The Bristol Burgess Books detail every person admitted to the Liberties [freedom] of the City of Bristol between 5 Oct 1557 and 19 May 1995. The mayor, sheriff, aldermen and all the councillors of the town were chosen from their ranks. No one could become a burgess until he was twenty one. They had a number of keenly valued judicial and commercial privileges and were exempt from dues and other exactions imposed on strangers or foreigners bringing merchandise to the town.

Date	Burgess's Name	Burgess's Trade	Patron's Name	Patron's Trade	Mode	Other Info	vol/ page/ no
1571 Mar 9	Simon or Symonds Stirrye or Sturye	Whittawer	Clement Cradock	Whittawer	A		1/49.2/3
#1611 Nov 14	James Sterry	Sail Maker	John Clement		A		2/39/6
#1670 May 6	William Sterry	Seaman	James Sterry		F		3b/131/7
+1809 Mar 24	William Sterry	Mariner	Lawrence Bowsher	Cabinet Maker	M	Mary Ann D/O Deceased	17/228/51

A whittawer is a saddler or harness maker

Mode
The means by which the individual qualified for being admitted as a Freeman:

• F by virtue of the individual’s Father being (or having been) a freeman,
• A by having served at least seven years Apprenticeship to a freeman,
• M by having Married the daughter or widow of a freeman (the latter usually also involving a £2 fine), or
• V by a Vote of the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the City, usually also involving a ‘fine’, i.e. the payment of a large sum of money, hence the alternative name for this particular route, “Redemption”.

Alias
If there is some doubt about a particular surname, either because of problems with legibility or because of contemporary aliases, this is indicated by the use of “or” and “als” respectively.

Other info
This may be the spouse’s name if the mode is M, or an indication of whether the patron is deceased if the Mode is A, F or M, or an indication of the date on which the Council Vote took place if the Mode is V, or an indication that one of the parties was a Quaker, or indeed almost any other form of note or additional information.

Source
Index to the Bristol Burgess Books Vols 1 to 21, 1557 - 1995, Bristol & Avon Family History Society. Originals of Bristol Burgess Books at Bristol Record Office.

Legend:
# = Ruardean, Gloucestershire, UK line
+ = Longhope, Gloucestershire, UK line