Genealogy Chat

When were the first births registered in England? When was the first date it was illegal not to register a birth?

Depends which country.
In England and Wales, birth, marriage and death registration started in the Sept quarter 1837.

Compulsory birth registration came in in 1875. Marriage could only take place in a C of E Church or before a registrar, so in fact it was compulsory from Sept 1837 and, I suppose, a body couldn't be buried without a death cert, so that also was compulsory from Sept 1837.

Some births were still not registered after 1875 - my mother's wasn't and some (births, marriages and deaths) may not appear on the GRO register for various reasons (eg they were lost between the local Register Office and the GRO; were simple missed when the GRO register was compiled.

In Scotland, registration started in 1855. I don't know when it was made compulsory, but there might be some info on the scotandspeople site.

Birth registration began on 1st July 1837. It was legal from that date to register births although there was no penalty for not doing so.

In 1875 a fine was introduced for not registering or late registration so most people did register births after that date although there were still people who didn't.

Kath. x

Brilliant, thanks