Queen Victoria acceded to the throne in 1837, the same year the civil registration of vital events was introduced. She promised to be good; the new agency, presumably, promised to be accurate. It had some problems, but nevertheless, the fledgling General Register Office accomplished astonishing results.

In the first 12 months of registration, more than 950,000 events were recorded. Charles Babbage was still working on his second "difference engine," the forerunner of today's computers (you can see it in the Science Museum in London), so there was no mechanical assistance. Neither was there an administrative system because the act establishing local government was 50 years in the future. The only framework adopted was the poor law union, with districts established under the Poor Law Reform Act of 1834.

District registrars and sub-registrars were appointed, and they totaled more than 3,000. The local sub-registrars were paid on a piece-by-piece basis. Not surprisingly, a few were caught padding the books. [Careless research might insert a fictitious figure into your family tree!] Despite the laborious nature of the work, the difficulty of recording and reporting events to London in a timely fashion, and the temptation each sub-registrar faced, the new system was a success.

In fact, over the next hundred years, the General Register Office made remarkably few changes. Here are three examples of the minute changes it did make: (1) it changed from handwritten to printed indexes, (2) registration became obligatory in 1875, and (3) a mother, when reporting an illegitimate birth, could not name the father; he had to be present and consent to his name being entered (1875).

The most significant feature of civil registration was its impact on marriage. From 1754 to 1837, there were three legally recognized (religious) methods of marriage in England and Wales: Church of England, Quaker, and Jewish. With the introduction of civil registration, a couple could marry in a registry office or in any church in the land. A Church of England minister could perform the service on his own, but until 1897, all other forms of church marriage required the presence of a civil registrar. Couples could also, for the first time, marry in a civil ceremony before a registrar.

The Documents
Each of the three available types of vital records certificates contains information to lead you elsewhere, but only two of them (birth and marriage certificates) include parental details. All of them—across the top—indicate a registration district and either the subdistrict or the location of the marriage.

Birth certificates from this period, which were organized in columns from left to right, give the following: birth date (and time, in the case of twins); birthplace (street address, farm, village); name and gender of child; forename and surname of the father (blank for many illegitimate children); forename, surname, and maiden name of the mother; the occupation of the father; the signature; a description and address of the informant; the date of registration; and the signature of the registrar.

Marriage certificates, which were also organized in columns, give the following information: the date of the event; names of the bride and groom; ages of the bride and groom (the record may only indicate "of full age," which usually meant over 21, but occasionally signified "over the age permissible": 14 for girls and 16 for boys until 1929); each spouse's "condition" (bachelor, spinster, widow, etc.); each person's rank or profession; the bride and groom's respective residences at the time of the marriage; fathers' names; and fathers' ranks or professions. There is also an indication of the form of the ceremony and the signatures (or marks) of the couple, two witnesses, and the officiating minister or registrar.

Death certificates of the time, which were again organized in columns from left to right, give the following: the date and place of death; the forename and surname of the deceased; the deceased's gender, age, and occupation; the cause of death; a signature; a description and listing of the residence of the informant; the date of registration; and the signature of the registrar. Burial could not take place without the presentation of a death certificate.

The public does not have access to the original registers in which births, marriages, and deaths were recorded, but if you would like to read detailed information about the certificates and their contents, visit GENUKI. Once there, click on England, and in the list of topics below the county names, click on "Civil Registration." There are several useful sites there.

The Indexes
National indexes were created from the start of civil registration. They were prepared in London from quarterly reports sent in by the registrars throughout England and Wales. The indexes therefore follow the quarterly arrangement; the first quarter volume is for January, February, and March, and so on. There are separate sets for births, marriages, and deaths.

At the Family Records Centre in London, you can consult the large index volumes, which are arranged in sections and then in chronological order, for births, marriages, and deaths. Film and fiche versions, found in libraries and Family History Centers, mirror this arrangement. Just keep in mind that it takes several fiche and often two or more films to list all the entries for one quarter. In all indexes, male and female names are listed together in alphabetical order according to surname and forename; additionally, the name of the registration district, the volume, and the page are given.

From the first quarter of 1866 until 1969, death indexes included the age of the deceased; in 1969, the birth date was substituted for the age at death. In 1911, the birth indexes begin to include the maiden name of the child's mother, and in 1912, marriage indexes added the surname of the spouse. Names of both bride and groom are indexed.

These indexes are widely available. In North America, they can be found in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (for records up to 1980), and many local Family History Centers have extensive collections on microfilm or microfiche; be sure to check out the collection at the nearest Center. On the Internet, RootsWeb.com has many volunteers who are contributing to the "Free BMD" index (go to RootsWeb.com and click on "Free BMD"). This database's growth, when measured as a percentage of all entries from 1837 to 1899, seems slow, but in sheer numbers, it is impressive. The size of the index is now at almost 7 million—perhaps 6 percent of all 19th-century entries.

Next Time
Part 2 of this article will discuss obtaining vital records certificates and will give tips, traps, and alternatives.

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for 30 years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services in 1988; she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is vice president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Sherry is also the author of Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans and Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans. You can e-mail Sherry with suggestions for future British genealogy articles at sherryirvine55@myfamily.com. She will not be able to send personal replies, but will feature some questions in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. Sherry also regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.