Bishop's Transcripts - Licensing Opportunity

Worcestershire County Council is seeking expressions of interest from potential partners to digitise, transcribe and to publish online the records of The Diocese of Worcester Bishops Transcripts from 1598 to 1946. In 1597 Elizabeth I ordered that an annual transcript of that records of baptisms, marriages and burials recorded in parish registers should be copied onto a single sheet of parchment and sent to the diocesan registrar, i.e. the Bishop.

These copies, prepared by the incumbent or the churchwardens, became known as 'Bishops' Transcripts'. The transcripts start in 1598 but very few survived before 1608.

During the Commonwealth from 1646 to 1660 the office of Bishop was abolished and therefore there are no transcripts for this period. After 1837, when Civil Registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced, marriage registers in particular were sent to the registrar rather than the Bishop.

The importance of producing the Bishop's Transcripts gradually declined until they ceased to exist after 1946. The Bishop's Transcripts provide a valuable source as they may cover gaps in the original parish registers, be accessible where the registers are in a fragile condition and be understandable where there is difficulty in interpreting handwriting of registers as they may be written in a different hand to the registers.

The contract award would include a commercial license to publish online digital images and associated transcription data. The Council has an inhouse digitisation service that could support the conservation and digital image capture.

This Council is also considering the potential for the longer term licensing of its archive collection and how a partnership approach could provide a commercial return that can be reinvested into increasing access and furthering our conservation work. Additional information: Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No