MY "Most Wanted" is somewhat unusual. I long to be able to discover precisely where Oliver Cromwell was on July 25th 1655! Why? Because it is my earnest hope that instead of being in London attending to the affairs of Britain in his role as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, he was in the village of Kirkby Malham in the Yorkshire Dales officiating at a wedding in his capacity as a Justice of the Peace. Allow me to explain. The following entry is to be found in a 1938 printed copy of the Kirkby Malham original parish registers for 1597-1690..... ”The I.M. [intended marriage] between John Ellin of Malham and Ann Tayler of Hellifield, pishe of Long Preston, was published three severall Markett dayes in the Market place at Settle, 12th, 19th, 26th June 1655. And the said J:E & A:T was married 25th July 1655 in the presence of John Lawson of Malham and John Shackleton of the same, and others, before me, Olyver Cromwell R." My interest lies in the fact that one of the witnesses, John Shackleton, was my probable 8-times gt-grandfather. The parish register entry is one of two supposed examples of Cromwell's signature in the Kirkby Malham registers. During the Commonwealth period many marriages did not take place in parish churches, but banns were read in the nearest market place and weddings could be conducted in private homes and other places by a Justice of the Peace. Oliver Cromwell was a JP and sometimes stayed near Kirkby Malham with his great friend Colonel "Honest John" Lambert, who had been one of his principal commanders in Yorkshire during the English Civil War. Experts have long argued over whether the signatures were genuine or whether they were forgeries. Cromwell apparently signed his name with an R after it. This surely cannot stand for "Rex", meaning "King", since while many of his supporters certainly wanted him to be king, Cromwell always resisted it. Having got rid of Charles I and abolished the monarchy, it would have been the height of hypocrisy for him to assume the throne. Perhaps the R stood for "Register", the formal title of the official who conducted marriages in the Commonwealth period. However, the mystery is compounded by the fact that a second entry occurs in the registers a few months later in January 1655/56, again at a wedding at which Cromwell supposedly officiated, in which there appears the signature "Oliver Cromwell Rex". Were the signatures forgeries, as many historians think? But if so, what was the purpose and what did anyone stand to gain through it? It hardly seems likely that anyone would have dared forge the Lord Protector's signature in the parish registers during his lifetime, knowing full well that General Lambert was bound to hear about it. The consequences of such a foolish act scarcely bear thinking about! And if the signatures were genuine, did Cromwell actually conduct the weddings personally or did he merely add his signature later as a JP staying in the district? Sadly, we shall never know - for here is the worst bit of all ! The original registers were stolen from the church safe in the 1970s. Why, no-one knows. It may have been just an ordinary robber who was after the church silver and chucked the registers away. Or they may have been stolen to order by a rogue historian or collector BECAUSE they were thought to contain Cromwell's signatures. Whatever the truth, they have never been found and all we have is the printed copy from 1938. Thus, the signature cannot be subjected to modern forensic examination. I have tried hard to find out where Cromwell was on July 25th 1655 but the nearest I have been able to get is placing him in London a week later. It will probably remain a mystery for all time. But I WOULD like to think that an ancestor of mine met Cromwell, who is my historical hero! Roy Stockdill Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies The Stockdill Family History Society (Guild of One-Name Studies, FedFHS) STOCKDILL PREST YELLOW BOLTON WORSNOP GIBSON MIDGLEY BRACEWELL SHACKLETON BRADLEY MOODY in Yorkshire North & West Ridings MEAD YOUNG in Somerset, Wiltshire & Gloucestershire Web page of the Stockdill Family History Society:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- http://www.one-name.org ”Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you. If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and humorist 1771-1845)