                           PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE

                       RECORDS INFORMATION SHEET 39

                  RECORDS OF BIRTHS MARRIAGES AND DEATHS

In many cases the public Record Office is not the right place in which to 
begin tracing the record of a birth, marriage or death. This leaflet 
explains where else a search might be initiated, and then describes those 
sources which are available in the Public Record Office.


Parish Registers and Bishops' Transcripts Preserved Locally 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Until the Registration and Marriage Acts of 1836 came into operation on 1
July 1837 there was no provision for the central registration of births, 
marriages and deaths in England and Wales. Before that date records of
baptisms, marriages and burials had been kept in Parish Registers by clergy 
of the Church of England since Thomas Cromwell's injunctions of 1538. The 
earliest registers were generally papers books and few originals now 
survive.  In 1598 Elizabeth I approved a 1597 provincial Constitution of 
Canterbury which ordered that parchment registers should be kept and that 
entries from the earlier registers should be copied into them. It also 
provided for transcripts to be made from the registers and submitted yearly 
to the diocesan registrar. Transcripts survive in some dioceses from earlier 
in the century and it is possible that general submission of transcripts had 
been ordered earlier than 1598. Parish Registers are still held locally, 
either in the custody of the incumbent and church wardens or deposited in a 
local record office. The transcripts are now usually deposited by the 
diocesan registrar in the appropriate diocesan record office.  Enquiries 
about registers and transcripts should be addressed in the first instance to 
the appropriate record office, whose address may be obtained from the 
booklet Record Repositories in Great Britain (Royal Commission on Historical 
Manuscripts/HMSO, London).  Lists of the original registers so deposited, 
but not of transcripts, are given in Original Parish Registers in Record 
Offices and Libraries (Local Population Studies, 1974 and Supplements).

Records of over 25 million baptisms and some marriages from British parish 
registers and other sources have been indexed by the Genealogical Society of 
Utah. The index, known as the Computer File index (CFI) or the International 
Genealogical Index (IGI), may be consulted on microfiche at the Guildhall 
Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ, in many County Record Offices and 
some public libraries and Mormon chapels. The Society of Genealogists, (14 
Charterhouse Buildings, London EC1M 7BA) has a copy which can be consulted 
on payment of the usual fee.


Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths Preserved Elsewhere 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Records of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1 July
1837 are preserved at the General Register Office. Indexes to the registers 
may be consulted at St Catherine's House, Kingsway, London WC2. Postal 
enquiries should be addressed to the General Register Office, Smedley Hydro, 
Trafalgar Road, Southport, Merseyside, PRB 2HH. Records of births, marriages 
and deaths in Scotland since 1 January 1855 and earlier registers of births 
or baptisms, marriages and deaths or burials kept by the Church of Scotland 
in the various parishes are preserved at the General Register Office, New 
Register House, Edinburgh EH1 3YY. Records of births, marriages and deaths 
in all Ireland from 1 January 1864 to 31 December 1921 and in the Republic 
of Ireland since 1 January 1922 as well as records of marriages in all 
Ireland, except those celebrated by the Roman Catholic Clergy, from 1 April 
1845 to 31 December 1863 are preserved at the General Register Office, 
Customs House, Dublin. Records of births, marriages and deaths in Northern 
Ireland since 1 January 1922 are preserved in the General Register Office, 
Belfast.

Records of births, marriages and deaths of British nationals at sea, in 
foreign countries or while serving in HM Forces abroad are preserved at the 
Register Office of their country of origin, but may also be recorded at the 
General Register Office in the 'Overseas' section.* 

Many records of baptisms, marriages and burials abroad (1706-1939) which 
have been returned to this country*, mainly from Anglican congregations, are 
preserved in the Guildhall Library, London EC2, or Lambeth Palace Library, 
London SE1. Ecclesiastical records of baptisms, marriages and burials in 
India and Burma, however, are preserved at India Office Library and Records, 
Orbit House, 197 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8NG.

Full details of the registers of births, deaths and marriages kept in the 
United kingdom, in other countries of the Commonwealth and in the Republic 
of Ireland are given in the General Register Office's Abstract of 
Arrangements respecting Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths 
(London, HMSO, 1952).


Non-Parochial Registers and Records in the PRO (RG 4 - RG 8) 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many dissenting churches maintained their own registers, especially after
1785, when the extension of stamp duty to registration in Non-Conformist 
Registers appeared to give official sanction to them. They do not contain 
marriage entries after Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 which 
restricted marriage to the parish church, except for Jews and Quakers; it 
was often ignored by Roman Catholics. The Registration Act of 1695 required 
notice of all births to be given to the parish clergymen but this was not 
observed for more than a few years. A registry of births of Presbyterians, 
Independents and Baptists living in and around London was established at Dr 
William's Library in Red Cross Street in 1742 and the Wesleyan Methodists 
established their own Metropolitan Registry in Paternoster Row in 1818. The 
Wesleyan Metropolitan Registry recorded baptisms in London and it the 
provinces and some which occurred abroad. Those dissenting churches which 
had their own cemeteries also maintained registers of burials, while the 
Quakers and (until 1753) a few other dissenting churches maintained 
registers of marriages.

In 1836 Commissioners were appointed to inquire into the state, custody and 
authenticity of these non-parochial registers and their Report of 1838 
(House of Commons, Sessional Papers, 1837/38, vol.28) was followed by the 
Non-Parochial Registers Act of 1840. This provided that those registers and 
records authenticated by the Commissioners, together with certain 
unauthenticated registers of baptisms and marriages performed at the Fleet 
and King's Bench Prison, at May Fair and at the Mint at Southwark, which had 
been deposited in the Bishop of London's Registry in 1821, should be 
deposited in the General Register Office.

A new Commission was appointed in 1857 to consider a number of non-parochial
registers which had come to light since 1838. It made its report later in 
the same year (House of Commons, Sessional Papers, 1857/58, vol. 23) and 
this was followed by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1858, which 
provided for the authentication of these registers and their deposit in the 
General Register Office.

The non-parochial registers and Records deposited under the Acts of 1840 and 
1858, together with a few unauthenticated registers deposited subsequently 
in the General Register Office, were transferred in 1961 to the Public 
Record Office, where they have been arranged in five classes, comprising 
some 7000 volumes and files. They are open to inspection without payment of 
a fee in the Search Rooms. There is no general index to these classes 
(although many of the registers have been included in the Computer File 
Index mentioned above and some county indexes are in preparation) and for a 
search to be practicable it is necessary to know at least the approximate 
locality in which a birth, marriage or death occurred and preferably also 
the denomination of the church or chapel at which it would be likely to be 
registered. Extended and speculative searches in these registers cannot be 
undertaken by the staff of the Public Record Office.

With one exception (the register of the Independent Church at St Petersburg, 
Russia, 1818-1840) the non-parochial registers relate solely to England and 
Wales. Almost all are from Protestant Non-Conformist Churches; they include 
several registers of Huguenot and other Foreign Protestant Churches in 
England and a separate class of registers of the Society of Friends 
(Quakers). Indexes to the latter are preserved in the Library of the Society 
of Friends, Friends' House, Euston Road, London NW1. The few Roman Catholic
registers  which  are  included  come  mainly  from  the  north  of England; 
other Roman Catholic registers remain in the custody of the present priests-
in-charge of the respective churches. A few registers relate to non-
denominational institutions, such as the City of London burial ground at 
Bunhill Fields and the British Lying-in-Hospital, Holborn. There are no 
Jewish registers.

Among the "unauthenticated" registers (RG 7) are the records of the 
thousands of illicit marriages conducted in and around the Fleet Prison, in 
Mayfair, at the Mint in Southwark and in the King's Bench Prison (Fleet 
Registers). There are no indexes to these and they should be treated with 
extreme caution some are certainly forgeries.

Most non-parochial registers relate to the period 1775-1837, although a few 
do continue beyond that date to as late as 1857 and several go back as far 
as the middle of the seventeenth century or even, in the case of some 
Foreign Protestant Churches, to the sixteenth century.

A fuller account of the history of these registers will be found in Edwin 
Welch, 'Nonconformist Registers' in the Journal of the Society of 
Archivists, volume II, No.9, pp.411 - 417.


Other sources in the Public Record Office 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The miscellaneous foreign registers and returns of births, marriages and
deaths of British nationals abroad, formerly held by the General Register 
Office, have now been transferred to the Public Record Office (RG 32-36). 
With the exception of Paris (1784), the Hague (1637), Rotterdam (1708) and 
Leghorn (1707) the earliest entries are for the 1830s.

Registrations entered at British embassies and consulates are included in 
several classes of Foreign Office records of which detailed lists are 
available in the Search Department.

Births, marriages and deaths at sea between 1854 and 1890 may sometimes be 
traced in the records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (BT 
153-160).

The age and place of birth of a person living in 1851, 1861 or 1871 (or, to 
a limited extent, in 1841) can be ascertained from the census returns of 
those years provided that the place of residence at the time of the census 
is known. Dates of birth and, less frequently, marriage of persons serving 
in the armed forces in the nineteenth Century can often be ascertained from 
the records of the Admiralty, the War Office and the Paymaster General's 
Office. The records of the Paymaster General's Office can also be used to 
ascertain the dates of civil servants who had retired on pension between 
1834 and 1913. Searches in the above records are usually practicable only 
when a considerable amount of preliminary information is already known.

Material of genealogical value is to be found in many other classes of 
Public Records, some of them extending back as far as the thirteenth 
century. For the most part, however, this material is not easy to handle 
except after some preliminary experience or instruction and in the light of 
knowledge derived from other sources. More information is available in 
Information number fourteen. There are also leaflets available on specific 
sources eg. census returns, service records, merchant seamen's records etc.

The documents in the Public Record Office described in this leaflet may be 
seen only as follows:


            Public Record Office Chancery Lane
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Nonparochial Registers (RG)

            Foreign Registers and returns (RG)

            Census returns (RG and HO)


            Public Record Office Kew
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Embassy and Consular archives (FO)

            Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (BT)

            Admiralty (AIM)

            War Office (WO)

            Paymaster General (PMG)



 (C) Crown Copyright, Public Records Office, May 1990
_____________________________________________________________________________

*(See appendix 1 and also: Other sources in the Public Records Office
_____________________________________________________________________________


                            APPENDIX 1

      'OVERSEAS' RECORDS HELD BY THE GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE

1. Consular and High Commission Returns:-  These records relate to Births, 
Deaths and Marriages of British subjects in most foreign countries 
registered by British Consuls and Births and Deaths of British subjects in 
most commonwealth countries registered by British High Commissions. Such 
registration are not compulsory and are normally completed after 
registration with the local authorities.

2. Service Departments Returns:-  These are records relating to Births,
Deaths and Marriages among members of HM Forces and certain other persons 
working for or attached to HM Forces. Again such registrations are not 
compulsory, however, in some countries it is possible to register a Birth or 
Death in a Service Department's Register and in a Consular or High 
Commission register. In such cases indexes would show two different entries 
relating to the same persons.

3. Registers containing the registration of Deaths of Servicemen in World 
Wars 1 and 2:-  These records can contain very little information and the 
actual place of death can be very vague. The entries are not duplicated in 
the Service Departments Registers.

4. Records of Births and Deaths at Sea since 1 July 1837 (Marine Register 
Book):-  These returns relate to Births and Deaths occurring at sea on any 
ship registered in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

5. Records of Births and Deaths in Aircraft (Air Register Book):-  These 
returns commenced in 1949 and relate to Births and Deaths occurring in any 
part of the world in any aircraft registered in Great Britain and Northern 
Ireland.

6. Marriage Certificates forwarded to the British High Commission in India, 
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ghana from 1950 and Foreign Marriage Certificates 
forwarded by British Consuls.

7. Regimental Registers:-  These relate to Army records of baptisms and 
marriages. Because the indexes to these records are incomplete it is 
necessary to know the name of the regiment in which the person or the father 
was serving.

_____________________________________________________________________________


                                 APPENDIX 2

                 HOW TO FIND A RECORD OF A BIRTH OR BAPTISM


(i)   Read the FIRST question.
(ii)  Answer 'yes' or 'no' to it, and then read the item to which you are
      referred.
(iii) Carry on in this way reading ONLY the items you are instructed to
      read.
(iv)  Some items are instructions for searching. If the search is
      unsuccessful continue with the items to which you are referred.

1.  Was the birth in England or Wales?                YES          Read 28
                                                      NO           Read 2

2.  Was the birth in Scotland?                        YES          Read 3
                                                      NO           Read 4

3.  Consult records in General Registry, Edinburgh.   UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

4.  Was the birth in Ireland?                         YES          Read 5
                                                      NO           Read 10

5.  Was the birth before 1 January 1922?              YES          Read 8
                                                      NO           Read 6

6.  Was the birth in Southern Ireland?                YES          Read 9
                                                      NO           Read 7

7.  Consult General Register Office, Belfast.         UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

8.  Was the birth after 1864?                         YES          Read 9
                                                      NO           Read 83

9.  Consult General Register Office, Dublin.          UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

10. Was the birth in India, Burma, Aden,              YES          Read 11
    St Helena, South East Asia?                       NO           Read 12

11. Consult India Office Records.                     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 13

12. Was the birth elsewhere in the Commonwealth?      YES          Read 13
                                                      NO           Read 14

13. Consult registers in country of birth.
    See: General Register Office, Abstract of
    arrangements respecting registration of
    births, marriages and deaths in the United
    Kingdom and the other countries of the
    British Commonwealth ... (London, 1952).          UNSUCCESSFUL Read 19

14. Was the birth elsewhere abroad?                   YES          Read 15
                                                      NO           Read 22



15. Were the parents British?                         YES          Read 17
                                                      NO           Read 16

16. Consult immigration records in the Public
    Record Office.                                    UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

17. Was the birth at St Petersburg, Russia,           YES          Read 18
    1840?                                             NO           Read 19

18. Search RG 4/4605 in the Public Record Office.     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 19

19. Consult register of births overseas, RG 32-36
    in the Public Record Office.                      UNSUCCESSFUL Read 20

20. Consult Bishop of London's Registers at
    Guildhall Library, London.                        UNSUCCESSFUL Read 2l

21. Consult miscellaneous registers at Lambeth
    Palace Library.                                   UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

22. Was the birth at sea?                             YES          Read 23
                                                      NO           Read 27

23. Were the parents British?                         YES          Read 29
                                                      NO           Read 24

24. Was the birth after 1854?                         YES          Read 25
                                                      NO           Read 83

25. Was the ship British?                             YES          Read 26
                                                      NO           Read 83

26. Consult records of the Registrar of Shipping
    and Seamen in the Public Record Office.           UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

27. Was the birth in a British aircraft?              YES          Read 29
                                                      NO           Read 83

28. Was the birth before 1 July 1837?                 YES          Read 30
                                                      NO           Read 29

29. Consult records in General Register Office.       UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

30. Was the birth after 1538?                         YES          Read 31
                                                      NO           Read 83

31. Is the place of birth known or assumed?           YES          Read 47
                                                      NO           Read 32

32. Is the residence in 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871        YES          Read 33
    or 1881 known?                                    NO           Read 34

33. Consult census records in the Public Record
    Office.                                           UNSUCCESSFUL Read 34

34. Did the person serve subsequently in the          YES          Read 35
    British Army?                                     NO           Read 36

35. Consult records of military service in the
    Public Record Office.                             UNSUCCESSFUL Read 36

36. Did the person serve subsequently in the          YES          Read 37
    Royal Navy?                                       NO           Read 38

37. Consult records of naval service in the
    Public Record Office.                             UNSUCCESSFUL Read 38

38. Did the person serve subsequently in the          YES          Read 39
    Indian Army, Marine or Civil Service or           NO           Read 40
    with the East India Company?

39. Consult India Office Records.                     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 40

40. Did the person serve subsequently in the          YES          Read 41
    Merchant Navy?                                    NO           Read 42

41. Consult Records of the Registrar General of
    Shipping and Seamen in the Public Record Office.  UNSUCCESSFUL Read 42

42. Did the person serve subsequently in the          YES          Read 43
    British Civil Service?                            NO           Read 45

43. Was he appointed after 1855?                      YES          Read 44
                                                      NO           Read 45

44. Consult Civil Service Department.                 UNSUCCESSFUL Read 45

45. Did the person subsequently emigrate?             YES          Read 46
                                                      NO           Read 83

46. Consult emigration records in the Public          UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83
    Record Office.

47. Is the religious denomination of the person       YES          Read 60
    or his parents known?                             NO           Read 48

48. Was the person born at the British Lying-in-      YES          Read 49
    Hospital Holborn?                                 NO           Read 50

49. Consult RG 8/52-66 in the Public Record Office.   UNSUCCESSFUL.Read 50

50. Was the person baptized in the Fleet or King's    YES          Read 51
    Bench Prisons, Mayfair Chapel or the Mint?        NO           Read 52

51. Consult RG 7 in the Public Record Office.         UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

52. Was the person baptized in Greenwich Hospital?    YES          Read 53
                                                      NO           Read 54

53. Consult RG 4/1669, 1670, 1677, 1678 in the
    Public Record Office.                             UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

54. Was the person baptized in Chelsea Hospital?      YES          Read 55
                                                      NO           Read 56

55. Consult RG 4/4330, 4387 in the Public Record
    Office.                                           UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

56. Was the person baptized in one of the             YES          Read 57
    Chapels Royal?                                    NO           Read 58

57. Consult RG 8/110 in the Public Record Office.     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

58. Was the person baptized in Somerset House         YES          Read 59
    Chapel?                                           NO           Read 82

59. Consult RG 8/109 in the Public Record Office.     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

60. Was the person a member of a Foreign              YES          Read 61
    Protestant Church?                                NO           Read 64

61. Consult RG 4 and RG 8 in the Public Record
    Office.                                           UNSUCCESSFUL Read 62

62. Consult Foreign Protestant Registers in the
    Guildhall Library, London.                        UNSUCCESSFUL Read 63

63. Consult the Huguenot Society.                     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

64. Was the person a member of a Russian              YES          Read 65
    Orthodox church?                                  NO           Read 66

65. Consult RG 8/111-304 in the Public Record Office. UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

66. Was the person a Quaker (Society of Friends)?     YES          Read 67
                                                      NO           Read 68

67. Consult RG 6 and RG 8 in the Public Record Office.UNSUCCESSFUL Read 68

68. Consult the Religious Society of Friends.         UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

69. Was the person a Methodist or Wesleyan?           YES          Read 77
                                                      NO           Read 71

70. Consult RG 4/4677-4680, RG 5/162-207 in the
    Public Record Office.                             UNSUCCESSFUL Read 75

71. Was the person a member of some other             YES          Read 72
    Protestant Non-conformist church?                 NO           Read 76

72. Was the person born in or around London?          YES          Read 73
                                                      NO           Read 75

73. Was the person born after 1742?                   YES          Read 74
                                                      NO           Read 75

74. Consult RG 4/4658-4676, RG 5/1-161 in the
    Public Record Office.                             UNSUCCESSFUL Read 75

75. Consult RG 4 and RG 8 in the Public Record
    Office.                                           UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

76. Was the person a Roman Catholic?                  YES          Read 77
                                                      NO           Read 79

77. Consult RG 4 in the Public Record Office.         UNSUCCESSFUL Read 78

78. Consult records of Roman Catholic churches
    held locally.                                     UNSUCCESSFUL Read 82

79. Was the person Jewish?                            YES          Read 80
                                                      NO           Read 81

80. Consult Synagogue records preserved locally
    or the Mormon Computer File Index.                UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

81. Was the person a member of the Church of          YES          Read 82
    England (Anglican) ?                              NO           Read 83

82. Consult Parish Registers held locally.            UNSUCCESSFUL Read 83

83. Take expert advice: eg. of the Society of
    Genealogists.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR. Tel: (081) 876-3444 
Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU 
Tel: (081) 876-3444

Opening hours 9.30am - 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. Closed on public holidays 
and for annual stocktaking (normally the first two full weeks in October).

Admission is by reader's ticket which will be issued on production at proof 
of identity such as a driving licence or passport.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes
~~~~~

1)   This transcript has been produced with the kind permission of the      
     Public Records Office.

2)   This file can be distributed freely on any genealogy related
     e-mail system provided that it is not altered in any way
     whatsoever other than to change the archiving method.

3)   Transcription of the document was performed by:

              Simon Quill,      2:254/231.0@Fidonet
                                simon@yacc.demon.co.uk
                                CIS: 100014,3032

              Rosemary Lockie,  2:253/188.0@Fidonet
                                rosemary@yacc.demon.co.uk
_____________________________________________________________________________


