Events
Date of Baptism: 12 January 1639/40.
Place of Baptism: Halesowen, Worcestershire.
The baptism is recorded in the bishop’s transcripts of the parish registers.
Date of Burial: 11 January 1713/4.
Place of Burial: Halesowen, Worcestershire.
The burial is recorded in the bishop’s transcripts to the parish register.
Relationships
Father: uncertain.
Mother: uncertain.
See the Commentary section.
Spouse: Joan.
Joan’s name is recorded in the baptism entries for her children Hannah and John.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Hannah Deeley (baptized 21 March 1687/8 in Halesowen - buried 4 August 1730 in Halesowen) married John Penn 11 June 1715 in Halesowen.
Sarah Deeley (baptized October 7 1691 in Halesowen)
John Deeley (baptized 24 January 1692/3 in Halesowen)
John Deeley (baptized 20 January 1695/6 in Halesowen)
Evidence
From the bishop’s transcripts of the Halesown parish register:
[1639]
…and humfrey the sonne of George Deeley by Anne his were [sic] baptized the xijth of January
[1674]
Elizabeth Daughter of Humphrey Deely buried May 17th
[1687]
Hanna child of Humphrey Deeley de toune by Joan his wife bapt March 21
[1695]
John Deeley child of Humphrey by Joan his wife bapt: Jan: 20
[January 1714]
poor Humphrey Deeley was buried 11th
From the parish register of Halesowen (St John’s):
[1663 June]
..ne the daughter of Humfray Deeley by Elizabeth his wife was baptised June 11 1663:
[1665 November]
William Deely William the sonn of Humfery Deely by Elizabeth his wife was baptised, November the last
[1668 January]
Laurentta Deeley Lauretta the daughter of Humfery Deely by his — wife was bap: Jan: 23:
[1691]
Sarah deeley Sarah child of Humphrey deeley by Joan his wife bapt: Oct’r 7
[1692?]
John Deeley John deeley child of Humphrey by Joan his wife baptized [Jan] 24
[1713/4 January]
Humphry Deeley/ Hum: Deeley de le Town was Buryed the xi Day
Commentary
With respect to Humphrey’s parentage, the question seems to depend on whether there were one or two Humphrey Deeleys having children baptized in Halesowen in the period.
The facts are these:
-There is only one baptism of a Humphrey Deeley recorded in the Halesown register, in 1639/40.
-Humphrey Deeley and his wife Elizabeth had three children baptized in Halesowen in the 1660s.
-A Sarah Deeley, daughter of Humphrey, was buried in Halesowen in 1674.
-Humphrey Deeley and his wife Joan had three children baptized in Halesowen between 1687 and 1696.
-A Humphrey Deeley was buried in Halesowen in 1690 and another in 1714. The latter was of “Town”.
-There are gaps in the Halesowen registers between 1643 and 1653, and between 1673 and 1675.
It is unclear whether to identify the Humphrey Deeley who was the husband of Elizabeth with the Humphrey who was the husband of Joan.
If they were different people, then perhaps the husband of Joan was born between 1643 and 1653, when there was a gap in the registers. The burial of two Humphreys seems to suggest that we are dealing with two people here.
The only baptism of a Humphrey Deeley in the area in the period that I have located is in Halesowen in 1639/40. The baptism appears in the bishop’s transcripts to the parish registers, although it does not appear in Hobday’s transcription. This is not very usual, as often the baptisms were originally recorded on sheets of paper that were later copied into the parish register. Entries which had been omitted in the parish register were sometimes included in the bishop’s transcripts, if the orginal sheets were consulted during the making of the bishop’s transcripts. Hobday, of course, only had access to the parish register and not the original sheets, which are presumably long gone.
If the two Humphreys are to be identified, the parents were George Deeley and Anne Hadley. George Deeley and his wife Anne are recorded as Humphrey’s parents in the 1639/40 baptism, and there are two related earlier baptisms: William in 1632 (father George) and Margery in 1635/6 (parents George and Anne). The Halesowen register records the marriage in 1628 of George Deeley and Anne Hadley.
If the two Humphreys were distinct people, George Deeley and Anne Hadley were likely the parents of the “other” Humphrey, not the Humphrey of this page.
References
Bishop’s transcripts of the Halesowen parish registers. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 28 October 2025.
Halesowen, Worcestershire, St John’s, parish registers, FHL film 886632, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
The Registers of Halesowen, Co. Worcester: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1559-1643. (E. Hobday transcriber). (Parish Register Society, 1910).