Frome Family History Group learn about inquisitions post-mortem

THE Frome Family History Group (FFHG) welcomed a special guest speaker, Rhiannon Lloyd, at their March talk to explain more about inquisitions post-mortem (IPM).

A FFHG spokesperson said, “After telling the audience a little of her own background as a former musician and now a genealogist and teacher with her own research business, Rhiannon’s first task was to explain to us what IPM’s were and how to access them. An IPM is an English medieval or early modern record of the death, estate, and heir of one of the king’s tenants-in-chief.

“The investigation was carried out by escheators on behalf of the king in order to assess what monetary value was due to the king from a tenant- in-chief – a person who under the feudal system held land directly from the king. If the person inheriting the deceased’s estate was a minor, then the king was able to sell or award their marriage to a third party. If the deceased tenant-in-chief’s daughter was under 14 then her wardship and marriage escheated to the king. Revenues which resulted from the deaths of his tenants-in-chief formed a significant proportion of the medieval royal income.

“Rhiannon went on to explain how she had been able to piece together information from the IPM’s to produce a family tree for an Alice Burnell as the record showed her parents’ names as well as the names of her spouse and children. Another example was a lady called Alice Stalk where Rhiannon was able to find the names of her son and grandson.

“The National Archive is a good place to start, and some records have been digitised and can be accessed online. An excellent resource is www.inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk  and also www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/index .

“After thanking Rhiannon, Sue Simpson the programme secretary reminded us that our next talk is on Tuesday 25th April when Jane de Gruchy will tell us how to research the history of our houses.”