Editorial Note

 

This history was written between 1986-7, when it included a provisional account of the Loosemore clan up to modern times.  Much additional information has been accumulated since 1987, mainly relating to the period since 1660, though the early chapters have required few changes.  Those early chapters, together with some later work, are now presented here

 

In the present text, quotations from manuscripts or published sources are printed in italic: if short, imbedded within single inverted commas; if long, block-indented without commas.  References are listed and numbered consecutively at the end of each chapter; numbers are printed in the text as superscripts.  Titles of published books cited are in italic, followed by the year of publication and page number.  Books are published in London unless otherwise stated.  Titles of journals are given in upright font, with volume numbers in small roman numerals, followed by the year of issue and page numbers.  Books and journals frequently cited are given in abbreviated form by author’s surname or initials only, the full title appearing in the list of abbreviations.

 

Where personal dates (birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial) in the text are given exactly, they have usually been obtained from parish registers (all dates before 1837), certificates issued from the General Register Office (after July 1837), or from private sources.  Dates given quarterly, e.g. Jan/Mar 1874 or 1874Q1 (Apr/Jun = Q2, etc), have been extracted from GRO quarterly indexes, but lack confirmation from a certificate.  Those given in the form ‘c1865’ have been deduced from other evidence, often from an age given on a death or marriage certificate, but have not been verified directly.

 

Additional details contained in wills, translations and transcriptions of manuscripts, which are not necessary for a general reading of the text, are contained in eleven Appendices.