The evaluation of Bedfordshire burial registration, 1538-1851.

This article is based mainly on a digital transcript of burials for 126 Bedfordshire parishes 1538-1851, and a county index of wills for the same period. The comparison of probate with burial register data indicated that there was little long-term change over time in burial under-registration, with between 21 and 27 per cent of will entries missing in the registers. There was also little variation between parishes of different population sizes, suggesting that burial under-registration was predominantly a random process linked to clerical negligence.