Converting from Anglican to Catholic?

[BlueSavannah]

Hi,

I am relooking at my Nicholson tree and I have Robert Nicholson born circa 1794 place unknown, who married Elizabeth Gray born circa 1796 place unknown. They married in an Anglican church, Saint Nicholas, Newcastle on Tyne, on the 27th May 1815.

They then had four children that they baptised at St Mary, Heworth, Durham which is also Anglican.

I then see that their next three children born between 1826 and 1833 were all baptised Catholic at St Mary's Chapel, Bishopwearmouth.

They had another child, Robert, born circa 1835 in Sunderland who's baptism I cannot locate.

What would be a likely reason that they changed to Catholic after marrying and baptising a number of children Anglican?

Regards

[kiterunner]

Could it be that one of them (or both) was always Catholic but they kept it secret because of anti-Catholic discrimination? The Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed in 1829 so I guess that around that time, anti-Catholic attitudes were easing.

[Phoenix]

They may not have converted. They may have always been Catholic but not had the opportunity to express it. You would want children baptised, in case you had to claim poor relief. Catholic Emancipation came in in 1829.

[Phoenix]

Snap, Kite!

[BlueSavannah]

Ah thank you, I hadn't heard of the Catholic Emancipation before. Certainly would make sense.

I guess I need to try and find out more about the parents to see if one or both was Catholic.

I've put birthplace unknown for Elizabeth but actually, she says she's born in Shotley Bridge, Northumberland on the 51 census. Husband Robert is dead by this census so all I have to go on with him is the 41 census where he says he wasn't born in the county of Durham.

[Macbev]

I have a soldier who married an Irish lass in Australia when his regiment was posted there. They married in the R. Catholic church in Brisbane...then the following year, married again in a Protestant chapel. The children, born at various army postings, were all baptised C/E....until he was discharged, retired on a pension to Australia, where the last three children were all baptised as R.C. and most of the older children were buried eventually as R.C's.

These events took place between 1867 and 1889 and I have always wondered whether the British Army required C/E allegiance of its recruits during that period.

[Shona]

Agree with others this is likely to be connected to Catholic emancipation and the various Acts of Parliament passed during this period which lifted the bans which prevented Catholics from voting, attending university and being employed in certain occupations. Those in the military had to swear allegiance to the crown and thus by implication the Protestant faith.

[Shona]

This is from the National Archives.

Although Catholic registers may be relatively few in number, many Catholics appear in Anglican registers. Marriages between 1754 and 1837 had to be in the Church of England to be legally valid (even if the parties were also married according to Catholic rites) and burials of Catholics might be in the Anglican parish churchyard, as there was often no other burial ground in the area. Catholic children might appear in the parish baptism registers, and they are not always identified as Catholics. Church of England clergy were required to supply lists of recusants in their parishes and as a result, the names of Catholics may appear in Anglican parish records, though not in the baptism, marriage or burial registers.

[BlueSavannah]

Thank you so much everyone. This is the first time i've come across Catholicism in my family and find it very interesting.

The child of this couple that I am descended from was baptised Anglican and she also married Anglican but I am now curious to find marriages of the siblings to see if they were married C/E or Catholic.

I would dearly like to locate the right baptism for Robert senior but there are far too many with that name at that time and with no idea where he was born :(

[Olde Crone]

I have some instances of parish register entries (C of E, of course) which state "papist" in the margin. Yet another reason to look at the original records

OC.

[Shona]

Ah thank you, I hadn't heard of the Catholic Emancipation before. Certainly would make sense.

I guess I need to try and find out more about the parents to see if one or both was Catholic.

I've put birthplace unknown for Elizabeth but actually, she says she's born in Shotley Bridge, Northumberland on the 51 census. Husband Robert is dead by this census so all I have to go on with him is the 41 census where he says he wasn't born in the county of Durham.

Have you got Robert's death cert? If so, what was his father's name?

[BlueSavannah]

Hi Shona,

No I don't have Robert senior's death cert but he was 52 when he died so it wouldn't state it. He is buried at St Peter, Monkwearmouth. He was buried on the 10th September 1846.

[Merry]

Have you got Robert's death cert? If so, what was his father's name?

His father's name wouldn't be recorded, would it?

[Shona]

His father's name wouldn't be recorded, would it? Been looking at Scottish records this morning and got confused!

[Asa]

For some people, religion wasn't always as fixed as we usually think. There are contemporary reports of the slums of London saying that the Irish immigrants sometimes used which ever priest bothered them the most - some of my ancestors fall into this category.

I also have a lot of ancestors from just outside Henley in Oxfordshire, where a lot of land and dwellings were owned by a Catholic family. Quite a few branches moved in and out of the RC church here, presumably when they were beholden to the landowners or because it was nearest?

Like OC mentioned, I've come across some direct ancestors in PRs recorded as Papist or of the Catholick Persuasion