• Civil registrations were not completely inclusive or reliable during the early years. The new law was regarded as revolutionary in 1837. Many people felt that the government had an ulterior motive for introducing this law (taxes, etc.) and were, therefore, suspicious of registration. Others did not understand the need for civil registration, as their baptisms, marriages, and deaths were all recorded in the church registers. Prior to 1875, there was also no penalty for failure to register events, so many people just didn't make the effort.
   
• In addition to the problems with incomplete records, the system also allowed for many erroneous registrations to take place. During the early years of registration, the burden was upon the local registrar to seek registrations for which he was paid a sum per entry. This compensation per entry, most likely led to cases of fraudulent registrations.
   
• Another common area for errors involved birth records. Many births were not recorded, especially prior to 1875, because there was no legal mandate for doing so. Parents often did not even know about the law, or thought that the record of the child's baptism in the church register was sufficient. They may also have lived too far from a registration office to make civil registration practical.
   
• In order to avoid paying a late registration penalty (imposed upon births not registered within 6 weeks), families often stated a later (incorrect) date of birth for the child so that the registration remained within the 6 week period.
   
• In some cases where the first name of a child had not been decided upon by the time of registration, only a last name is given.
   
• The civil registration was fairly effective for the registration of marriages, but be cautious of marriages where one or both of the ages are listed as "21." Couples who were 21 or older were not required to have their parent's permission to marry, so you can probably see why a couple might not be truthful about their age on the marriage certificate!
   
• Nearly all deaths were recorded because burial was only permitted with a death certificate. Just be aware that the information on the death certificate was usually provided by a grieving spouse or family member and may, understandably, be inaccurate or incomplete.
   
• As with all other genealogical record research, you should also be sure to check for alternate spellings of names. Last names may have been misheard or misspelled by the Registrar, or the person providing the information may not have known the correct spelling. This can result in a record being filed under an incorrect last name.

For Further Information:

The General Register Office of England and Wales
Web site of the General Register Office, part of the Office for National Statistics.

English and Welsh Register Offices
An index of local register offices in England and Wales from which you can obtain birth, marriage, and death certificates.

Ordering Birth Registration Certificates From England & Wales
An excellent tutorial, by Mark Howells, with more detailed information about using LDS Family History Center's Resources to locate birth, marriage, and death records from England and Wales.

British Isles Genealogy & Family History
Genealogy and family history resources for the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom ( England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man ). Find online databases, free lookups, research tips, lessons and classes, societies, mailing lists, publications, and more!

Civil Registration FAQ