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INDEX TO BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS post1837
(an Overview)
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General Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages (an Overview)
By the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836 and the Marriage Act of 1836, the Civil Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages was begun on 1 July 1837. For the first time, Births, Marriages and Deaths
for and of everyone in England and Wales (but not for those of Scotland and Ireland) were entered into a
'single' register.
Between 1837 and 1851 the country was divided into 27 numbered regions, which were themselves
divided into registration districts under the control of Superintendent Registrars, and sub-divided into
sub-districts under Registrars. By 1851 there were 623 registration districts. From 1852, regional areas
were altered and the number of them increased to 34.
From 1866 the Index of Deaths started showing the age of the deceased person.Also, all indexes from
1866 are either typed or printed.
In 1874 penalties were introduced for the failure to register births. Registration was compulsory, but at first there wasn't any penalty for anyone who failed to actually register the birth. As is the case even today (!)
some parents failed to register their children's births, whilst there are instances where a few children have
actually been registered twice (under different forenames!). Fortunately, in the case of both deaths and
marriages, registration is complete apart from unavoidable occasional human error.
From September 1911, the mother's maiden name was shown in the index of births.
- and in 1912, against the name of the indexed person in the index of marriages, the surname (only) of
the spouse is shown alongside.
The clergy have duplicate registration books for marriages, and no burial is permitted without a death certificate. When a duplicate marriage register book is full the clergyman has to pass it to his local
registrar, but the latter also visits his local churches each quarter and makes copies of all marriage entries
up to date. He maintains an index and, at the end of each quarter, the Superintendent Registrar of the
district passes the duplicates to the office of the Registrar General in London. There they are all bound into
volumes, and a separate quarterly index is compiled for each type of event. Marriages are indexed under
the names of both parties. If the bride is a widow or divorcee, she is entered under the surname of her
former husband.
Search Procedure.
The information supplied by the General Register Office is solely in the form of a certified copy of the
original certificate. The original General Register Office INDEXES to Births, Marriages and Deaths
(1837 +) are now available on microfilm or microfiche at most record offices and libraries.
Each Index is for one year, and each year is split up into four Registration Quarters, namely January-March; April-June; July-September; October-December. (Please note that each quarter is when the 'event' was Registered, and not necessarily the quarter in which the 'event' actually occurred. e.g. a Birth occurred at Christmas 1892 [i.e. the October-December quarter] but the birth wasn't actually registered until January
1893 [i.e. the January-March quarter !]). Double-barrelled surnames are indexed in alphabetical order of
the complete name, but ignoring the hyphen. If for example, you were looking for the surname Dowman-Tesh,
it would be found under the D's and after Dowmanta. It is just as well to also check the second of the two
surnames on the basis that the 'hyphen' may be a modern affectation, and that the first part of the
double-barrelled surname, may, in fact have originally been one of the forenames of the indivdual.
Should the researcher know the exact date of the event, against the entry, in the respective Birth, Marriage
or Death Index, will be found a reference consisting of the name of the registration district, a volume number
which is also the number of the region in which the registration district lies, and a page number. The name
of the registration district will not necessarily be the same as that of the town or village in which the event
took place. Usually it is the name of a large town in the district, but sometimes of the hundred or other area.
Once the relevant details re the person have been recorded by the researcher, certified copies of the
original certificates can then be obtained through either the General Registrar's Office, the local Registrar's
Office, or through one of the many Genealogical Research Agencies shown in either Family History
magazines, or via the internet.
You are here: home > GROindexes >
INDEX TO BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS post1837
(an Overview)
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