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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Shrop63 on Friday 14 November 25 11:21 GMT (UK)
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What would have been the main reason to have a home or private baptism? And are they recorded?
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APrivate baptism was usually done just after the birth as it was thought that the baby may not live. Reasons were not usually given.
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Usually if the infant survives they are later taken to Church where they are then received into the church, the completion of the of the baptism.
You sometimes see a P in front of a baptism entry in the Parish Register which indicates a private baptism. Sometimes see an entry Received into the church which usually indicates the child had been privately baptised pbut what is recorded depends on whoever fills out the register, usually the Incumbent or the Parish Clerk.
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My mother-in-law died days before our eldest child was due to be baptised and we were offered the choice of a home baptism or picking a later date.
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The Church of England, under "administration of the sacraments" published instructions in 1701 for publick, private and riper year baptisms. Under "private" it took the opportunity to discourage home baptisms other than when "need shall compel them" see 1b below. This was taken to be that the infant did not have long to live.
A feature of baptism is the "receiving" by the congregation - see 1a below. This occurs naturally when the child is baptised in church. If baptised at home, and the child survives, a follow up appearance in church is required to make good the "receiving" element by the congregation. The follow up in church must not involve water/anointing.
Recording the baptism, whether at home or church, was required by the state (Thomas Cromwell, 1538). There was no laid down procedure (church or state) to record the follow up "receiving".
In practical terms it was useful to identify the home baptism in the register so that the appropriate rite/ceremony could be performed when the child was later presented for "receiving".
As you can well imagine, what happened in practice was another matter.
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A Private baptism was usually done just after the birth as it was thought that the baby may not live. Reasons were not usually given.
An ancestor of my wife's, born late in 1835 in a sparse Northumberland parish, was baptised twice : the first by the Primitive Methodists at 10 weeks (so presumably the child was healthy), apparently at her home. A new parish church was in construction nearby, and when it was ready she was baptised 'properly' at just over twelve months.
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My GFX6 was baptised at home in 1787 along with a whole page of others on the entry
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Is it possible the mother might not survive and wanted her child baptised before she popped her clogs?
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/24428811
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I've seen instances of their being a large "batch" of baptisms recorded at home in a particular parish, and I wonder if it might tie in with the parish not having an incumbent priest at the time.