I. WHAT IS CIVIL REGISTRATION?
Civil
Registration is the recording of births, marriages, and deaths by the
government. Civil Registration did not begin in
A. HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT
1.
2.
Births and deaths are reported to the local
Superintendent Registrar by a relative, friend, or other person present at the
birth or death.
3.
Records of marriages are compiled at the place where the
marriage is performed. Superintendent Registrars receive the filled books and
forward copies to the General Register Office.
4.
The original records are kept by local Superintendent
Registrars.
5.
Copies of all birth, marriage, and death certificates are
sent to the General Register Office every three months.
B. TIME
PERIOD: 1 July 1837 to present
C. CONTENT
OF RECORDS
1. Birth
Certificates
a. Christian
name entered at time or after registration
b. When
and where born
c. Sex
d. Name,
surname, and occupation of father
e. Name
and maiden surname of mother
f. Signature,
relationship, and residence of informant
g. When
and by whom registered
2. Marriage
Certificates
a. When
and where married
b. Name
and surname of bride and groom
c. Age,
profession, and marital condition of bride and groom
d. Residences
at the time of marriage
e. Name
of the father of bride and groom (usually states deceased, if father is
deceased at the time of marriage)
f. Signature
of witnesses
g. When
and by whom registered
3. Death
Certificates
a. Name
and surname of deceased (after 1 April 1969, maiden surname of married woman
given)
b. When
and where died
c. Cause
of death
d. Sex,
age, and occupation of deceased (after 1 April 1969, date and place of birth
are given)
e. Signature,
relationship, and residence of informant
f. When
and by whom registered
II. AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS
A. The
indexes are being transcribed and placed on the web at freebmd.rootsweb.com. Check there
first. Ancestry has obtained copies from FreeBMD and
the indexes are on Ancestry, but with fewer search options.
B. Copy
certificates and indexes, 1837 to the present are at the TNA in Kew, near
London, but are currently being prepared to be put
online, after which they will be withdrawn from public
access.
C.
The original certificates with indexes for 1837 to the
present are available at local Superintendent Registrars' offices. These
offices have records for their own district only and their indexes and page
numbers do not match those of St. Catherine's House.
D. Indexes by name of person for births,
marriages, and deaths from 1837-1980 are available at the Family History
Library on microfilm (see Reg 942 V2ic). The
certificates of births, marriages, and deaths are not in the Library.
E. Several web sites are available for a
fee, including www.familyrelatives.org,
www.findmypast.com (free at FHL), and
others.
III. HOW TO OBTAIN CERTIFICATES
A. Steps
to take in determining the type of certificate you are looking for:
1. Did
the event you are researching happen:
Before
1837?----------------------------------------See
Reference Consultant
Between
1837 and the end of 1980?--------go to step 2
After
1980?-------------------------------------------See
Reference Consultant
2. Use
the Index to the Civil Registration of Births, Marriages, and Deaths for
England and Wales (Reg 942 V2ic, or item 3 on
film number 990,269 or on the Internet at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/RG/frameset_rg.asp?Dest=G1&Aid=&Gid=&Lid=&Sid=&Did=&Juris1=&Event=&Year=&Gloss=&Sub=&Tab=&Entry=&Guide=Civil_Registration_Births.ASP).
Locate the year of interest. Note that each year is divided into quarters (the
1st quarter being the months of January through March, the 2nd being April
through June, etc.)
Example:
|
Year of
Birth |
Quarter/Alpha
Surname |
Microfiche
and Microfilm Numbers |
|
|
|
|
|
1837 |
July - September
A-Z |
6101914 (6) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A-B C-Z |
557005 549928 |
|
|
|
|
|
1837 |
October -
December A-Z |
6101915 (7) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A-H I-Z |
557006 549929 |
The
birth, marriage, or death is in the register according to the date of
registration, and not the event date, so you will probably need to search more
than one quarter.
3. Find
the film(s) or fiche(s) you wish to search. The names are listed
alphabetically. More than one probable entry may be found.
The
indexes give information as shown in the following example:
NAME DISTRICT VOLUME PAGE
Smith,
Sarah Lambeth 2a
299
4. Was the probable entry found?
More
than one possibility?------copy down information &
see Consultant
One
possibility?---------------------copy down information
and go to step 3
No
possibility?-----------------------see Consultant
B. Copies
of certificates may be obtained by mail.
1. Applications
for birth, marriage, and death certificates can be sent to one of the two
following addresses:
a. General Register Office
Smedley Hydro
The
cost of each certificate obtained by mail from the General Register Office is ^13 (approximately
$20, which includes $1.50 for return postage). For the above mentioned fee, one
must obtain an international money order or bank draft in pounds sterling.
b. The office of the local Superintendant
Registrar for the district in which the event took place. The addresses of the
superintendent registrars may be obtained from The Official List 1993
(Ref Q 942 V2g 1993; 1983 edition on film # 897356).
Officials
of these offices are not required by law to help patrons, but most often will.
The cost of a certificate from the local office is ,6.50 (approximately $10). The local
registrars may search larger time periods for less money. However, you need to
know the district where the event took place (was registered). However,
registrars in the
2. A
civil certificate for birth, marriage, or death in England and/or Wales may be
obtained by phone, fax, postal mail, or online at http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/#0/supermainframeset.asp?display=start.
You may receive a discounted price if you have met the following conditions:
a. The indexes must be searched and the
appropriate entry located for the individual for whom you are looking.
b. You
make note of the information located on the filmed index; i.e. year, quarter of
the year, name of the individual(s), district, volume, and page number and
include all of that with your request.
c. You send your request by phone or fax
with a valid credit card number & expiration.
e. You
send your request with an International money order made out in pounds Sterling
(£). See Ruesch International for low cost cheques.
C. Which to use: The General Register
Office or the Local Registrar?
1. Follow these general rules:
a. Apply to The
General Register Office
i. For a short search
ii. When you have some details
iii. If you are not sure where the event took
place
b. Apply to the local Superintendent
Registrar
i. For broader searches
ii. If
you have few details
iii. When you are sure of where the event
took place
D. For a step-by-step procedure in
obtaining a certificate, reference can be made to the research paper Flow
Charts, Series A, No. 49 (929.1 G286gs), or to the hand-outs at the British
Reference counter.
IV. WHY OBTAIN BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH
CERTIFICATES?
A. They
list the date and place where the event took place -- including an exact street
address where the family or person resided, and addresses on certificates may
prove valuable in census searches.
B. They give names of persons, such as
witnesses, etc., who may be related.
C. They often list occupations, which may
lead to other record sources.
D. They list approximate ages on death and
marriage certificates. A knowledge of the person's age at the time of marriage
or death will help in determining the time period for searching in the parish
registers for the christening entry.
E. Other places of residence may be found
by obtaining all certificates for an individual or family. If all certificates
are obtained for a family, the movements of the family may be traced.
F. Information on birth and marriage
certificates can be used to submit names for temple work.
Things to Remember
1. It
may be necessary to search five or more years in the indexes, if a reference is
not found at the time that the event supposedly occurred. It is very common for
birth dates to be off several years in family records.
2. The indexes are arranged by time of registration, not event
date. It could be a person was registered several months after the event took
place. It is common to find the event registered in a quarter following the
event date, rather than in the same quarter.
3. Starting
in 1865, the death indexes give the age of the deceased. An age of
"0" (zero) means that the person was less than one year of age.
4. Starting
in 1911, the maiden name of the mother is given in the birth index.
5. Be sure to check all variations of the surname since the
indexes are strictly alphabetical, and surnames may be spelled in a variety of
ways. This is because the registrar spelled the name as he heard it (for
example: Smith = Smithe, Smyth, Smythe).
6. In
the birth indexes, the children who were registered without a given name are
listed at the end of a surname section as male or female, so if you cannot find
a person's birth registered under their given name, check the female/male
surname listings. Example:
Brown, William
Brown, Zachery
Brown, female
Brown, male
7. In marriage indexes, the same information is given for the
bride and groom. Example:
John Alfred Brown
Alice Smith
Because
the information is the same, it is easier to determine the right bride/groom
match in cases where the index shows several people of the same name. However,
there are more than one entry per page, so it is not possible to search all
names to find matching entries.
8. Only
registration district names are given on the civil registration indexes, so the
second column in the microfilm index is the district your ancestor was
registered in and not the parish or town where they lived, or where the
event took place. If you are unsure or do not know the name of the district for
the event place, look up the place name you have in the Imperial Gazetteer
of England and Wales (FHL call number Ref 942 E5i, vols. 1-6), where the
district names are given. Other reference aids for determining registration
districts are Census, 1961,
1. Herber, Mark. Ancestral Trails. pp.
36-56
2. Check
out the web sites www.findmypast.com
(free at FHL) and www.familyrelatives.org.
3. Read
the six England and Wales, How to Use guides on FamilySearch Research
Helps at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/RG/frameset_rhelps.asp?Page=./research/Placee/Placee.asp&ActiveTab=Place
4. England Research Outline, (FHL
Outline ENG 1) section on Civil Registration
5. Family Tree Detective (Colin
Rogers, FHL Ref 942 D27r 1997) pp. 15-44; 1401-1568, 180-189
6. The
Family History Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. English-Welsh Genealogy Research Procedures - Flow Charts.
929.142 G286gs Ser. A, No. 49, charts 1-3.
7. Gardner,
David and Smith, Frank. Genealogical Research in England
and Wales. Vol. 1