Burying in Woollen Acts

Burying in Woollen Act 1666

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for Burying in Woollen onely.
Citation	18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 4 (Ruffhead: 18 Cha. 2. c. 4)
Dates
Royal assent	18 January 1667
Commencement	25 March 1667
Repealed	28 July 1863
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1863
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Burying in Woollen Act 1678

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for burying in Woollen.
Citation	30 Cha. 2. c. 3
Dates
Royal assent	15 July 1678
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Burying in Woollen Act 1666
Repealed by	Burying in Woollen Act 1814
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Burying in Woollen Act 1680

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Additionall Act for burying in Woollen.
Citation	32 Cha. 2. c. 1
Dates
Royal assent	10 January 1681
Other legislation
Repealed by	Burying in Woollen Act 1814
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Burying in Woollen Acts 1666–80 were acts of the Parliament of England (citation 18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 4 (1666),[1][2] 30 Cha. 2. c. 3 (1678)[3] and 32 Cha. 2. c. 1 (1680)[4]) which required the dead, except plague victims and the destitute, to be buried in pure English woollen shrouds to the exclusion of any foreign textiles.[5]

Enforcement

It was a requirement that an affidavit be sworn in front of a justice of the peace (usually by a relative of the deceased), confirming burial in wool, with the punishment of a £5 fee for noncompliance. Burial entries in parish registers were marked with the word "affidavit" or its equivalent to confirm that affidavit had been sworn; it would be marked "naked" for those too poor to afford the woollen shroud.

Burying in Woollen Act 1814
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to repeal Two Acts of the Thirtieth and Thirty second Years of King Charles the Second, for burying in Woollen, and for indemnifying Persons against Penalties for Offences committed against the said Acts.
Citation	54 Geo. 3. c. 108
Dates
Royal assent	23 July 1814
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Burying in Woollen Act 1678 Burying in Woollen Act 1680
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1873
Status: Repealed

The legislation was in force until the passing of the Burying in Woollen Act 1814 (54 Geo. 3. c. 108), but was generally ignored after 1770.[6] The 1666 act had been annulled by the passing of the 1688 act; it was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125).[7]

Use in genealogy

Burial records so annotated can be a source of genealogical information, providing evidence of economic status and relationships that may be otherwise unavailable or ambiguous.[8][9]

References

1. "National Patterns, 1648–1815 > England, Scotland, and Ireland > England and Scotland > July 1664". The Encyclopedia of World History. bartleby.com. 2001. Archived from the original on 2 November 2002. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
2. 'Charles II, 1666: An Act for Burying in Woollen only.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628–80 (1819), p. 598. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47386. Date accessed: 6 March 2007.
3. 'Charles II, 1677 & 1678: An Act for burying in Woollen.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628–80 (1819), pp. 885–886. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47475. Date accessed: 6 March 2007.
4. 'Charles II, 1680: An Additional Act for burying in Woollen.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628–80 (1819), p. 940. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47486. Date accessed: 6 March 2007.
5. Rivoli, Pietra (2005). The Travels of a T-Shirt in The Global Economy (first ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 155. ISBN 0-471-64849-3.
6. Dolan, Alice. "The Fabric of Life: Linen and Life Cycle in England, 1678–1810" (PDF). University of Hertfordshire Research Archive. p. 274. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
7. Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict c 125) from Google Books
8. Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History, Second Edition, by Mark Herber in association with the Society of Genealogists, Sutton Publishing Limited, Baltimore, MD 2004 pp. 362–363. ^[ISBN missing]
9. Burial In Woollen Act 1666–1680 Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine from traceyourpast.co.uk