Anglican Parish Registers in England: Difference between revisions

The most widely known of church records are parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials.  For the Anglican church in England these commenced in 1538, though few original registers survive from this date.  The contents of a few however were copied into later registers as a result of a Constitution of the Province of Canterbury (1598) which required parchment registers to be kept and previous baptisms, marriages and burial entries be copied into them, especially from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558).  Not all parishes complied and gaps are inevitable prior to 1598.

This led to 'great Mischiefs and Inconveniences' which Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1754 sought to change.  Henceforth all marriages, except Jews and Quakers, had to be conducted in a parish church after the publication of banns on three successive Sundays or by obtaining a licence.  Parental consent was necessary for those marrying under the age of 21 and marriages were to be recorded in printed registers with numbered pages (to avoid fraudulent entries being added later or pages torn out of the register) and the minister, the couple and two witnesses were to sign the register.