MEN AND ARMOUR FOR GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 1608.
iaArmourfor.Gloucestershire, 1608. By John Smith, of worth Nibley. (H. Sotheran and Co. 25s. net.)—John Smith (1567-1641) was a barrister and Steward of the Hundred of Berkeley. He" give much time and toil to the compiling of this list, which is now published under the auspices of Lord Sherborne. All genealogists, and students of English history in general, are under obligations to Lord Sherborne. The list gives the names, Occupations, age, and stature of the male inhabitants (liable to service) of the various parishes and hamlets, and also catalogues the arms and armour which they were bound to find. Stature and age are given generally, "p" (tallest) standing for pikeman, "m" (middle) for musketeer, " c " (lower) fit to serve with a calyver, "py" (meanest) pioneer or "of little other use." The age is signified by (1) "about 20," (2) "about forty," (3) " between 50 and 60." Taking as a specimen Shereborne, of which a Dutton was then lord, we find eighty-three names. The "gentlemen and yeomen servants to the said E. Dutton" number fourteen, his husbandmen nine, his shepherds two. There are two other Buttons, "sons of Elizabeth Dutton, widow." Of the other fifty- eight, two are yeomen, the. rest husbaudmen (some of them described as having servants and shepherds), labourers, millers, shepherds, &c. Of the "p" class there are eight, of the "m" nine, of the " c " forty-four, of the " py " thirteen ; the rest are not described. Evidently the stature of the rural population was not great, fifty-seven of the eighty-three being below " middle" height. Supposing that the men between twenty and sixty were three-fifths of the male population of Shereborne, and allowing a slighter number of females, we have a population of two hundred and eighty, which is almost the same as that given by the Census of 1901. "The Tything is charged with the finding of 4 Corslets and 3 Calyvers with their furniture."
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