Registers of the parish of Walton-le-Dale
The registers of the parish of Walton-le-Dale in the Country of Lancaster : baptisms, burials and marriages 1609-1812, by Clayton, Gerald E. C
Printed for the Lancashire Parish Register Society by Strowger
Publication date: 1910
Summary of the book and what it contains
The Registers of the Parish of Walton-le-Dale in the County of Lancaster, 1609–1812 (1910), edited by Gerald E. C. Clayton, is a scholarly transcription of the surviving parish registers of Walton-le-Dale, published for the Lancashire Parish Register Society.
The volume contains verbatim transcriptions of baptisms, marriages, and burials recorded in the parish from the early 17th century to the early 19th century. Entries are presented in chronological order, preserving original spelling, phrasing, and irregularities wherever possible, in keeping with the editorial standards of the Society.
The purpose of the work was to make fragile and often inaccessible original registers available to researchers, while preserving an accurate record of the historical documents as they survive. The editor does not attempt to modernise names, standardise spellings, or interpret the entries beyond brief introductory notes. As such, the volume reflects both the content and the limitations of the original records.
The book forms part of a wider county-wide programme undertaken by the Lancashire Parish Register Society to systematically publish parish registers before deterioration, loss, or damage made them unusable.
Explanation for the missing period (1642–1653)
The absence of parish register entries for the period 1642–1653 reflects a genuine discontinuity in the original records, rather than missing pages or an error in transcription.
This gap coincides with the English Civil War and the Interregnum, a period during which parish administration was frequently disrupted. In Lancashire, many registers were poorly maintained, temporarily abandoned, or subsequently lost due to upheaval in church governance, the removal or replacement of clergy, and general social instability.
Where no reliable original entries or Bishop’s Transcripts survive for this period, later editors did not attempt to reconstruct or speculate upon the missing material. The gap therefore represents an authentic absence in the historical record and is characteristic of many parish registers across Lancashire and other parts of England during the mid-17th century.
TRANSCRIBED BY
GERALD E. C. CLAYTON, M.Α.,
WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXON, OF LINCOLNS INN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
Printed and Published with the permission of Rev. E. J. M. Davies, Vicar.
Wigan :
PRINTED FOR THE LANCASHIRE PARISH REGISTER SOCIETY
BY STROWGER & SON, CLARENCE PRESS, 1910.
The book can be accessed via the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/registersofparis37clay/page/n5/mode/2up
Gerald E. C. Clayton
Gerald E. C. Clayton, credited with transcribing The Registers of the Parish of Walton-le-Dale in the County of Lancaster, 1609–1812 (1910), can plausibly be identified with Gerald Edward Cririe Clayton (1879–1915). The editor is described as an M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford, and a barrister-at-law of Lincoln’s Inn, a profile that closely matches a man of that name born in Liverpool and dying in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, aged 35. The matching middle name initial of ‘C’ (for Cririe), together with the alignment of date, education, and professional status, strongly supports this identification. While definitive confirmation has not been located, the evidence indicates that this is a strong possibility.
It is also very likely that this individual is the same Gerald Edward Cririe Clayton who served as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Marines, Royal Naval Division, and who died on 2 September 1915, aged 35. That officer is recorded as holding an Oxford M.A. and being a barrister-at-law, details which closely correspond with the editor’s stated qualifications. His death during the First World War would explain both the relatively short span of his scholarly output and his early death, and there is no evidence to suggest the existence of another contemporary individual of the same name and background.