Genealogy Chat

Would some kind person post the dates when births, marriages and deaths became compulsory. Also when they weren't compulsory did many people still register anyway.

Thanks.

Taken from Office of National Statistics (datasets) online info:

"Births: 1837-1937 Live births, (a) quarter of registration
Organisation (Sponsor): Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Primary medium: Dataset (StatBase) - View Dataset
Summary description: Births: 1837-1937 live births, (a) quarter of registration

Taken from Table 2.1 published in Birth Statistics 1837-1983 (Historical series FM1 No 13).

Figures relate to the number of births registered in each year up to and including 1937.

Official registration of births in England and Wales began on 1 July 1837.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836 (6 and 7 Will IV Ch 86) established the General Register Office and provided for the appointment of a Registrar General, who in turn appointed local Superintendent Registrars and Registrars.
The Act required the local Registrar of Births to inform himself within 42 days of any birth occurring within his district and obliged the parents (or failing them the occupier of any tenement within which a birth took place) to furnish to the local Registrar such particulars about the birth as were required to be furnished under the Act. Unfortunately the Act of 1836 omitted to impose any penalty for failure by the parent to register a birth, an omission which was rectified only by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1874 (37 and 28 Vic Ch 88) which made such a failure punishable by a fine of £2.00. No doubt the majority of births were notified to the Registrar either by the parents or by the local clergy, but there was some opposition to registration in different localities, and registration between 1837 and 1874 must, therefore, be regarded as incomplete."

I see from the GRO site that the 42 days still applies.

I understand that it is the licensed officer performing a marriage ceremony who is under the duty to report the marriage.

(Edited - apologies Linda, next bit was off topic - I've now nudged a useful thread called "cheaper access to certificates")

I had not appreciated, until searching for the above info, that the legislation to change access to registration details is to come into force in April 2008 (announced in the pre-Budget statement on 9 Oct 2007), The summary refers to changes being required to prevent the fraudulent use of a deceased person's ID.

Has anyone already posted a summary of the proposed changes?

Greeting’s ……..Linda


1538 Parish Registers first ordered to be kept - every Sunday, the parson must enter all BAPTISMS, marriages and burials of the previous week.

1837.September. General Registrations of BIRTHS. Marriages. Deaths began.

1871.~75. It became compulsory to register ALL events.

Hope this helps you.

MIKE.

I did read somewhere that - even after it became compulsory to register births in 1874/5 - this did not mean that all births were registered. Apparently, if one child in a family was not registered then it was likely that none of the children would be registered.

I believe that my grandfather was not registered and he was one of six siblings - I have not been able to trace any of them so far - and this was 1882 onwards.

Good Luck with yours.

Jill

Thank you everyone who replied to this thread in particular Mike as your reply was just what I needed very basic and easy to understand. thank you.
Linda