How to read old handwriting

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A littlepractice andpatience willgive you thebasic skills toapproachdocumentswith a lotmoreconfidence

Reading old documents can be a challenge.Sarah Hutton helps unravel the mysteries ofold handwriting

eing able to read old handwriting allowsyou to consult a vast array of rich, primarysources which will help you take your

family history back to the 17th century and earlier.However, at first glance it can look not just tricky,but almost illegible to the modern reader. For thisreason, many people are put off examiningdocuments from an earlier age because they believeit will be far too difficult.

Yet, although it is true to say that the study ofold handwriting requires a certain amount of timeand concentration, a little practice and patience willgive you the basic skills to approach documentswith a lot more confidence.

In this booklet we’ll look at:

• The types of handwriting you may come across in commonly used records

• How to set about reading a document

• A worked example of a commonhandwriting style

You can test your transcribing skills, while a listof books and websites points to places where youcan learn more.

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tyles of handwriting are known as hands.Their different types range dramatically,from relatively clear and uniform letter

forms, such as those making up Caroline minusculeand Anglo-Saxon Square minuscule, through to farmore complex hands which can cause considerabledifficulty to the modern reader, such as those foundin Chancery or early modern Secretary scripts.

As you conduct your research, you will need tobe prepared to deal with a variety of hands, all ofwhich will have quite distinct letter forms. In time,you will come to recognise these, which will helpyou decipher similar documents.

Each hand requires individual consideration. Inthis booklet, we will focus primarily on those inwhich many of the records you may consult as a

family historian are written, namely secretaryand italic hands.

The majority of documents, such as wills,deeds, manorial surveys, examinations and

letters written in the 16th and 17thcenturies were written in these hands.

Most scholars of the period couldwrite in both styles, and woulddistinguish firmly between them.

You will often notice titles orkey pieces of information beinghighlighted by the scribe when hetemporarily switches to the otherhand. However, the general

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educated classes often wrote a more mixed hand,which would draw heavily from both styles.Secretary is far more stylised – and thus harder –than italic, and although the two existed side byside for some time, secretary hand eventuallywaned and was replaced by italic.

Both of these hands could be written in acursive style (from the Latin currere – to run) socalled because it was written at speed and “ran”across the page. This style of writing meant thatthe pen didn’t leave the page between letters,which can make deciphering individual lettersnotoriously tricky.

It is a method you will frequently seeemployed in less formal documents whichweren’t composed by professional scribes, as itwas a far lower grade of writing than one whichseparated the letters out.

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This chart picks out some of the key letter formswhich make up these two hands.

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Italic handSecretary handThe letter “a” in italic is alsoa familiar shape and has astraight back.

The letter “a” is a familiarshape, but can feature ahairline diagonal strokewhen it occurs at thebeginning of the word (thisalso happens with “o”).

The “c” in italic is shapedlike its modern daycounterpart.

The “e“ of italic hand ismuch more familiar, but cansometimes feature a hairlinediagonal stroke at the topright hand side.

The top of the “g“ in italic ismuch rounder, and thusmore similar to modernhandwriting.

The letter “c” can be difficultto spot in secretary hand as itdoesn’t have a bottom stroke,so can look rather like an “r”.

The two “e” forms insecretary hand can be quitetricky to spot. The first type isa backwards “e” inheritedfrom the earlier documentaryhand, the other “e“ is madeup of two separate strokes.

The “g“ has a characteristicflat top in this hand, whichcan, at certain points, be verypronounced, making it lookrather like a “y“.

a

c

e

g


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Secretary handThe italic “h” is farmore similar in form toits modern equivalent.

The “r” has a familiar shape,making it easy to spot.

This long, curly “s”, whichgoes down well below theline, is very characteristicof this hand.

The famous secretary “h“ isone of the key ways to pickout this hand. Notice how itloops across the top to goback across the ascender, (seeoverleaf) and then loops againelaborately below the line atthe bottom. Sometimes the“h“ can be very loose, withthe curve missing and just thisflourish attached to thebottom of the ascender.

The letter “r“ can takedifferent forms, but thesquare shaped style isparticularly characteristic.

There are two kinds of “s“ inthis hand: the smaller version,where the final curve comesup and back across the letter,rather than curving down;and the “s“ with the longdescender, which looks justlike the secretary “f“ butwithout the cross-stroke.(see overleaf).

The letter “t” curves to theright and thus can be tallerthan the “l”, “b’” and “h”.

The letter “t” is roughly thesame height as an “e” or an“a”, unlike the “t” in modernhandwriting.

h

Italic hand

r

s

t


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cbcpF

The document opposite is written in italic, while the one below ispredominantly in secretary hand.

What is a descender?Letters which have a stroke which goes belowthe line are said to have descenders.

What is a cross-stroke?A cross-stroke is the line which cuts across thecentre of a letter.

What is an ascender?Imagine a writing line at the bottom of a letter “c”and a line at the top. Letters with a stroke whichgoes above this line are said to have ascenders.

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hen reading modern text, without reallybeing conscious of it we are often able toidentify whole words at a glance.

Look at this sentence:

The huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, butthe wrod as a wlohe. The oredr of the ltteers in the wrodcan be in a total mses but you can sitll raed it wouthitany porbelm.

While this way of scanning and comprehendingwhole words is very useful in today’s world, itcan lead to incomprehension and mistakeswhen trying to read documents in an old,unfamiliar style of handwriting, and for thisreason it is important to approach any new

document methodically.

ENLARGE THE DOCUMENT

If possible, make an enlarged copy of thedocument. It is much easier to read

individual letters and words when theyare bigger and, of course, you can touch and

mark the paper when it is not an original. If it is notpossible to make a copy, then investing in a decentmagnifying glass, will make your life a lot easier.

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PUT TOGETHER AN ALPHABETWhatever type of hand you are examining as abeginner, however simple or tricky it may firstappear, try not to give in to hasty guesswork asthis can lead to all kinds of problems later on.

When faced with a new document, start byputting together an alphabet for yourself. You willthen find that more and more of the wordsbecome clear.

Pick out the words you definitely know and usethese to get an example of as many letters as youcan. For some documents you will need a list ofcapital letters too, as sometimes these can besurprisingly different to their lower-caseequivalents.

One of the main reasons why making analphabet like this is so helpful, is that it allows youto distinguish between letters which look similar toeach other – one of the most difficult problems youwill encounter with an unfamiliar hand.

Look at how, in the example above, the “d” andone form of the “e” look very similar.

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a b cd e


Other letters to watch out for are:c and rAs we have already seen, in secretary hand, the “c”looks surprisingly like an “r”. It is really importantto compare these letters to your alphabet every timeyou come across them.

s and f The main problem with these letters is the tendencyof the “s” to drop below the line. In secretary hand,as we have seen, this is particularly troublesome asthe “s” looks much like the “f”. Always watch outfor the cross-stroke.

n, m, i, u and v These letters always need special attention, and thebest method is to count the downward strokes (orminims). For example the word “minim” itselfcontains 10 minims.

In the example above you have three minims, andfortunately the first has a dot above it, so you areable to spot the “i” in spinster. Unfortunately this isnot always the case, so when in doubt, count.

ABBREVIATIONSWhen reading old documents you will very quicklycome across what look like very strange squiggles

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and dashes above or in between letters. These areactually abbreviation marks – they have been put inby the writer to show that he or she has deliberatelyomitted one or more letters. This was done for tworeasons: speed of writing, and to save space on thepage, as parchment was very expensive.

It’s a good idea, as with the individual letter forms,to note down the abbreviations you meet. You willbegin to find that the more documents you consult,the more you will come across text written in similarhands with abbreviations you have met before. Thiswill start to build up your confidence and allow youto move through documents more quickly and easily,as what you see becomes increasingly familiar.

Abbreviations were standard across Europe, andany educated person would have understood themat a glance. A modern equivalent would be theabbreviation sign @ which means “at”, and isrecognised by everyone today.

Below are some of the forms of abbreviationwhich were common from around 1500 up to 1800.

• Suspension is a letter or letters (often followed bya full stop) which represent a word. Thus:

M. for majesty Lo. for lord

This type of abbreviation is commonly used today,as in BBC for British Broadcasting Corporation.

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• Omission of “m” or “n” is represented by a dashor wavy line written over the preceding vowel. Thecontext will make it clear whether it is an “m” or “n”.For example:

demad – dema[n]d • Omission of “i” is represented by a dash or wavyline over the following “o”. For example:

commisson - commiss[i]onIt is worth noting that the location of the dash orwavy line may not always follow this rule. Theauthor of the document may choose, instead, to putthe dash at the end of the word on the final “n”.

• “P” abbreviations can be as follows:

• Abbreviation to denote a plural.For instance:

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per or par

p[er]son or p[ar]son

p[ro]vide p[re]sent

pro pre

is the lower case abbreviation for“es”, “is”, “ys”.

For example oates


• Superscript letters such as:

wt - with

wch - which

Mr - Master (not Mister at this time).

• Use of the Old English “th” letter, called a thorn,which looks like a “y”. For example:

ye - the.

Note that this is pronounced exactly like “the” inmodern speech. It is not pronounced “Ye”, as in “Yes”.Any modern café calling itself “Ye olde tea shoppe” isactually perpetuating the Old English “th” symbol.

So you would transcribe ye as “the” and yt as“th[a]t”.

TRANSCRIBINGOnce you have started to decipher individual wordsin the document, you are ready to try producing atranscription.

To make this as good and accurate as possible,you need to bear the following in mind:

• When copying a document always retain theoriginal spellings. Do not translate the words intomodern spelling. For example: “cryme” should betranscribed as “cryme”, not as “crime”.

• Don’t try to reproduce the letters as they appear

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in the document; always transcribe them as modernletters. For example, if two letters are joinedtogether (a ligature), separate them in your version.

• If there are letters you aren’t sure about, use aconsistent system. That way, when you come backto your notes in a few days or weeks, you will beable to remember which words and letters youwere certain about and which were educatedguesses.

• Always expand abbreviations and put the letterswhich were omitted in square brackets.

• Mark the ends of lines where they occur in theoriginal document. You can do this by starting anew line whenever this happens in your document,or by using a vertical stroke to mark the point,before carrying on along the same line. Below, anexample of a transcription:

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I humbly crave but only one worde of answer fro[m] your selfe.


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Left: Coram Regis rollshowing a portrait ofElizabeth I, Easter 1589.


ABOUT THIS DOCUMENThe extract we are looking at has been takenfrom a document dated August 1618, whichforms part of the manorial survey for the

Manor of Beere and Penally in Pembrokeshire. Itconsists of two pages from the records of the Office ofthe Auditors of Land Revenue.

Drawn up for the landowner, these surveysprovided a description of all aspects of the manor.Surveys varied in length and detail, but couldinclude information on boundaries, details of theextent of each property, the customs of the manorand the rental – often the longest part. They mayinclude a list of the tenants’ names, details of landthey hold, the form of tenure by which it was held,the use to which it was put, the amounts of rent dueeach year and the services tenants owed the lord ofthe manor, along with the rights of the tenantsthemselves.

Surveys were often made when ownershipchanged, or to try to discover ways in which theyield of the manor could be increased.

The manor of Manorbier and Penally consistedof two parishes of the same names. It containedfour villages: Manorbier, Jameston, ManorbierNewton and Penally. The manor came into Crownpossession in 1461. In 1618 it belonged to Charles,Prince of Wales, the future Charles I.

The survey into the possessions and revenues ofthe Prince of Wales was commissioned by the

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prince’s council, which appointed John Stepnethand Thomas Canon as commissioners.

The document is predominantly in secretaryhand, but titles, place names and proper names arein a different script, such as italic, to make themstand out.

In this document the amounts of money are inRoman numerals, but the quantities of land are inArabic numerals. The money is in pounds, shillingand pence, or £ s d and “ob.” is short for obulus, theLatin word for a half penny. The Roman numeral “i”

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David Robbyn houldeth one Mesuage by the tenureaforesaid At the yearlie rent of xiij s ob

house A house A gardenThe p[ar]ticulers Arrable 20

land Moorie grounde 02 Acres 24Rockie & stonie grounde 02

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by itself, or at the end of a number, is usuallyrepresented as a “j”.

A messuage is a portion of land, generally with ahouse and outbuildings on it. Watch out for this “s”,which to modern eyes looks rather like an “f”

Notice how the ascender of the “d” is at such anangle that it is cutting through the “l”.

Notice the hairline diagonal stroke on the “o” and“a” as first letters of these words.

This is a good example of a spelling which youmight not expect. Transcribe the letters exactly howthey are, and don’t be tempted to change this into amodern “y” ending.

Notice the “p” abbreviation here, and also thedifference from modern spelling.

This is a good example of a classic secretary flat-topped “g”.

This is a version of the ampersand sign, &,meaning “and”.

Try transcribing this part of the document yourself:

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2

3

4

5

6

7

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• Knowing the background tothe document will helpenormously with reading thehandwriting. Many types ofdocuments containstandard phrases orformulae. It is muchharder to read adocument if you do notknow what kind it is. If youknow the phrases whichare likely to appear in a particular document –such as a will – you should be able to read themmore easily when they appear. You can then usethe phrases you are certain about to helpdecipher other words.

• Be prepared to tackle an old document letterby letter if necessary. Make an alphabet for thedocument you are using. If you can’t work outwhat a letter is, do a few more lines then goback and see if you can now identify it.

• Abbreviations in English documents are notas frequent as those in Latin, but they can stillcause problems for the beginner. Making anote of the ones you come across will makelife easier.

TOP THREE TIPS


WebsitesIf you want to practise getting to know oldhandwriting, or learn more about Latin, The NationalArchives (TNA) has several helpful online tutorials.

PalaeographyThe study of old handwriting is known aspalaeography. An interactive guide atwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography givesonline lessons, then marks your transcriptions of10 documents dating from the reign of Henry VIIIto 1760, as well as providing 30 documents forfurther practice.

An advanced site, which is still underconstruction, will give tutorials in Latinhandwriting between 1086 and 1733. It aims toshow the different kinds of abbreviations used and,through interactive transcribing exercises, allowyou to build up confidence at your own pace.

LatinAnyone interested in deciphering Latinhandwriting might like to look at TNA’sBeginners’ Latin website – a guide to the Latinused in documents between 1086 and 1733. Ittakes you step by step through the basics, with theopportunity to practise what you learn through aseries of activities and sentences taken fromoriginal documents at Kew. You’ll find it atwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners.

TNA is currently working on an online course in

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advanced Latin, which will let users develop theirLatin skills through a series of lessons, activitiesand practice sentences.

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READ MORE ABOUT ITMichelle P Brown A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquityto 1600 (The British Library, 1990)

Michelle P Brown Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: a guide totechnical terms (British Library, 1994)

Paul Chambers Medieval Genealogy: how to find your medieval ancestors(Sutton Publishing, 2005)

Eileen A Gooder Latin for Local History: An Introduction (Longman,1978)

H E P Grieve Examples of English Handwriting 1150-1750 (Essex RecordOffice, 1995)

L C Hector The Handwriting of English Documents (E. Arnold, 1966)

David Hey, The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History (OxfordUniversity Press, 1996)

Hilary Marshall Palaeography for Family and Local Historians(Phillimore, 2004)

Charles Trice Martin The Record Interpreter (Phillimore, 1982)

L Munby Reading Tudor and Stuart Handwriting (Phillimore, 1988)

K C Newton Medieval Local Records: A Reading Aid (HistoricalAssociation, 1971)

Jean Preston and Laetitia Yeandle English Handwriting, 1450-1650: anintroductory manual (Binghamton, New York, 1992)

Denis Stuart Latin for Local and Family Historians: a beginner’s guide(Phillimore, 1995)


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