – Cole Street
If ‘The same’ appears in this column, please repeat the subject of the previous
entry
Column L (Type): Information for this column may appear in the place or subject
column of the manuscript. Do not use a capital letter to start the word or include the
brackets. Examples of document types are:
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Answer (if more than one answer please type the number in full ie type ‘2’ as
‘two’, ‘3’ as ‘three’ etc)
replication
demurrer
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Column M (County): Enter this from the county column including any square brackets
but:
 Expand the county i.e Warwick to Warwickshire, Carmarthen to Carmarthenshire
 Change Southampton to Hampshire (only when it appears in county column, not
elsewhere in manuscript)
 Do not expand Devon to Devonshire
 Change Salop to Shropshire
 Change Lancaster to Lancashire
 Change Chester to Cheshire
Column N (Peer): Place an ‘x’ here if any of the plaintiffs or defendants are peers
Column O (Query): please use this! We need to identify problems. If you’re unsure of
where to type anything, please type it here with a note.
If you have any further pointers or questions please don’t hesitate to ask –
Gillian Kirby gillian.kirby@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk or
Liz Hore liz.hore@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk
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