appellations, in the order in which they are
found to rank in the books of the Registrar,
together with the number of each name, who
were born, married, or died, in the year
June 30th, 1837, to July the 1st, 1838.
In the year from which this abstract wasJones 1 13429 Harris 26 2771 Smith 2 12637 Cooper 27 2698 Williams 3 8743 Clark 28 2683 Taylor 4 6440 Davis 29 2661 Davies 5 5589 Harrison 30 2502 Brown 6 5585 Baker 31 2385 Thomas 7 5278 Ward 32 2318 Evans 8 4930 Morris 33 2299 Roberts 9 4199 Morgan 34 2296 Johnson 10 3743 Martin 35 2272 Robinson 11 3555 James 36 2209 Wilson 12 3399 King 37 2156 Wright 13 3299 Clarke 38 2145 Hall 14 3227 Cook 39 2135 Hughes 15 3180 Allen 40 2116 Wood 16 3177 Price 41 2090 Walker 17 3148 Phillips 42 1997 Lewis 18 3134 Parker 43 1989 Green 19 3112 Moore 44 1985 Edwards 20 3097 Watson 45 1908 White 21 3087 Carter 46 1882 Jackson 22 3040 Richardson 47 1817 Turner 23 2908 Lee 48 1815 Thompson 24 2874 Griffiths 49 1801 Hill 25 2856 Shaw 50 1754
made we find no less than thirteen thousand
four hundred and twenty-nine persons named
Jones had been born, married, or had died.
Correcting the number for increase of
population, the yearly number of Jones's who
came into the world, went out of it, or got
married, during the last twelve months would
be, in round numbers, about sixteen thousand
an arrny in itself. Finding Jones to be the
name at the head of our list of fifty we look to
the foot of it to find Shaw; and the proportion
of persons bearing that name, it seems, is
in the ratio of one thousand seven hundred and
fifty-four Shaw's to thirteen thousand four
hundred and twenty-nine Jones's; the other
names we have given, ranging between the
two extremes; the Jackson's and the Thompson's,
however, it will be seen, not mustering
one-fourth the number of the Jones's or the
Smith's.
Apart from the frequency of certain appellations,
another curious point deserves notice. It
is the very strange names, given, at times, by
parents to their children. One of the clerks
in the office kept by him, for years, a
memorandum-book in which be collected a variety
of these, giving with each the number and
page of the volume in which the certified
reference might be found. Without such
evidence one might almost be inclined to
doubt the genuineness of some of them. But
they are all real enough, as the documents
show. Let us take a few specimens:
Diewell Sykes. Father, a Weaver.
Loyal Thomas Inkpen. Father a Farmer.
Patience Dinner. Wife of a Husbandman.
Zaphnathpaaneah Drayson. A Cooper.
Thankful Joy. His wife's name before he married her was
Payne.
Acts Apostles Tong. Witness to a Marriage.
Albertena Eegina Victoria Gotha Boult. Daughter of a
Farmer.
Repentance Taylor. Daughter of a Labourer.
Emma Tuesday Taylor. Daughter of a Comb Maker, born
on a Tuesday.
Eliza Thursday Taylor. Daughter of a Comb Maker, born
on a Thursday.
Sanspariel Scamp. Daughter of John Scamp, a Tinker.
First Son Jones. Son of a Labourer.
Feargus O'Connor Frost Mason. Son of a Mule Spinner.
Feargus O'Connor Vincent Bronterre llallowell. Son of a
Shoemaker.
Fergus O'Connor Frost O'Brien McDonall Hunt Taylor.
Son of a Shoemaker
John Frost Fergus Bronterre Paine Smith. Son of a Printer.
Turnerica Henrica Ulrica Da Gloria Do Lavinia Rebecca
Turner. Daughter of a Book-keeper.
Jane Stickolorum. Wife of a Weaver.
Hostilina Iphigenia Maria Hypsihile Wadge. Daughter of
a Carpenter.
Prince Albert Daniel Gamon. Son of a Labourer.
Zelousiania Chafer.
Matilda French Onion. A Spinster.
James Death. A Butcher.
Samson Catchasides Kitchen.
Happy George Dadd. Son of a Blacksmith.
William Teatottle Cross. Son of a Mechanic.
Primus Cornmunitatis Flitcroft. Son of a Bricklayer, born
at Queenwood Community.
Martin Luther Spooner. Son of a Maltster.
Goin Teal. A Cooper.
Hubert Pay Day. An Engineer, married 1813.
Isabella Wilhelmina Jacobina Carolina Adelina Cunningham
Campbell Moffat. Daughter of a Farmer.
Betsy Toast Divine.
This list and this paper might be greatly
extended; but our limits forbid further
present exemplification, since enough has surely
been said to show the extent, the character,
and the value of the operations carried on
under the guidance of the Registrar-General.
Any one of our readers who may feel inclined
to see the place itself, and to test the
completeness of the records we have attempted to
describe, should visit the public room of the
establishment. It is called the Search Room;
and there, for a small fee, the curious may
gain, in a few minutes, a certificate of any
marriage, birth, or death that has occurred
since the establishment of this public office;
and he will get a glimpse into the bargain of
the iron safes, with their tall narrow doors,
where the parchment Indexes are kept, and
may witness for himself the rapidity with
which the practised clerks search out a name.
The certified registers are too bulky to be
held in any one apartment. In all the odorous
dignity of bindings in Russia leather, they
line shelf after shelf in the basement story—a
portly and important library—in their way a
truly wonderful national record and national
work—the great muster-roll, in truth, of the
people of Old England.
Such is the good fortune meted out to the
three great events of the English human
family at Somerset House, in registering
them. What a contrast it presents to "The
Doom of English Wills!"
THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE
OF CURRENT EVENTS.
Now ready with the current number of Current Events,
price 2d. each,
THE
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH NUMBERS.
On the 1st of January, 1851, will be published,
THE FIRST VOLUME,
Being a complete and carefully-digested ANNUAL REGISTER
of Public Occurrences, in every part of the Globe, during
the year 1850.
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