1700s Parish Clerks in Bath, Somerset – Sperring

k5jones · Dezember 13, 2023

Can anyone point me to a source that could answer if my ancestor William Sperrin/Sperring was a parish clerk in Bath, Somerset in the early 1700s? I have traced my family back to Henry Sperrin/Sperring/Spering 1711-1791, parish clerk for 56 years for 3 churches: Bath Abbey, St. James, and St. Michael’s. I read that a parish clerk position is often carried from father to son, so I am wondering if his father William was a parish clerk. Henry’s 1712 baptism record says his father was William Sperrin. There are two men named William Sperring that married in 1702, one in St. Michael’s to Sarah Hancock and the other in Batheaston to Joanna Anly. Both couples had children baptized in Bath with various spellings of their surname, but the indexes for the baptisms do not list the mother. Was William the parish clerk for St Michael’s where he and Sarah were married and Henry was later baptized and became a parish clerk? That could indicate the Sarah Hancock is my ancestor.