Burying in Woollen Acts

The Burying in Woollen Acts 1666–80 were acts of the Parliament of England (citation 18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 4 (1666),'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. 30 Cha. 2. c. 3 (1678)'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. and 32 Cha. 2. c. 1 (1680)'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.) 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.

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.

The legislation was in force until the passing of the (54 Geo. 3. c. 108), but was generally ignored after 1770. The 1666 act had been annulled by the passing of the 1680 act. The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125), which came into force on 28 July 1863.

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.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. Burial In Woollen Act 1666–1680 from traceyourpast.co.uk

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