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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: andygmandrew on Tuesday 21 February 23 17:32 GMT (UK)
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I am working on the burial register of All Saints church in Newcastle upon Tyne. In the 1620s I have found a number of entries which have the letters 'nob' between the occupation or marital state and the word 'buried'. I attach an example:
'Phillis Stevenson spinster nob'
Can anyone help to explain what these letters stand for?
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My best guess is "natum, obiit" ... Latin for "born, died" ... i.e. this is an infant burial.
But that's all it is ... a guess.
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And not a very good guess at that, given that she is also described as "spinster". RTFQ!!! :D
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I find it for burials of all ages and sexes.
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Could it be "nob" for "nobilis"? Were the people gentry? Again, this is just a guess, I'm afraid.
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No, in fact they all seem pretty ordinary, labourers, shovel men, keelmen, mariners, etc.
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Just guessing but might that letter be a C and not a B? Might it be (de)no (mination) Catholic? I don't know but I wonder if it might be referencing that the person buried was Catholic not C of E which that Church was.
Or could it be No Charge! LoL!
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Another guess, were they non conformists?
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How about "noc[turnal interment]" ... sadly necessary if they are from a family of vampires ;D
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I think it is a b, not a c. The letter c would not normally be written in this way in this hand. If we could see more of the page it might help with that point.
If it is indeed b, perhaps no b means 'no bell' (tolling of the bell would entail an extra cost).
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Having waded through more than 5,000 entries I can say that this is definitely a lower case ‘b’.
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no[cturnal] b[urial], then ...
... but I think that bookbox probably has the right of it.
As the rector of Blunham once didn't say: "Do not send to know for whom the bell tolls, because it's a no b funeral"
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no[cturnal] b[urial], then ...
... but I think that bookbox probably has the right of it.
As therector of Blunham once didn't say: "Do not send to know for whom the bell tolls, because it's a no b funeral"
I'm sure you are correct, ha ha. ;D
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How about nob being an abbreviation for nobis - Latin of/ by us, or something similar? Perhaps of this parish?
But then, I would guess that most people buried there at the time would have been locals, so why is nob only mentioned on a few burials?
But maybe an idea?
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Thanks for all the help! I think the ‘no bell’ theory is the most likely as it has a financial element which would explain why it was recorded.