England Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

{{Wikipedia|General Register Office}} Beginning in July 1837, registrars were required to register all births and deaths in their district. Since they were paid for every registration, that was incentive to make sure all births and deaths were recorded. An estimated 90 to 95 percent of births and nearly all deaths and marriages were reported. A new registration Act in 1874 placed the responsibility on parents to inform the registrar of all births, but this made no discernible difference to the rate of registration, which by 1875 was around 99 percent. If you cannot find a birth, marriage, or death record in civil registration, search church records.  

=== '''Civil Registration: Overseas British Citizens &amp; Military Personnel'''<br>  ===

For a brief list of the several register series of births, marriages and deaths affecting British subjects abroad, consider the various records cited below. Some of these records are held at the General Register Office (sometimes known as The Registrar General) at:<br>  

And some registers are held at:<br>  

There are several significant records collection series, which originate from three government-sponsored categories. Some have been indexed and even scanned (imaged) and made available online. Data content and some images of records can be accessible at the following record archives and/or websites and for the following ranges of years''':''' <br>  

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           - [https://familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlehitlist&columns=*%2C0%2C0&filmno=6137268 Marine births] and [https://familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=726184&disp=Index+to+marine+death+returns+%28deaths+++ Marine deaths at sea from 1837-1965 (indexed)]  

   2. The Registrar General also had custody of non-statutory registers of births, marriages, deaths and burials overseas from 1826-1951 which originally were sent to the Bishop of London's diocesan office. These registers are now held at The National Archives, and some copies at FamilySearch include''':'''  

*when registered and the name of the registrar

'''A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:'''  

Knowing the district name and at least an approximate year in which the birth, marriage, or death occurred will reduce your search time.  

=== Online Index to England and Wales Civil Registration  ===

There have always been checking procedures, but there was rarely enough time or funding to carry them out properly, so it is not surprising that the indexes are incomplete and contain inaccurate entries. If you cannot locate an entry, it is sensible to go to the <u>primary</u> source of registration at the local Registration District.  

Search features include:  

The registers in local [http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/cam.html Registration Districts] in both England and Wales are the <u>primary</u> registration information of births marriages and deaths. Research has shown that the national index contains many errors and omissions. The indexation of primary records is based on year of event unlike the national index which is compiled from quarterly returns and is therefore more likely to locate the event you seek.  

== Registration Districts  ==