Civil Registration - timelines

I got this from north-easterner. freeserve. co.uk /iss5www.htm  BUT this site seems to have disappeared

Changes to the System

Though civil registration in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland has, since its introduction, remained largely unaltered, a number of important Acts, etc., have been passed over the years to fine tune the system. What follows is a summary of the major alterations which have been made to the set-up in England and Wales:

1837-1866 Indexes handwritten

1866-1910 Indexes printed

1910-1970 Indexes typed

1970-present Indexes computer generated

1866 Death indexes to include age at death

1874 Births & Deaths Registration Act - transferred responsibility for the registration of births & deaths from the registrar to the would-be informant. Medical certification of cause of death also required. With this general tightening of the regulations, including penalties for non-registration, the earlier omissions of births, in particular, declined dramatically. Also, many illegitimate births after this date will include details of the father and be listed under both surnames rather than solely under that of the mother.

1898 Marriage Act - eased the way for Nonconformist marriages by allowing authorised person to attend the ceremony rather than the registrar himself.

1911 (Sept) Mother's maiden name thereafter listed on birth index.

1912 (Mar) Spouse's surname thereafter listed on marriage index.

(both the above two developments aid the construction of family groups without the need to purchase certificates).

1927 Still births first registered.

1927 Adopted Children Register established - corresponding birth entries marked "adopted".

1929 Minimum age of marriage for girls increased from 12 to 16, boys from 14 to 16. 1929 Local Government Act - transferred administration from Poor Law 'set-up' to county/borough councils.

1947 'Short' birth certificate introduced.

1969 Age of majority reduced from 21 to 18 (individuals could marry at 18 without parents' consent).

1969 Death index to show date of birth.

1969 Place of birth of parents given on child's birth certs henceforth.

1970 & 1983 Marriage Acts accommodated marriage by licence on unlicensed premises.

1986 Mother's occupation to be shown on birth certs.

Use of the System

By working backwards from the known into the unknown, the researcher may progress alternatively through births and marriages, theoretically, through to the year 1837. Without boring the reader with the fine detail of each respective type of certificate - birth, death and marriage (which should be familiar to us all) - a birth certificate should give sufficient clues as to the parents' marriage, the certificate of which should, in turn, guide the researcher towards the parents' own respective births and parentage. For the immediate purposes of research it is the Indexes rather than the registers themselves to which one turns. These are compiled in quarters MARCH (i.e: Jan, Feb & Mar), JUNE, SEPTEMBER and DECEMBER, covering England and Wales in their entirety, and containing sufficient information to enable one to purchase the relevant certificate, if necessary. The quarters list the entries by way of registration rather than actual date of event - and births need only be registered within six weeks of the actual date of birth. For births, surname, forenames and district are listed in the index, as are volume and page number of the St.Catherine's registers (see Issue 4 of The North-Easterner for a guide to the St.Catherine's Index Registration District Codes). Marriages are cross-referenced under the surnames of both parties.

The indexes themselves are usually available locally at major libraries and record offices (microfilmed or microfiched) - so there is no need to visit St.Catherine's House for this purpose - though those of the Scottish and Irish records are hard to come by. The registers are stored locally, too - with copies held centrally at St.Catherine's House. By using the information derived from the Indexes and other record sources the researcher may request certified copies of certificates in four ways: (a) in person from St.Catherine's House, (b) via an agent from the same place, (c) by post from the address below, or (d) from the relevant local registrar's office (much cheaper and often more convenient and quicker). Addresses for the latter can be found in the telephone directory - usually your nearest central library will hold national collections of telephone books (Family Tree Magazine also has a telephone helpline for this purpose). Please note that local registrars do not have indexes for public consultation. For the record, here are the addresses for the national GROs for postal certificate applications:

England & Wales - Postal Application Section, Office of Population Censuses & Surveys, General Register Office, Smedley Hydro, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 2HH (Tel. 0151 471 4800);

Scotland - The General Register Office for Scotland, New Register House, Edinburgh, EH1 3YT (Tel. 0131 334 0380);

Northern Ireland - General Register Office, Oxford House, 49-55 Chichester Street, Belfast, BT1 4HL (Tel. 01232 235211);

Rep.of Ireland - General Register Office, Joyce House, 8-11 Lombard Street, Dublin 2, Rep.of Ireland (010 3531 6711000);

If no index no. (i.e: vol & page no.) is to hand the GRO will, for a fee, do a specified five-year search of the records if sufficient info. is provided.

Hints, Tips & Warnings

Some areas of the country suffered in the 1837-60 period by as much as a 15% omission rate of births, so it is not impossible that your ancestor may not have been registered. There are a few transcriptional errors, too; some events are registered but not indexed; for marriages, one party may be indexed but the other may not; ages shown on death certificates are often approximate; and ages, generally, on pre-1870 certificates are especially prone to error/approximation (e.g: "of full age" is of little use, and "21" may mean "over 21"). But these drawbacks are minor, and rare in the extreme.

Other points of note include: remember variant spellings when consulting the indexes; no father shown on a birth certificate could mean a birth out of wedlock, or father is deceased, or simply that he was omitted on registration in error; times on birth certificates indicate multiple births; unnamed children at time of registration will be listed as "male/female" at the end of the surname listing on index; foundlings are listed after 'z' on index; and addresses on marriage certificates may be temporary accommodation. Also, if difficulty is encountered tracing an individual, search for a known sibling to help obtain the parents details; when searching for a marriage look for the less common surname first; always note religions, occupations, informants, and witnesses on certificates, as these may give clues to aid further research. Remember, too, that forenames can often mislead - nicknames and 'pet' names often differ somewhat from an individual's true registered christian name.

If, after all the above and more, an ancestor cannot be found in the index, try a search at the local registrar's office, if possible; or go for the multitude of 'Miscellaneous' registers held at St.Catherine's House pertaining to events overseas, at sea, in the air, or in the armed forces - some of these are not indexed, however. You may find, too, that a routine search at your local registrar's office may set you back a few pounds - if the facility is available at all, that is!

Conclusions

Of the various national holdings, those of England and Wales are the least helpful both in view of the way the system operates and in respect of the information provided on the certificates themselves - though copies of the indexes are more widely available than the other nations. The Scottish records/certificates are much more detailed. And remember, too, that the obtaining of certificates may be circumvented completely by consulting church records and locating the original record entries (guided by the St.Catherine's Index usually!), and thereafter jotting down or copying the information oneself on the spot. This is a much under used method of study, but can save you a considerable amount in certificate fees.

And sometimes, just sometimes, the I.G.I. might list the occasional post-1837 entry of interest to you. And remember, we all obtain incorrect certificates from time to time! Oh, for the day when all this is computerised......but that would be no fun at all, now, would it!