How People Died in 16th Century London
Not Just the Tudors
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The History of the Parish Clerks
In 16th and 17th century London, every parish is meant to employ one or two people known as searchers who are meant to inspect the bodies of all the dead. They report their names and what they died of to the parish clerk. And he's then an extra duty imposed upon him to collect and return this information to the company of parish clerks. He collate the weekly information from each of the hundred odd parishes into this single sheet,. have it printed and then start selling it the next day. How frequently were they published in the 17th century? There are weekly bills. So they come out every week on a first deal Friday. That has changed a bit over time.
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