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| ==Introduction== | | ==Introduction== |
| Civil registration, which is the government recording of births, marriages, and deaths, was instituted in Cornwall at the same time as all of England, 1 July 1837. The act establishing civil registration required that births be reported within 42 days and deaths within 5 days of the event. With the institution of the act, civil marriages could now be performed at the registrar's office, and those performed in the churches were registered at least quarterly by the ecclesiastical authority or his representative. Copies of the registration were sent by the district registrar to the Office for National Statistics each quarter, and they are indexed by calendar quarter. Because of the time allowed to register, some events, especially births, may be registered in a later quarter than when they actually occurred.
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| Although civil registration was required by law from its institution in 1837, compliance was far from universal during the first few years, especially for births, but increased to the point that more than 90% of the events were registered by 1850. Registration of deaths was much better than for births, as the church authorities were often instructed to require proof of civil registration prior to burial. Registration of marriages has been almost complete since institution of civil registration, although indexing of a few marriages has only one of the parties. Obedience to the law requiring registration became much better, and probably reached 99%, when penalties for non-compliance were instituted in 1874.
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| ==Civil Registration Districts== | | ==Civil Registration Districts== |