"given up to the Generals"
I have a baptism record in Elsing, Norfolk that reads, "Thomas, son of Thomas Neave and Margaret his wife, late Margaret Isbell spinster, was born Feb 6th, baptized Feb 12th______given up to the Generals."
Does anyone know what "given up to the Generals" means??
Answers
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How strange…. The phrase, or close variations on it, seems to occur every so often. It's not particularly random - vaguely like once a year. That makes me suspect that the entry is nothing to do with Thomas, but refers to the need to provide a copy of the previous year's entries to the Bishop (as in Bishops' Transcripts) or - as in this case - Archdeacon's Transcripts.
Apparently (according to Mr Google) the phrase (or variations) frequently occurs in Norfolk registers. I can find no explanation of the exact wording (e.g. is it referring to a General Inspection?) but several people suggest that it's about giving over the copy of the previous year's entries. E.g. see https://genealogy-specialists.com/threads/what-were-the-generals.3933/#post-50823
(The baptism is 12 Feb 1804, which is unfortunately omitted from the Original Post).
Nice question!
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