Notes on the Civil Registration System in England & Wales
The Civil Registration system in England and Wales started in JULY 1837. From this date onwards, all births, marriages and deaths were required to be registered by law. This means that a certificate should be available, upon payment of a fee . I say "should be" as there was no penalty for not registering until 1875 ! Registration index files are kept centrally in London and at certain other locations. They are stored by Quarter, ie, Jan - Mar, Apr - Jun etc., and then alphabetically within each quarter. This means that to find an event in a given year, up to five volumes/fiches need to be checked!
The index files show limited information - the Surname, Christian Name(s), District, Volume No. and Page No. and this is ALL.
A typical entry looks like this:-
Smith John Islington 1a 227
It is NOT possible to examine the actual registers so the only way that you can obtain the full information is by PURCHASING a copy certificate.
It is also possible to obtain copy certificates from the local Register Offices but of course you must know the office which holds the registers that you require.
Prior to July 1837, all baptisms/christenings, marriages and deaths were recorded in the Parish Register of the church where the event took place. This means that in order to locate a particular event, the EXACT parish is necessary. These events did not neccessarily take place in the parish where the person was believed to have lived so it may be neccessary to check several.These registers are now usually located in the County Record Office of the County which contains that parish. These registers, or transcripts of them, can be examined at the Record Office. A vast number of these registers are available elsewhere, the biggest single source being the International Genealogical Index (IGI) produced by LDS. Also, many have been produced in book or micro fiche form by local family history societies and are available for purchase, usually only by members of the society.
The National Census in the UK commenced in 1841 and takes place every 10 years. The census is not available to the public for 100 years, therefore we have from 1841 to 1901 inclusive. The 1841 census is not very comprehensive but after 1841, the census shows each family by address and gives names, ages, occupations and place of birth. Census files are kept centrally in London and at County Record Offices. Again, many Societies have transcripts available.
The above notes are meant as a rough guide to how things work here in the UK. They are not, and are not meant to be, a comprehensive guide.
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