Earliest date 1720...how do I go back further?

[Daisy Loo]

The only other thing that comes to mind is - When you were looking at the registers, did you make a note of the burials of any Hillsdons before Thomas? I was just thinking that if he relocated to Hillsdon as a child with his family, then the deaths of any Hillsdons in the first half of the 1700s might give you some other names to search for in the hope that you might find a group of baptisms that matched somewhere else.

Very good suggestion, and I got very excited...but I think over nothing...
There were only 4 burials:

22 Nov 1739 Sam HILLSDON son of Tho   (son of my Thomas, who married in 1720)
13 Jul 1752 Mary HILLSDON daughter of Thos & Mary
3 Oct 1758 Eliz HILLSDON wife of Thos Snr
5 Sep 1759 Mary HILLSDON daughter of John & Ann

all these burials relate to the same immediate family.

and I have just realized, that the dates that the Bucks FHS have for the burial records are from 1735 - 1901 - so possibly there are no records before 1735?  Yet the Baptisms are from 1541 - 1901 and the marriages from 1538 - 1905.  Curious.

I shall email the Centre, and see why the burial records only go back that far

[Orpheus]

The burial register for Waddesdon held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies commence in 1538 and extend to 1974.  If the information you have is from a Bucks FHS database search it should be remembered that the database is not complete.  A list of parishes and dates covered for each database can be found on the Bucks FHS website at www.bucksfhs.org.uk but it should be remembered that the dates given are coverage and not the extent of the registers.  For the latter you might find 'Buckinghamshire Church and Chapel Registers' by The Eureka Partnership (www.eurekapartnership.com) useful.  This contains details of the location of original registers for Buckinghamshire churches and chapels and other places where records of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials were kept.  Also listed are the various hamlets within the county with details of their location. 

Orpheus

[AngelaR]

That's very helpful Orpheus 

So it looks like Daisy Loo's decision to email the Centre is right. If the transcriptions for burials start in 1735 but the actual registers are earlier, then possibly some kind person might be able to check the earlier registers for Hillsdons.

Fingers crossed......

Angela