Genealogy Chat

Hi when registration started in 1837 what was the cost of registering a birth does anyone know just a thought as to why I can't find any births perhaps they could not afford to register Margaret

It wasn't compulsory till 1875.

Hi Geoff yes I know that but I was wondering how much it cost then 1837 and after 1875 It was just a thought Margaret

Are you sure that there was a fee? There isn't one nowadays.

as mentioned, it wasn't enforced initially. a lot of clergy resisted it and told people that they didn't need to register if the child was baptised. it was only in 1875 that law was passed making it compulsory, so registrations before that are somewhat sketchy

Margaret I don't believe you have to pay to register anything. You pay a fee for the marriage service in a register office, but I don't recall paying to register my children's births or my father's death. Where are you looking for these births? FreeBMD is not yet complete. Also, are you sure you can't find them? Sometimes people weren't registered under the name[s] they used in life and also weren't born where you think they should have been!

Hi to you all, I have been looking for the births in qestion at the Record office in London have not found any nor deaths either just Marriage certs Thank you Margaret

Hi Joy, I have just seen your reply to my question, and as I thought there was a charge for registration that is why the two births in my family before 1875 were not registered but the two after when it was compulsory are registered thankyou Margaret

Just to get it technically right, from 1837 it was compulsory to give details when requested by a registrar. From 1875 the duty was to actually register the event. If people were late (after 42 days) they would falsify the DOB to avoid penalty. Bob

Hi Margaret, This might be helpful from Barbara Dixons certificate tutorial: "In the early days the parents had 3 weeks to register in and could not register at all after 3 months. After a while this was changed to 6 weeks to register in, a late registration could be made up to a year after the birth if the superintendent took the information and signed the register too, and registration could not take place after 1 year without reference to GRO. Once the delay was this long then proof of the event had to be provided by other parties who knew of this event eg midwife or doctor or siblings alive at the time and able to recall the event. Even now, if it is not possible to provide the proof and/or the people who can attest to the truth of the event it is not possible to register and there are people walking around today with no birth certificate. It means, therefore, that a birth registered very late could be in the indexes a whole year later or more than expected. It is also relevant in that there were penalties for late registrations that were quite severe in the beginning and rather than get into trouble parents would "adjust" the date of birth to fall within the specified time for registration. If you have a discrepancy between a date of birth on a certificate and one given on a baptismal certificate, have a look at the date of registration. If it is very close to the six weeks, it is quite likely that the parents didn't tell the truth at registration but did at baptism where there were no penalties. There were no checks on the dates of birth until well into this century." Debbie