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Wiltshire Memorial Inscription Index

• Transcription and conventions used
• Coverage
• Checking
• Grouping
• Abbreviations and codes
• Contact details
• How to buy
• Copyright

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Transcription and conventions used

The index consists of 290,590 entries covering a wide range of years across the last millennium, however most entries will be from the 19th and 20th centuries. The index covers the County of Wiltshire and the parish of Bourton in the extreme North of Dorset.

Gravestones, memorials and other records of deaths were transcribed to paper over many years by several teams, society and other. If a memorial was surveyed twice it is in the database twice. The Wiltshire Family History Society copied the information to paper slips in the 1980s. The paper records were then transferred to a computer database from 1998 onwards.

The index includes the following fields:-

• Place; where the memorial inscription was, usually a parish, church, chapel or cemetery, occasionally a book.
• Area; a town or city which includes the place or is the nearest significant urban centre. A finding aid for those who are uncertain of the place but not intended to appear in a search result.
• County code; 3 letter Chapman code always WIL for Wiltshire except for Bourton in Dorset (DOR).
• Refnum; each gravestone etc has a unique number to allow assembly of all entries on that memorial.
• Surname.
• Forenames.
• Died; date of death. Double dates pre 1752 are currently in notes.
• Age; currently only years. Notes may mention months, weeks, etc.
• Notes; anything relevant including information that will not fit in other fields because it is incomplete or doubtful.

Coverage

The following places or parishes are included in this database. Note that there may be more than one church, chapel or burial ground in each place.
 

Checking

All computer entries have been checked against slip index for accuracy and format.

Computer entry was to spreadsheet or database using a standardised format described in a rule book. This was then transferred to master Paradox database as CSV files. Each inputter was checked for understanding of and adherence to rules.

Grouping

This Memorial Index is grouped to allow display of all entries on a memorial, except that entries on war memorials are not linked so reconstruction of a war memorial is not possible.

Abbreviations and Codes

The Chapman County codes have been used. The code for Wiltshire is 'WIL' and that for Dorset is 'DOR'.

Contact details

Questions regarding database content or suggested corrections (with justification or source) but NOT research requests to ppv@wiltshirefhs.co.uk.

For more information about the Wiltshire Family History Society please see the web site www.wiltshirefhs.co.uk

How to buy

Wiltshire Family History Society provide an enquiry service - their address is: 10 Castle Lane, Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 1HJ, or email society@wiltshirefhs.co.uk or via website www.wiltshirefhs.co.uk.

The Wiltshire FHS can also provide many parish registers in book or fiche form and these can also be purchased online via GENfair or by mail order from the Society.

Copyright and disclaimer

The original information is all in the public domain or out or copyright. Copyright in the format of the transcriptions is owned by the Trustees of the Wiltshire Family History Society.

While every care has been taken in the preparation of the index users are advised to view the original memorial inscriptions (where they survive) and form their own interpretation. The Wiltshire Family History Society accepts no liability for any errors or omissions that remain.

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