Basics on births, deaths & marriages (England and Wales)
Civil (government) registration of births, deaths and marriages commenced in England and Wales on 1 July 1837. Prior to that time, baptisms, marriages and burials had been the responsibility of the church. It is also worth bearing in mind that it was not until 1874 that the onus on registering births passed from a local registrar to the parents of a newborn child.
Accessing BDMs and how SAG can help you
All of the births, deaths and marriages since 1837 have been indexed and use of the indexes is the first step in tracing births, deaths and marriages. These indexes have been published on microfiche and SAG holds the indexes from 1837 to 1995. The indexes are also available online at ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.com, on a "pay to view" basis. Members of SAG have access to these sites for free in our library
The difficulty with these indexes is that, for the majority of the time period covered, they are divided into the type of event and are arranged quarterly. Therefore, there are separate indexes for births, for deaths and for marriages (unlike many States of Australia where all events are listed together in one alphabetical sequence) and there are four indexes for each year. The microfiche copies of the indexes can also be notoriously difficult to read.
Furthermore, the indexes provide little identifying information. For example, birth indexes prior to the September quarter of 1911 show only name and registration district and number. After that date, the indexes show mother's maiden name. With marriages there are separate indexes for brides and grooms which are not cross-referenced until the March quarter of 1912. With deaths, age is not shown on the indexes until the March quarter of 1866.
Fortunately, a project to completely transcribe the indexes (FreeBMD), operated by RootsWeb, is helping to overcome these difficulties.
Obtaining certificates
There are a number of ways of obtaining copies of certificates. For members of SAG, the easiest means is through use of our certificate courier service.
Postal applications may also be made or there is now an online ordering service at www.gro.gov.uk.
What a certificate tells you
Birth, death and marriage certificates for England & Wales are not as informative as the certificates found in most States of Australia. Typically, an English or Welsh birth certificate will show:
- Name and sex of child
- Date and place of birth
- Names of parents including mother's maiden name
- Father's occupation.
A marriage certificate will show:
- Names of parties
- Age of parties though this may be stated as 'of full age' rather than an exact age
- Residence at time of marriage
- Fathers' names and occupations
A death certificate will show:
- Name and sex of the deceased
- Age
- Cause of death
- Details of the informant to the death.
Clearly then, while English & Welsh birth, death and marriage certificates form the core records of genealogical value, they need to be supplemented by other sources such as probate and census records.