How do I research a 17th-century clergyman?

Q

I’ve hit a brick wall while researching my husband’s ancestor, Richard Fletcher. According to Oxford University records, Richard was born in 1597. He attended Magdalen College in 1615 and is described as a “pleb”, but his father’s name is not listed. He married Frances Belcher at St Kenelm’s, Enstone, in 1625 ( pictured), but I can’t find anything about else about her.

Richard became vicar at St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow, Shropshire, in 1638, but left in 1646 because of the Civil War. We do not know when he died, but it was somewhere in the village of Far Forest in Worcestershire. He left two sons.

Family rumours suggest that Richard was the illegitimate son of Richard Fletcher (Bishop of Bristol, Worcester and London), but I can’t find any definitive proof. Sara Cox

A

Details of Anglican clergymen can be found fairly easily; almost all were university educated, and at this early period there were only two universities in England, Oxford and Cambridge.

Both have admission (or ‘matriculation’) records, and both are published, with notes: J and JA Venn’s Alumni Cantabrigienses for Cambridge, and J Foster’s Alumni Oxonienses for Oxford. Richard Fletcher’s entry in the latter reads: “of Oxon, pleb. Magdalen Coll., matric[ulated]. 10 Nov., 1615, aged 18; B.A. 9 June, 1619, M.A. 10 Feb., 1622–3, rector of Tugford, Salop, 1632, and of Ludlow 1637. See Foster’s Index Eccl. & Burrows, 94”.

At that stage the registers sometimes named fathers, but generally they simply indicated the place of residence and social status; in this case “pleb.” for plebeian, suggesting that Richard’s father was not anybody of consequence.

Richard was “of Oxford” and his age suggests he was born between 11 November 1596 and 10 November 1597. It would be sensible to check the original registers of those Oxford parish churches that survive for that period (All Saints, St Ebbe, St Giles, St Mary, St Michael, St Peter-in-the-East and St Peter-le-Bailey) in case Richard’s baptism is there. However, the rest of Oxford’s parish church registers do not survive until after 1597, so it is possible that his baptism is lost and his ancestry, at that period, is untraceable.

As for Richard’s paternity, I note from Alumni Oxonienses that Richard Fletcher, Bishop of Worcester and London, died on 15 June 1596, so your Richard would have had to be both illegitimate and posthumous – possible, but unlikely. However, there was another Oxford “pleb.”, Owen Flecher, who matriculated at Trinity in 1572, aged 21, and gained his MA in 1574. He could have been a relative of your Richard, and he may be worth investigating.

Another possible way of finding your Richard’s roots is to look for his will, which should identify siblings, nephews etc. I have searched the indexes of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury for you and cannot see him (unless he was Richard Fletcher, clerk of London, whose will was proved in 1697).

Most Worcestershire wills were proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Worcester including one for a Richard Fletcher proved in 1671 who was the Rector of Earls Croome. Tugford and Ludlow are in southern Shropshire, whose wills were in the Bishop of Hereford’s Archdeaconry Court of Shropshire. Anthony Adolph