Genealogy Chat

Please add to my understanding. Exactly what is the origin of historical birth, marriage and death certificates.

Does someone take a file of certificates from a shelf and scan or copy the original onto a blank form.

Does a clerk sit at a table and hand write a certificate on coloured paper, using the information in a journal.

Do the images all exist on computer and need to be downloaded to a printer.

Why do all my certificates, from one source, appear to be signed by the same person. Is this person signing that these are a copy of certificates held on file.

I have been asked this question and do not have the knowledge or understanding to give a definitive answer.

The General Register Office supplies to all Register Offices in the country (and themselves) blank copies of all the various styles of 'certificates' that have been in use since 1837.
Following a request for a certificate, a clerk will copy, scan or hand write the details from the appropriate Register entry onto the correct style form. This copy certificate is then checked aginst the entry by a superintendent or deputy superintendent registrar, who will sign to say it is an copy of an entry held in their custody.
As far as signatures are concerned, the signature of the registrar in the original entry could be the same for many years (they do not move on that often). The signature at the very end could also be the same for many years for the same reason.

The original, as I understand it, is the registration of birth ( or whatever ) recorded in a ledger at the office of the Registrar where the event happened.
A copy is made for the informant to take away with them, as a record.

Every quarter ( 3 months) the registrations are copied out from that individual office and together with those from all the other sub offices in that registration district, they are sent to the GRO where yet another copy is made with all the listings from all the districts compiled into the GRO master copy.

If you order a certificate from a regional office, you often get a handwritten copy, where the clerk copies from the original ledger.
If you order from GRO, you often get a photocopy of their master copy.

EDIT
Re the individual registrars, ... Some had their own way with wording, which could be misleading in general terms.
I have several certificates signed by an early Sussex registrar, where he always refers to a woman's maiden name by using the word 'late'.....whereas others would use 'formerly'
Gwyn

Thank you, I and several others appreciate your replies. This of course answers the question with regard to inaccuracies in certificates.

Certificates are produced by the local registrar; copies are sent to the General Register Office.

Some useful sites -

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/civreg/

http://www.thosedixons.net/certificates/indexbmd.html

http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa062100g.htm