4 – Civil Registration:

Introduction

Having made a start on recording our Family History, where do we go next? This post has been written to tell you all about civil registration, as I feel that it is not only logical, in your search for more information, but is a little easier than other methods as you progress down the road of extending your knowledge of your family.

Background

Familiar to us all in the form of Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates, these documents are most useful in the quest for information on our ancestors. These records first became a legal requirement from July 1st
1837 when the state became responsible for the registration of all births, marriages and deaths, even then not everyone was registered, however the majority of people were.

Initially the system only applied to England and Wales, registration for Scotland began on January 1st 1855, the Irish had to wait even longer until January 1st 1864.

The reasons for lack of registration could be many, particularly in relation to births, ignorance of the law, the records having been misspell over the years from the original to the index are just two. Another common one is that the Christian name registered may not be that by which the person was known. A prime example is ‘Polly’ which was another name for those registered or baptised as ‘Mary Ann’.

Until 1875 parents were not penalized for failing to register a birth, which is possibly yet another reason for the lack of a birth certificate. Some of the Home Counties in particular have a high rate of non-registration.

Prior to this date I have seen several examples where the child has been baptised, but there appears to be no existence of a birth certificate.

After this date confusion can also be caused as people were given forty-two days in which to register a birth, a fine was payable when registering a birth after six weeks. After six months it was not possible to register the child at all, except in very exceptional circumstances.

It is possible that some dates that you find may not match, if parents missed the six weeks by a day or so, it was not uncommon for the child to be registered as born ‘a little later’ to avoid the payment of a fine.

A ‘missing’ marriage [one you cannot find] could be down to just incorrect spelling or very often it was the mere fact that the couple did not marry.

A look at your own certificates and any in your possession will show you just how much information they contain.

Birth Certificates:

These can yield useful clues in our search for further information:

Date of Birth

Place of Birth

Full name of the child

Father’s name and occupation

*Mother’s maiden name

*Only from 1929 was it a legal requirement for the Mother’s maiden name to be included, however all the certificates in my possession from earlier dates do have it on.

Whilst the date of birth is important, to help locate other factors such as a marriage, the place of birth can sometimes help direct your inquiries to a previously un-thought of area, e.g. daughters certainly in Victorian times often went home to Mum to give birth to their first child. This also occurred in other eras – my own Mother went to my Gran’s in Yorkshire to give birth to me, this was due to the war and the concern of bombing in the Midlands.

The full name of the child may not seem of great concern but when a child has several and is known by one other than their first name it can help in a more positive identification at a later stage in your work. My own first name is only ever used on legal documents, as it is a male family name which has been in use for several generations. It is certainly the fifth generation that it has been used, was sad when I read this fact in the Family Bible, as my own son would have borne it.

The father’s name and occupation can be useful in either giving previously unknown information such as his occupation or confirming his full name. This is not always given so be wary.

The mother’s maiden name alone is often worth more than its weight in gold, as it can lead to another family and help in the search for the marriage certificate.

Marriage Certificates:

Like the birth certificate this again can yield up some vital information as we try to piece together more information. It will hopefully help us to not only fill in gaps about a known person but will give us more names to add to our steadily growing pool of knowledge, which in turn will expand our family tree.

Perhaps more importantly this can also give us at least two extra names which maybe unknown to us until now.

The important details on this certificate
are:

The date of the ceremony

Where it was performed

The names of the couple

Ages are often given, if ‘full’ is written it means they were over 21 years of age

If both were single or previously married [i.e. widowed]

Where they were both living at the time of the marriage

The names of both fathers and their respective occupations

The names of the witnesses

Each of these facts can help cement other facts together, those we already know or those which we will come across later.

The date of the ceremony can sometimes, but not always, be an indicator of the issue of the couple. For example if you are looking at the birth certificate of say Fred Smith who was born in October 1911, and his mother Ann’s maiden name was Harris finding a marriage in the name of Fred Smith and Ann Harris for June 1918 would almost certainly rule out a connection. Do be aware of the fact that couples were not averse to lying and saying that they were married when they were not. In some cases it is possible that one of them was married already.

Also, as mentioned earlier look out for the seven-month pregnancies and shorter, do not be fooled by anything that you read.

The place of the marriage can again be of help. If you have two marriages of similar names and one is in the known area of, say the birth of at least one of the couple who you are researching, it can be a useful factor.

The condition of the couple, whether single or not, helps when one or both of the parties have been married before, and you find children that you are sure belong to one of them but they will not match with the other party.

Be aware that some vicars were only concerned that the couple could legally marry, so would put in single or a ‘u’ for unmarried when in fact they were a widow or widowed.

The ages where given can also be of great help. They can lead to a search for the birth certificate of say the wife, where the actual date was previously unknown, with a little more accuracy. They can be particularly useful in cases where the woman is older than the man, or the age difference is considerable between a man and a woman.

The occupation can be of help later when other documents are found, they can help pin point a person to a particular area, or make one search a bit harder.

My mother’s grandfather was always said to be a farmer from the West Country, by those in the family who knew him or remembered him. All my documents showed that he was a tin miner from Cornwall and later a coal miner in the Darlington area. Eventually I did find him as a farmer, which confused me somewhat, how did he jump from miner to farmer? It was only the discovery of a will indicating that he inherited a lot of money which led to the reason for the farm. [This was outside Darlington, I now have photographs of both the farm and the family.].

The residence at the time of marriage can be of use in helping to locate other members of the family. Were they from the same area, had they moved there? Unfortunately for family historians, sometimes one of the couple had moved to the area to seek work, stayed there and got married.

The father’s names are a prime source on this certificate in that they give you another link back, also they show the occupation, and sometimes carry the words ‘deceased’, which helps to pin point the approximate date of death. Where a mother had remarried and the child considered their stepfather to be more of a father figure, they are allowed to put them as their father. I have found this on one of my relatives, which led to an incorrect surname and occupation. The vicar having just asked for the father’s name, and assumed that he had the same surname.

Whilst it was a requirement that the word ‘deceased’ appeared this was not always adhered to.

Finally, always make a note of the witnesses, you never know when they will help complete a puzzle. On the marriage certificate of my great-grandfather was a Florence Wright. I always thought that she was a bridesmaid or similar, however when I turned up the census of some ten years before the marriage I find her living at my grandfathers. She was his half-sister, my 2 times great-grandmother had married after the birth of granddad.

The witnesses can also help, e.g. a sister who has married giving her married name.

Death Certificates:

The most obvious use of these is confirming the date of death. No more records of this person will be made after this date, apart from the proving of their estate. They can however yield other important bits of information which can confirm or strengthen other ideas which you may have.

The important details on this certificate
are:

Place of death

Age [only recorded from 1865]

Occupation

Informant’s details [In attendance means the person who registered the details did so in person and was not present at the death]

The place of death, if it is not a hospital, can sometimes lead you to a family residence or area of which you were previously unaware.

The age can be useful, but be careful they are not always strictly accurate, especially if the person reporting the death is not a member of the family, even if they are, it still might not be right. We can all recall an elderly aunt or grandmother saying “after all I am nearly eighty you know” when she might have only been seventy-seven.

The occupation can sometimes throw up a slant which you may not be aware of or of which you needed confirmation.

The informant can be of use when it is a daughter who has married and you are not aware of her married name, or a son of whom you had no previous knowledge.

When registration came into being in 1837, a death had to be registered within eight days this was reduced to five days in 1875.

Obtaining Certificates:

The question which by now must be on your lips is “OK we have no certificates, or have done all we can with those we have, where can we get copies of those which we need?”

Every certificate which has ever been issued in England and Wales is indexed. These are housed in books at the Office of National Statistics [ONS]
which, whilst formerly at St. Catherine’s House in London, is now part of the Family Record Centre at Myddleton Street. Each type of entry is in its own colour coded book, with each year split into quarters.

The quarters are recorded as March, June, September and December and contain the records which were registered during that quarter, which may not be the quarter in which the actual event took place.

If you thought a marriage was in June 1891 and cannot find it check September 1891.

Red backed books contain birth certificates, green the marriage certificates and the black ones the death certificates. If you are able to visit London and search these books and want a copy of a particular certificate, you have to fill a form in and pay a fee for each copy ordered. They take about four working days to be delivered to your home.

The information given in the indexes are:

Surname, Christian Name, Registration District, Volume and Page Reference.

It is these details which you required to fill in on the application form.

If you do decide to visit the ONS to do your own searches, be prepared for a very hectic and exhausting day. Whilst the records are filed in order they do not necessarily stay that way as hundreds of family historians and other researchers are trying to consult them at the same time as you!! Go armed with as much information as possible on the people you are searching. You will find it extremely frustrating if you try to work methodically here. A book may not be in its appropriate place when you require it, so be prepared to jump from one search to another many times during the day.

If you cannot visit in person a researcher will do it for you, [charges at the moment start from around eight pounds fifty, dependent on what information you can give {this does include the certificate}]. In the past I have often used this method as it has been a lot cheaper for me than going to London.

You can obtain a copy from the local registrar’s office which issued the original. In some cases a search fee may be payable and you will need to inquire before deciding what, is the best course of action. Some local registrars are too busy to do a search unless you have a lot of information to supply.

You can of course do it yourself, from a distance, by researching an index held locally, at either a library or at your local family history society. Quite a number of places now hold these indexes on either microfilm or microfiche. You have to sort it out for yourself and when you are satisfied that you have the correct information that you require make a note of the details including the reference number and send off for it with a cheque for six pounds fifty to the original registry office.

Postal applications to the ONS are usually twelve pounds.

(NB: Prices were correct when these note were written they could be much higher, you will need to check)

Some societies run regular trips to the record offices in London, if you cannot attend in person, providing that you have the reference number and the relevant details it is often possible to ask someone to apply for the certificate for you.

It is vitally important that you record all the books and quarters which you have searched this will avoid a lot of time-wasting at a later date.

Use a logical progression when applying for certificates. Use a birth certificate as your first lead this has the parents on including the mother’s maiden name. From there trace the marriage certificate, this also has the fathers names on, so you should be able to trace the birth certificates of the couple who were married. Continue like this until you reach 1837.

Being able to obtain certificates or at least search the indexes to see if they existed is fine but remember that source will eventually dry up, as we said earlier they did not exist until 1837, before that you will have to look at the Parish Records where the services took place.

It also possible to search the indexes on line, this will be covered in detail under on-line sources.

However, as you will no doubt be impatient to find out more, you can always have a look at the following:

Ancestry.com

Find my past.com

A fee could be involved.

Top Tip:

Just because your search on-line shows a relative, do find the original document before you add the details to your family tree.

Be Happy, Healthy and Wealthy

Stuart

https://familyhistorythestart.com