Читать книгу Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy: The definitive reference guide to tracing your family history - Nick Barratt - Страница 130

In 1837, England and Wales were divided up into 27 registration districts, based upon the contemporary Poor Law Unions. Each district was administered by a Superintendent Registrar and was further subdivided into local districts staffed by local registrars. The original registration districts were reorganized in 1852 and their number increased to 33, with a further revision taking place in 1946. A Registrar General was appointed to be responsible for the entire system and was originally based in London.

The local registrar would record each birth or death and originally it was the responsibility of the official to collect this information. He would be expected to travel through his local district and record each birth within six weeks and each death within five days. As there was no onus placed on the family to report this information there may be some gaps in the early registers. The situation changed in 1874 with the passing of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. The burden of responsibility for reporting the information now lay with the family; fines were payable for late or non-registration from 1875 onwards.

Each event was recorded on a special form, with one copy retained by the registrar and one copy issued to the informant. The information compiled locally would then be sent to the superintendent registrar, who would in turn send a copy of all registrations in his district to the Registrar General in London on a quarterly basis.

The situation was slightly different for marriages. The clergy for churches that were officially authorized to record marriages were expected to send the quarterly returns straight to the Registrar General in London. Non-conformist churches had to have their buildings licensed to perform such ceremonies, with the local registrar being legally obliged to be present to record the details. However, from 1899 the situation changed thanks to the Marriage Act of 1898, and non-conformist clergy from these churches could also record and submit the information themselves.