Annal David - Birth, marriage and death records : a guide for family historians

T oday, no single group has a greater, more active interest in records of births, marriages and deaths than the vast army of people who are researching their family histories. Family historians represent by far the biggest users of parish and civil registers and, as the interest in family history research continues to grow, there is no sign that this situation is about to change. But how many researchers take the time to stop and think about the records that they use? How many of us ask why the records were created in the first place? And how many family historians can say that they fully understand the processes behind their creation?

This book is designed to guide researchers through the records and explain how and where to access them, but it also seeks to tell the fascinating story behind the records that we use in our everyday research.

It is the story of the attempts of successive administrations to maintain an accurate and comprehensive record of the births, marriages and deaths of the inhabitants of the British Isles a story that stretches back through nearly 500 years of British history, covering a period that saw the country develop from a medieval state dominated by the Church to a modern industrialised nation. It is a story of challenges and innovations; of successes and failures; of starts and stops but, ultimately, it is a story of how the present-day civil registration systems in force in the different parts of Britain have come to rank among the most comprehensive and efficient in the world.

Nowadays, registering the birth of a newborn child is seen as an integral part of everyday life; similarly, a visit to the local Register Office is an important part of the process of dealing with the death of a loved one; and for couples getting married, the signing of the register is one of the central parts of the ceremony. This is also the story of how we reached this position.

We will see how the beginnings of our civil registration system can be traced back to the period when the Church of England was first established under King Henry VIII. The Church (then inseparable from the State) was the first of many organisations and institutions to take an interest in the registration process. Over the years, politicians, statisticians, religious Dissenters and members of the legal and medical professions have all attempted to exert their influence on how the system is run and to have their ideas incorporated in the process.

Successive pieces of legislation resulted in a steady shift towards a more comprehensive system, as loopholes were closed and coverage was gradually extended, but it is probably fair to say that fully comprehensive coverage will never be achieved. There will always be certain groups or individuals living on the fringes of society who, whether through ignorance or wilful deceit, will manage to evade the systems net.

The importance of the legislation in telling our story cannot be underestimated. The various Acts and Bills give us a fascinating glimpse into the minds of the people who created them, highlighting their intentions which, as we will see, were often far removed from the realities of their applications. It is all too easy, with hindsight, to see how ill-equipped the Church of England was to fulfil its designated role as official State record keeper, but it was a role that the Church held for 300 years.

One of the biggest problems facing the authorities, Church and State alike, has always been how to inform themselves that an event has taken place. The ultimate responsibility for registering events has shifted over the years from the record keeper to the citizen and the punishment for failing to do what was required of both parties has likewise varied.

As the British Empire grew, the authorities faced a fresh challenge how to record the births, marriages and deaths of British citizens who were living and working in the colonies and dependencies in the four corners of the world. And there are always new challenges around the corner. The General Register Office now keeps records of events occurring overseas, at sea, in the air and even onboard hovercrafts.