Westminster Abbey.- Crespion (Rev. Stephen, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, in 1675 Confessor to the Royal Household, later prebendary of Bristol, from 1673 a Minor Canon of Westminster and Precentor, or Chanter, son of Germain Crespion of St Giles in the Fields, ?1649-1711) Children Baptised Westminst[er], ?autograph manuscript and later hands, 7pp. (6 on vellum, 3 cut with large loss, 1 blank & 1 on paper), lacks majority of ff., various cuts and soiling, ink autograph inscription: Ex dono Steph: Crespion Hospitii Reg[is]: Confessarii" and another, "To be delivered to my Successor" on front pastedown, original reverse calf, slightly marked, remains of brass clasps, sm. 4to, 1681-1703, 1744-46 & [19th century].

⁂ An associate of Henry Purcell. Crespion collaborated with Henry Purcell, organist of Westminster Abbey, to sell tickets from a scaffold raised at the choirs expense in the abbey at the coronation of William and Mary. Crespion earned £24 and Purcell, £35.

An interesting remnant of a much larger collection of records of children born in the environs of Westminster, and connected with the court. One instance recorded is the birth in January 1703 of James Scott, the younger son of Lord Dalkeith by his wife Lady Henrietta Hyde, a grandson of James, Duke of Monmouth and a great grandson of Charles II. Westminster Abbey website records that James was baptised at the Earl of Rochester's house in the Cockpit area of Whitehall. He died in 1719 and was buried in the abbey. Later in the 18th century, the register seems to have fallen out of use and adapted as an account book