England Project - England Profile Standards

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This page was last revised on 17 March 2024: Locations: Great Britain and United Kingdom Previous Revisions

The England Project aims to develop the profiles of all people born in England to the highest possible standard with

• well sourced biographies using inline references,
• appropriate categories and images,
• research notes (if required) and
• connection to the global tree.

This page is intended as a guide for all Wikitree members developing English profiles. If you have a question about the specifics of English profile building, help is available at any stage from:

• the Wikitree England Google group if you are a member of the England Project
• by asking a question on G2G - add the tag ENGLAND so that the England Project team sees it.
• contacting the relevant County team

The England Project follows Wikitree's Styles and Standards.

Additionally:

• Font: Wikitree standard default font.
• Type colour: black
• Spelling: as per the Oxford English Dictionary
• Punctuation: avoid the use of exclamation marks and do not use emojis.
• The use of the Oxford Comma is acceptable.

Names

The WikiTree Name Field Guidelines provide detailed information for each name field. The following are specific to English Profiles:

• When creating a profile ensure that names are correctly spelled, especially with respect to the Last Name at Birth (LNAB).
• Use the LNAB on the earliest record available for that person. If this differs to the spelling of the parents, or is different to how the parents were known, use the most common spelling of the name and add variations in the Other Last Names field and also in the Biography or Reference Notes. If in doubt, start a question on G2G or ask the England Project.
• If the family used an "alias" surname, use this guidance here
• If the LNAB is truly not known, enter Unknown in mixed case.
• Do not use the name fields for descriptive placeholders (such as an occupation, social class or location) unless that person would have been well known by such a description, it formed part of his/her name during his/her lifetime and it is documented in a source. These instances are entered in the Other Nicknames field and must be corroborated in the biography.
• Do not add your own personal codes for family members in the name fields. This includes DNA haplogroup codes and military service numbers.
• Do not use punctuation in the name fields apart from hyphens or apostrophes as part of a name or location. Do not add a full stop (period) after an abbreviation in the prefix/suffix fields.
• Middle names are rare before 1700.
• Do not assume that a married woman took her husband's surnames on marriage especially in the English counties adjoining Scotland. The Scottish tradition is for the woman to keep the name she was born with.
• Titles of Nobility are entered in the Other Nicknames field.

Prefix field

• Do not enter Mr, Mrs, Miss in the prefix field. These titles may be used in the Biography.
• Use Sir when
  • a man was knighted (do not use Knight or an abbreviation thereof in the suffix field.)
  • when he was created a Baronet. A Baronet was not dubbed by the Monarch unless he was already a Knight and then was elevated to a Baronetcy.
• Sir is sometimes seen used as a courtesy title for a priest 17th Century and before. Do not use Sir in the prefix field in this instance.
• Dame is the female equivalent of an English knight (i.e. at the rank of knight in her own right). The wife of a Knight is now styled Lady, but Dame was also used historically. In her profile, use whatever the woman herself used. ^[1]
• Do not add temporary positions or posts to the prefix field
• Military rank - enter the highest rank attained.

Suffix field

• Do not use Senior and Junior in the suffix box. Only use it in the biography if the people themselves used that designation (rare in English families) and it is documented in a source.
• Do not use generational numbering for given names repeated in successive generations.
• Esquire (abbreviated to Esq) is used historically only where the person was of the gentry but not nobility.
• Do not use the word Knight as a suffix when a man held that title. If a knight has an Award of Chivalry, the letters denoting the Award of Chivalry goes in the suffix field. ^[2]
• The suffix field may be used for Honours bestowed by the Monarch (Crown Honours) or military awards
• The suffix field may be used for academic awards and membership of professional bodies or learned societies.
• The Order of Precedence of post-nominal letters is listed here in Debrett's

• We use the titles for English Nobility as per the naming conventions developed by the European Aristocrats team (Euroaristo) and specifically their British Royal and Aristocrats team when using the name fields. Titles are entered in the "Other Nicknames" data field.
• Knights are referred as "Sir Forename Surname" in the biography, shortened to Sir Forename (never Sir Surname). ^[2]

• Further guidance on the correct styling of titles and forms of address is covered by Debrett's. Subheadings for each of these categories are in the left hand column of the appropriate Debrett's webpage. As the Debrett's website is now behind a paywall, the following pages are those archived on Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine". The pages can be slow to load.
  • Forms of address for the Royal Family
  • Academics
  • Armed Forces
  • Clergy and Religion
  • Diplomatic Service
  • Government and Civil Service
  • Legal profession
  • Local Government
  • Medicine
  • Police Service

Dates

• English date notation is day-month-year. Type the date in full in the data fields. Spell out the date in full (including the full word for the month) in the Biography.

• Dates should be as precise as possible. If you are unable to confirm an exact date an estimate is acceptable with an explanation in the biography.

• Until 1751 in England, the year began on 25 March (Lady Day). This is referred to as Old style or OS.
• From 1752 the year began on 1 January. This is referred to as New Style or NS. (1751 was a short year).
• Pre-1752, the period between 1 January and 24 March is shown in the biography as a combination of the two years. Thus 20 February 1664 OS will be 20 February 1665 NS. It is written as 20 February 1664/5.
• Pre-1752 dates 1 January to 24 March are entered in the date fields as the later year (20 February 1665 in the example above).
• Note that Scotland had already changed to the New Year starting 1 January in 1600.

• The change from the Julian to Gregorian calendar also occurred in England in 1752. Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752. The eleven days in between did not exist. No adjustment should be made in the modern Gregorian calendar for the days lost in the changeover from the Julian calendar.
• More about these changes in the English calendar can be found here.

Locations

It is important to structure locations consistently so that profiles can be retrieved in a country search for England.

• All English profiles must contain the word England (where appropriate) in the birth, marriage and death locations.
• Places of birth and death are entered in the location data fields in this order (smallest geographical unit to largest):
  • Village or town, county, England
  • or
  • District of a city, city, county, England
• Street addresses are not entered, but may be noted in the biography.
• Postal codes are not used.
• Religious parishes are not used as part of the location UNLESS it was a recognised district of a town or city.
• Locations of marriage: the name of the church is acceptable before the other location data.

• If a person was born, married or died at sea, the location should be recorded as ‘At sea’. This can, if applicable, be followed by words that give a more precise indication of the vessel and/or where the event occurred, such as “At sea, name of ship/vessel, name of body of water.

• Great Britain did not become an entity until 1707, and from 1801, it was superseded by the United Kingdom. Do not use Great Britain in an English location before 1707 or after 1801. Spell out Great Britain (and only "Great Britain", do not use any variants) in full. Great Britain is in addition to England and does not replace it:
  • Village or town, county, England, Great Britain
• The United Kingdom did not become an entity until 1801. Do not use United Kingdom in an English location before this date. Spell out United Kingdom (and only "United Kingdom", do not use any variants) in full. United Kingdom is in addition to England and does not replace it:
  • Village or town, county, England, United Kingdom
• It is not a requirement to add Great Britain or United Kingdom after England in their respective time periods.

• Wales is a country in its own right and not part of England.

• Where the most precise location found for an event is a Registration District (for post-1837 events), the Registration District may be included in the location in the form [X Registration District, County, England]. This should be regarded as a temporary description until the precise place is known.
  • The county given in the location field is the one defined by UKBMD ^[3] even if the Registration District straddles County lines.
  • The biography should also make it clear that the location refers to the Registration District, rather than a village or town which may have the same name.
  • If the Registration District name contains an ampersand (e,g, “Ashton & Oldham”), replace it with the word “and” (e.g.”Ashton and Oldham Registration District, Lancashire, England”).

• Where the most precise location for a birth or death is a baptism or burial in a parish, (which may contain several towns and/or villages), the parish may be included in the location. The biography should make it clear that the location refers to the name of the parish, rather than a village or town (which may have the same name). Be aware that a baptism or burial record does not confirm that the birth or death occurred in that parish, so the location should be marked as "Uncertain". Record the location as "Place" rather than "Parish of Place" or "Place parish".

• Hundreds and wapentakes are ancient administrative divisions of counties. They are not included in the location fields, and only in the biographies of pre-1500 profiles where indicated. Similarly, Ridings (Yorkshire) are not included in the location fields but may be added in the biography

• Place names beginning with "St" (e.g. St Ives) are abbreviated (rather than spelled out in full "Saint") and do not have a full stop after the "St"

• Categories for English place names are described on this page. If the place does not yet have a category, ask for one to be created if you have a profile to go in it. We do not intentionally create empty categories. All locations are categorised according to their original county location rather than the county that they were transferred to in later county boundary changes.

Counties within England

• The word "county" is not used when naming a county ("Essex" is just "Essex", not "Essex County"). The only exception to this rule is "County Durham" which should always be entered as such, and not just "Durham" which is a city within County Durham.
• There are 39 historic counties in England plus the City Of London and "City and County of Bristol". Further details of historic names and subunits are in Vision of Britain. Use these historic counties rather than modern counties for locations of events before 1974. After 1974, check the designation of the location against its Wikipedia entry; some will still be in the original county, some may be in a different ceremonial county due to boundary changes.
• The (County of) London (1889-1965) and Greater London (1965 to date) are to be used in the location fields for places which were absorbed into these new counties in the appropriate time frame. (See the table below for a more detailed explanation.) These places are categorised by their historic county with London in brackets as part of the category name (example: Islington, Middlesex (London) )
• Do not abbreviate the county name in the location fields. The county name abbreviations are given only for information in the table below.
• The 3-letter Chapman County Codes were often used in old GEDCOM uploads. ^[4] These are listed below against the relevant county. If you find them on a profile, please expand them to the full county name.
• Widespread changes to the names and boundaries of the historic counties happened in 1974 as a result of the 1972 Local Government Act. These are noted in the table below.
• Shire or not? A county name has the suffix "-shire" if the county is named after the Historic County town (which may be different to the modern administrative centre). These old county town names are usually obvious in the county name and are given in the table below

Biography

• The biography should be relevant to the profile, using inline sourcing to clearly identify the facts presented, and written in the third person.
• Do not add speculation or your own personal views to the Biography. These can be written in a Research Notes section.
• The biography should be written in chronological order unless this would upset the description of a certain passage of events in that person's life.
• Use the Past tense (He married in 1940) rather than the Historical Present (He marries in 1940)
• The use of the term "died" is preferred for end of life except if there is a more specific term for the cause of death (killed in action, drowned, executed, etc.)
• Add interest to the narrative by adding first hand contemporary descriptions of actions or attributes (with sources), but do not speculate or embellish.
• Use subheadings as waymarkers for important events.
• If a lengthy passage of descriptive text is required (for example, the transcript of a Will) use a linked free space page for that text with a brief summary in the biography.
• Blocks of text should not be copied to a profile from any websites. See the help pages for copying text and copying from Wikipedia.
• If the information in the biography would be better presented in a list or table (static or sortable), Wikitree help pages provide examples of formatting lists and tables. If you already have the data in a spreadsheet there are numerous online Excel to wiki converters.

Citations

• Citations (inline references) and Sources should be formatted according to Wikitree guidelines.
• Inline citations are preferred. This is a guide to creating and using them.
• A long string URL may be shortened by using: ["URL" space "text to display"]
  • for example [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=sXFwOjmRCoAC Flora of Suffolk] will appear as Flora of Suffolk.

Research Notes

• A research note section may be used to explain issues encountered in the research process. This could include conflicting information, erroneous information published elsewhere and to document where information was not found.
• Sign and date any research notes with four tildes ~~~~ so that others can see who added the notes and when.

Images

• Do not add images if they will infringe copyright or you do not have permission to use them. Consult this page for image collections which have given Wikitree permission to use their images.
• Websites such as Ancestry, FindMyPast and the National Archives, generally do not allow republishing of their images. Copyright laws for records in the UK are not the same as the US and other countries.
• Images must be relevant to the person being profiled. A head and neck portrait of that person is preferred as the primary image.
• Be sparing with background images in order to maximise accessibility for all members.
• Images Check here for general Wikitree Help with images.

"See Also"

• Works consulted and relevant to the profile but not used in inline referencing may be listed in a "See Also" section after the references tag. If "See Also" is used as a heading, it is capitalised, if part of the text, in sentence case. The works referenced should appear in alphabetical order by author/creator and in a bullet list.

Publications

• If the profile subject is an author, you may wish to list either some or all of their publications. A suggested format is a bulleted list of the title giving author, title, year with inline references to the full bibliographic citation, and online access if available.

Resources

These pages contain links to resources that may be of help in researching an English profile:

• England County resources
• England Project Reliable Sources
• England Research Resources: General
• Sources - England
• Wikitree pre1500 Resources
  
• Medieval Genealogy Resources

• Do not use unsourced family trees (Ancestry, Geni, My Heritage, Familysearch trees).
• If the tree quotes a valid source, cite the valid source not the tree.
• Find A Grave entries without a gravestone photo are not considered valid sources.

Stickers

Use sparingly, and only when relevant.

Use of the term Aristocracy (and therefore the sticker) on English profiles.

• England (as a standalone country, as part of Great Britain, and as part of the United Kingdom) has Royalty and a Peerage.

• Royalty comprises:
  • the Monarch and their spouse.
  • Princes: the male children and grandchildren of the reigning and past monarchs. Children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
  • Princesses - legitimate daughters of a British Monarch, and legitimate male line granddaughters of a British Monarch.
  • Children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
  • Spouse of a British Prince.
• The Peerage comprises Dukes, Earls, Marquesses, Viscounts, Barons.
• The sticker {{EuroAristo Sticker|place=British Isles}} should only be used on profiles of people with the titles listed above, and only if the Profile Manager wishes them to be on the profile.
• Baronets are not part of the Peerage. The Aristocracy sticker should not be used on these profiles.
• Life Peerages (created after 1958) are political appointments. The Aristocracy sticker should not be used on these profiles.
• The sticker should not be used for knights and local dignitaries.

Examples of Profiles

The following profiles may be useful as a guide to developing a profile.
Pre1500
Geoffrey Chaucer
John Elrington
Dick Whittington,
16 Century
Margaret (More) Roper
John Dudley
17 Century
Samuel Pepys
Christopher Wren
18 Century
John Constable
Thomas Elrington
Mary Wollstonecraft
19 Century
Charles Darwin
Virginia Woolf
JRR Tolkien
20 Century
Dorothy L Sayers

Previous Revisions

• December 2023: Major revision of the Locations section including the introduction of the use of the County of London and Greater London.
• November 2023: clarification of the use Sir, and of Dame and Lady in the prefix field as the wife of a Knight.
• June 2023: link to the use of the surname fields with "alias" surnames.
• June 2023: Clarification re. use of images and copyright.
• May 2023: Use of Ridings (Yorkshire) in the location fields.
• May 2023: Clarification of deaths at sea.
• March 2023: Clarification of use of post-1837 Registration Districts in the location fields
• October 2022: Added Bristol to County list, added Chapman Codes for information.
• October 2022: Clarification of the changes to London over time (boundaries and administration).
• August 2022: Clarification of the use of the Name Fields - not for locations, occupations or personal coding systems
• May 2022: sections added on the use of the Aristocracy sticker, and on the use of Great Britain in location fields.

Sources

1. ↑ https://debretts.com/peerage/the-knightage/
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Knight: Title and forms of address from Debrett's Etiquette online Archived version on Internet archive from 16 March 2015 Accessed 24 October 2021
3. ↑ UKBMD Registration Districts index page https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/index.html
4. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Chapman code," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chapman_code&oldid=1083967243 (accessed October 29, 2022).