Nature of Source
Introduction to Civil Registration
The introduction of civil registration of deaths in England and Wales followed the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836, which came into effect on 1 July 1837. From this date, all births, marriages and deaths were required to be reported to the register office in the district where the event took place. The original registration districts were usually based on the poor law union areas, each overseen by a Superintendent Registrar. Over time, the districts were adjusted to correspond with local authority administrative areas.
Understanding the National Indexes
National indexes were created from entries submitted quarterly to the General Register Office (GRO) in London. These indexed entries were copied from the registers held by local registry offices. The copying process sometimes led to transcription errors and also be aware that civil registration certificates may contain inaccuracies or deliberate falsehoods. From 1911 onwards, the indexes only included the initial of a person’s middle name rather than the full name.
For a detailed explanation of the area and volume codes used in the indexes and their corresponding registration districts consult the GENUKI website. Note that Roman numerals were used for index reference codes from 1837 to 1851, while Arabic numerals and letters were used from 1852 to 1946.
Evolution of Index Formats
- 1837-1865: Handwritten indexes on vellum, often difficult to read.
- 1866 Onwards: Printed indexes introduced.
- 1984: Annual indexes replaced quarterly ones.
- 1984: Digital indexes replaced paper versions.
Indexes can be searched online at the GRO website and subsequently copies of certificates are available in a variety of formats including paper certificates, PDFs and instant images.
Early Registration
Initially, many births went unregistered as many mistakenly believed civil registration was unnecessary if the child had been baptised. This was particularly common shortly after 1837. Up to 1874 the registrar was responsible for recording the events, resulting in around 15 per cent of births going unrecorded. Registration increased post-1875 with stricter enforcement and fines imposed for non-registration with the responsibility passed to the individual for registering events. Births had to be registered within six weeks of the event.
Stillbirth Registration
Since 1st July 1927 a compulsory system of stillbirth registration has been in operation in England and Wales with the cause of death being added in 1960. Scotland followed in 1939, Northern Ireland in 1976 and Ireland in 1995. A stillbirth is defined as a baby born without any signs of life or breath after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy (reduced from 28 weeks in 1995). It was not until 1874 that parents could obtain an official declaration of a stillbirth. The authorities were forced into action to deter parents killing and disposing of an unwanted baby (infanticide) with little chance of detection and to stop parents burying a child that died shortly after birth as stillborn. Before 1874, no record will exist of a stillbirth although some incumbents did record the death in the parish register and civil death registers will register a stillbirth as ‘unknown’ or ‘unidentified’ if no one could identify the body.
Details on Birth Certificates
From 1969, place of birth of both parents were included on the certificate. The mother’s maiden name is shown on a child’s birth certificate and crucially her former married name if she had been married more than once. If so she would have married under her late married name. An example birth certificate entry should read as follows presuming that she correctly informed the registrar: Sarah Collins, late Robinson, formerly Smith, where ‘formerly’ refers to her maiden name under which she originally married.
Missing Entries
Mothers typically gave birth between ages 18 and 30. If a search is unsuccessful then increase the date range. Also note that after 1911, the indexes do not include the person’s full middle name but only the initial.
The most common causes of a missing index entry are:
- Misspelled surnames.
- First letter of a name erroneously substituted or letters within the name missing or replaced.
- Incorrect or misleading information from the informant.
- Name changes by deed poll.
- Person becoming known by their second forename or by a nickname.
- Child registered as ‘Male’ or ‘Female’.
If a name is still not found try looking for entries in parish magazines and check the Vaccination Registers which held monthly returns of births and infant deaths as reported to the vaccination officer. It is also worth considering that the marriage or birth may not have occurred in England or Wales or may have taken place at sea.
Local and Online Resources
If an entry is missing from the national index, check with the local Register Office as they compiled their own indexes from their original records. Some of these registers have been deposited at the local archives and many are available online. The UK BMD website provides links to local transcriptions of UK births, marriages, deaths, parish registers and census returns. Users can also perform multi-region searches at UKBMD website.
Civil Registration in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man
Civil registration began in the Channel Islands in the 1840s. In the Isle of Man, births and deaths have been recorded since 1878 and marriages since 1884.
Researching Illegitimacy
If the child was illegitimate, the space for the father’s name will invariably be left blank on the birth certificate. The child was usually registered under the mother’s maiden name unless accompanied by the father, in which case both names would appear on the certificate. To find possible fathers, check parish baptism registers, poor law records, quarter session records, school admission registers, and wills. Illegitimacy might also be indicated by a blank space in the father’s name column on marriage certificates.
Between 1837 and 1875, a mother could name a father without any checks on the claim. After this date the consent of the father was required for his name to appear, together with his attendance when the birth was registered. It was not uncommon for a married couple to assign a family surname as a middle name. However, in the event of an unmarried mother giving the illegitimate child a surname as a middle name, this could indicate the paternity of the child.
Legal Status of Illegitimate Children
Under traditional English common law, an illegitimate child was considered filius nullius, meaning ‘son of nobody’. This status denied the child the use of father’s surname and the right to inherit property from either parent. An illegitimate child was also considered to have no legal parents or any legal relatives at all. The concept of filius nullius was also reflected in Scottish law and adopted in most American colonies. A practical advantage for an illegitimate minor (under 21) was the ability to marry by banns without parental consent.
Complications with Naming Patterns
Problems can arise with finding the birth entry of an illegitimate child in the indexes for the following reasons:
- The mother erroneously registers the child’s name after the biological father (e.g. Berry) or in her married name (e.g. Cook) but subsequently uses her maiden name for the child (e.g. Hall). Obviously a search in the birth indexes using her maiden name (Hall) will not find the correct person. Try searching for the newborn using the name of any men closely associated with the mother of the illegitimate child (in this instance Berry or Cook).
- The mother correctly registers the child under her own maiden name (e.g. Hall) but subsequently uses the name of the biological father (e.g. Berry) or her married name (e.g. Cook) for the child. Obviously a search in the birth indexes using the biological father’s name (Berry) or her married name (Cook) will not find the correct person. Try searching for the newborn using the mother’s maiden name if known. If the maiden name is not known, look for her father’s name.
Further Challenges
If the unmarried mother at the time of the birth of the illegitimate child later married, similar problems would exist with finding her in the marriage indexes if she gave the father’s name (e.g. Berry) to the illegitimate child and therefore herself and then later married using her maiden name (e.g. Hall). A similar problem would then exist when looking back for the mother’s birth entry in the indexes if she gave the biological father’s name (Berry) or her husband’s name (Cook) to the illegitimate child and not her maiden name (Hall).
Further complications could arise if the mother herself was illegitimate. It is presumed that her mother would have registered the child under her maiden name. However, if the mother later married with the illegitimate child assuming this name (or the name of a stepfather), then the child would grow up using this name and would therefore mislead those looking for her birth certificate. Problems would also occur if the mother registered her illegitimate daughter under the father’s name, but crucially, continued to use her name for herself and her daughter. This would clearly result in false leads later on if the daughter herself gave birth to a bastard child and the daughter correctly registered her illegitimate son under her maiden name.
Inheritance
Check the will of the father, as illegitimate children had to be acknowledged for inheritance, often described as ‘reputed’ children. The Family Law Reform Act of 1969 granted illegitimate children equal inheritance rights. The Illegitimacy Act of 1926 legitimised an illegitimate child if the parents subsequently married provided neither parent was married to a third party at the time of birth. The legitimised birth was then re-registered in the birth indexes. This proviso was abolished in 1959. Before the Act, an illegitimate child retained that status throughout his or her life.
Workhouse Births
Many illegitimate children were born in the workhouse and the weekly newspaper ‘The Poor Law Union Gazette‘ carried many adverts for missing mothers. Runs of the Gazette are available from the British Library Newspaper Collections with digital online editions available at the British Newspaper Archive covering 1857-1865, 1868-1903.
Additional Resources
The following GenGuide sources could assist in researching civil registration records:
- Bastardy Bonds & Documents
- Civil Registration – Birth, Marriages & Deaths At Sea
- Civil Registration, Death
- Civil Registration, Marriage
- Consular and Overseas Records of Births/Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths/Burials
- Parish Registers-Baptisms
- Vaccination Registers & Certificates
Where Found
General Register Office for England and Wales
The General Register Office holds records covering England and Wales of births, deaths, marriages registered from July 1837 as well as civil partnerships, stillbirths and adoptions. Full Certificates of birth marriage and death are available to order. Historic birth and death indexes can be searched online at the GRO website.
County Record Offices
The local archives hold historic registers for births, marriages and death for events registered at the local register office covering the county. Find the details of a local UK archive from a searchable list of over 2,500 archives hosted by The National Archives.
Period Covered
1837 – Onwards
Genealogical Value
Indexes
- Name.
- Registration District.
- Volume and Page.
- Mother’s maiden name from September 1911.
Certificates
- Date and place (address) of birth.
- Name of father and his occupation.
- Name and maiden name of mother.
- Name and residence of informant.
- Date of registration.
Further References
- Annal, David. Using Birth, Marriage and Death Records: Public Record Office, 2002
- Annal, David & Collins, Audrey. Birth, Marriage and Death Records: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2012
- Cohen, Deborah, Family Secrets: Living with Shame from the Victorians to the Present Day: Viking, 2013
- General Register Office, Abstract of Arrangements Respecting Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the United Kingdom and other Countries of the British Commonwealth and in the Republic of Ireland: HMSO, 1952
- Higgs, Edward. Life, Death And Statistics: Civil Registration, Censuses And The Work Of The General Register Office, 1836-1952: Local Population Studies, 2004
- Langston, Brett. A Handbook to the Civil Registration Districts of England and Wales: Family History Partnership, 2003
- Paley, Ruth. My Ancestor Was a Bastard: A Family Historian’s Guide to Sources for Illegitimacy in England and Wales: Society of Genealogists, 2004
- Paley, Ruth & Fowler, Simon. Family Skeletons: Exploring the Lives of our Disreputable Ancestors: The National Archives, 2005 (see chapter on ‘Bastards’)
- Pugh, Gillian. London’s Forgotten Children: Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital: The History Press, 2007
- Raymond, Stuart. Births, Marriage & Deaths on the Web: Southern England, The Marches and Wales. Vol 1: Family History Partnership, 2005
- Raymond, Stuart. Births, Marriage & Deaths on the Web: Midlands, Northern England and East Anglia. Vol 2: Family History Partnership, 2005
- Raymond, Stuart. Birth and Baptism Records For Family Historians: Family History Partnership, 2010
- Robinson , Jane. In the Family Way: Illegitimacy Between the Great War and the Swinging Sixties: Viking, 2015
- Teichman, Jenny. Illegitimacy: An Examination of Bastardy: Cornell University Press, 1982
- Wiggins, Ray. Registration Districts: An Alphabetical List of Over 650 Districts: Society of Genealogists, 2001
- Wilkes, Sue. Tracing Your Ancestors’ Childhood: Pen and Sword Books, 2013
- Wood, Tom. An Introduction to British Civil Registration. 2nd ed: FFHS, 2001
- Zunshine, Lisa. Bastards and Foundlings: Illegitimacy in Eighteenth-Century England: Ohio University Press, 2005 (Preview available from Google Books)
Websites
GOV.UK
Research your family history using the General Register Office. This guide provided by the UK government helps individuals research their family history using resources from the General Register Office.
GOV.UK
Events recorded in England, Wales and overseas. This is a list of the types of events that are recorded in England, Wales and overseas for which the General Register Office holds records. It also gives the dates for which the records are held.
General Register Office
Discover your family history. Booklet describing how the GRO can help you research your family tree and family history.
General Register Office
Guides to researching your family tree. GRO guides to birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates.
General Register Office
Guides to help you carry out your family history research.
The National Archives Media
Early civil registration, by Audrey Collins.
GENUKI
England Civil Registration. The site provides a comprehensive gateway to understanding and accessing civil registration records for England and Wales, including historical background and research guides.
GENUKI
GRO Indexes Registration Districts. The page provides reference numbers for the registration districts used in the General Register Office indexes for births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales.
UKBMD
Registration Districts in England and Wales. The site offers a county-by-county listing of civil registration districts in England since 1837 to the present and in Wales between 1837 and 1996. The entries show the areas covered by each district and the administrative changes overtime. The same districts were also used to compile the census for the years 1851 to 1911. The site also links to an alphabetical listing of all the registration districts.
UKBMD
Index of Places in England and Wales. For each place listed, this index shows the county and registration district in which it was situated between 1837 and 1974, at which latter date the districts were considerably altered.
Society of Genealogists
How to search for Birth, Marriage and Death certificates. The guide explains how to search for birth, marriage and death certificates in England and Wales, including the history and structure of civil registration since 1837 and what information is included on birth, marriage, and death certificates.
Society of Genealogists
How to search for Birth, Marriage and Death certificates. Locating your ancestor using civil registration. The guide explains the process and, available resources.
FreeBMD
Registration District Information. The site provides detailed information about registration districts used in the indexes of births, marriages, and deaths for England and Wales. It explains what registration districts are with a list of official districts.
FamilySearch
Historical Maps. This interactive map tool by FamilySearch explores historical jurisdictions in England as they existed in 1851. View maps showing the administrative areas and units of England showing boundaries for the Civil Registration District, the Parish, the County, the Diocese and other administrative areas.
Findmypast
A beginner’s guide to using birth, marriage and death records for family history. Often the key to growing your family tree, here’s everything you need to know about vital life event records.
LostCousins Newsletter
MASTERCLASS: Finding birth certificates in England and Wales.
Ancestry Solutions
Civil Registration. Guide to content, commencement date, indexes and how to obtain civil birth, marriage and death certificates.
Wishful Thinking
A Historical Account of the Development of Local Registration Offices in England and Wales, by Rosemary Lockie.
OVS-Genealogy
Birthdate Calculator. Calculate birth date from death date and age on tombstones and death certificates.
Calculator Site
Birthday Calculator. Discover what day you were born on and how many days there are until your next birthday.
Miscellany
Historical Calendar. The calendar allows you to see the often differing dates using Julian and Gregorian calendars.
Illegitimacy Resources
Genealogy Stories
How To Discover The Secrets of Your Illegitimate Ancestors.
Who Do You Think You Are Magazine?
How to find the father of an illegitimate child. Do you have an illegitimate child in your family tree? Find out how you can use family history techniques to find their father.
Family History Fanatics
Father Missing In Your Family Tree? How to Finding Your Illegitimate Ancestor’s Dad.
FamilySearch Research Wiki
Illegitimacy in England. The web site offers a practical guide for family historians researching ancestors born out of wedlock in England. It explains the historical context of illegitimacy and describes the types of records where illegitimate births might be found.
Family Tree Resources
How to Find the Father of an Illegitimate Child.
The Genealogist Feature Article
Tracing Illegitimate Ancestors Online.
Norfolk Record Office
Family History: Illegitimacy.
Family History Daily
Illogical Dates, Missing Parents, Bastardy Bonds: What to Do If Your Ancestors Were Born Out of Wedlock, By Patricia Hartley.
Online Databases
National GRO Coverage
FreeBMD
Search free to view transcribed civil registration indexes of births, marriages and deaths from 1837 for England and Wales. Free access to the records is also available via ancestry.co.uk covering the years only from 1837-1915. The project is a volunteer led with records added daily and part of the Free UK Genealogy organisation.
General Register Office for England and Wales
Search the GRO historic birth and death indexes and order certificates online. These are birth records from 1837 to 1934 and from 1984 to 2023 and death records from 1837 to 1957 and from 1984 to 2023. Please note that the age at death is shown on all the GRO online death indexes from 1837 onwards. Marriages have not yet been digitised. Customers must have a registered GRO online certificate ordering account to use the service. Access death certificate images instantly covering 1837 to 1957 and birth certificate images instantly covering 1837 to 1922 at a cost of £2.50 each.
Findmypast
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915. This database is a searchable and browsable digitized version of the indices of civil birth registrations in England and Wales, reported quarterly to the General Register Office in London. This database is made available to Ancestry users courtesy of the volunteers of the FreeBMD organisation
Ancestry
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915. This database is a searchable and browsable digitized version of the indices of civil birth registrations in England and Wales, reported quarterly to the General Register Office [GRO] in London. This database is made available to Ancestry users courtesy of the volunteers of the FreeBMD organisation.
Ancestry
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007. This database is a searchable and browsable digitized version of the indices of civil birth registrations in England and Wales, reported quarterly to the General Register Office in London. Inferred county is created from the volume number on the record and might result in multiple counties being listed.
MyHeritage
MyHeritage offers an index of civil birth registrations for England and Wales from 1837 to 2005; civil marriage registrations from 1837 to 2005; civil death registrations for England and Wales from 1837 to 2005.
The Genealogist
BMD Records 1837-2005: Complete Birth, Marriage & Death records index for England and Wales as published by the GRO. The indexes are searchable in database format from 1837-2005 for Marriages with the facility to match and cross-reference one name with another surname, 1837-2005 for Births and 1950-2005 for Deaths.
FamilySearch
England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008. Index to births registered in England and Wales beginning 1 July 1837 through 2007.
BMD Registers
BMD Registers. Records of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial taken from non-parish sources including Overseas Records.
Local Coverage
UKBMD
The volunteer led site provides links to websites that offer on-line transcriptions of GRO and local births, marriages and deaths indexes as well as censuses returns. A wide range of other indexes and transcriptions are also available for most counties. These may include parish records, wills and monumental inscriptions. The site hosts the Online Parish Clerks project which contains transcribed parish registers and other parish records.
Gloucestershire BMD Indexes
The aim of the project is to index all the registers held by the Gloucestershire Registration Service. All births registered in the county between 1837 and at least 1912 have been indexed; All deaths registered in Gloucestershire between 1837 and at least 1900 have been indexed and all marriage registers stored by GRS at Gloucestershire Archives have been indexed. The indexing is carried out by volunteers from the Gloucestershire Family History Society in conjunction with the Gloucestershire Registration Service and Gloucestershire Archives.
Findmypast
Derbyshire Registrar’s Birth, Marriage and Death Index
Lancashire BMD
Online access to the birth, marriage and death indexes held by the local registration services developed in partnership with the county’s Family History Societies. See website for date coverage and registration districts covered.
CAMDEX
Index of Births, Marriages, Civil Partnerships and Deaths in Cambridgeshire since 1837 in association with the Cambridgeshire Family History Society and Cambridgeshire County Council. The index is available to review by members of the public free of charge: copies of BMD certificates can be ordered and paid for on-line from the CCC Registration Service.
Online Genealogical Index
The site locates and lists available free and paid for family history records covering a particular county, town or village covering England, Wales and the Isle of Man. The site is particularly useful for locating birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial and cemetery records as well as monumental inscriptions, school records, war memorials and family pedigrees.
Ancestry
Staffordshire, England, Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes, 1837-2017. This collection comprises indexes of civil registrations from Staffordshire local civil registrar offices, excluding the City of Stoke-on-Trent
Calderdale Council
Indexed birth, marriage and death notices for the entire period of the Halifax Guardian’s existence from December 1832 to April 1921
Cornwall OPC Database
Search birth, marriage and death certificate transcripts
Pickard’s Pink Pages for Warwickshire
Warwickshire newspaper extracts covering births, marriages and deaths.
Ancestry
Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976. The index which is kept by the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies features a collection of notices from newspapers and various official sources including announcements of births, marriages, obituaries, and deaths abroad; notices of wills, unclaimed estates and advertisements for missing persons and people seeking next of kin.
Ancestry
London, England, Births and Christening Notices from The Times, 1983-2003. This database contains approximately 100,000 birth announcements extracted from birth and christening announcements published in London’s Times newspaper.
Findmypast
Warwickshire, Coventry Midwife’s Birth Register 1845-1875. Search over 5,000 names listed in three surviving registers taken from Mary Eaves, a midwife who practised midwifery for 35 years and attended 4,438 births.
CD Roms
S & N Genealogy Supplies
Indexes to Overseas BMDs, 1916-1940
Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society
Andrew Todd’s map of Lancashire 1851 showing the Registration Districts of Births, Marriages & Deaths, Registration Sub-Districts, Parishes, Townships and all Anglican churches and dates of their earliest registers)
