General, of Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths, and Burials in England and Wales. The first known public authority under which registers recording births or baptisms, marriages, deaths, or burials, were systematically kept in England, was an injunction issued in September 1538 (30 Hen. VIII) by Thomas, Lord Cromwell, lord privy seal and vicegerent to the king, which enjoined that in every parish a register-book should be kept in a coffer with two locks by the parson, vicar, or curate, and churchwardens; and that every Sunday, in the presence of one of the churchwardens, the parson, &c., should enter in a register-book a written record of the dates and names of the weddings, christenings, and burials of the preceding week; by neglect of which duty he incurred a fine of three shillings and fourpence, to be employed in the repair of the church.
In 1547 an injunction was issued by Edward VI, similar to that of 1538, excepting only that the penalty was directed "to be employed to the poore-box" of the parish.
Inquiry was directed, at the instance of Cardinal Pole, under Philip and Mary, in the years 1555 and 1557, whether the clergy had complied with these directions; and in the first year of Queen Elizabeth, 1559, a further injunction was issued, which differed from that of Edward VI; in 1547 only in directing that the penalty should be divided between the poor-box and the repair of the church. These injunctions were not very strictly observed, as appears by the preamble of a bill to "authorize every archbishop and bishop to erect one office of registrship of all the church-books, to be kept in every diocese," which, in March 1563, was read a first time in the House of Commons, but did not pass.
The great importance of registration was in 1590 represented to the Lord-Treasurer Burghley, who, impressed with the force of the representation, communicated a plan to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Nothing, however, appears to have been done in consequence until October 1597, when a constitution was made by the archbishop, bishops, and clergy of the province of Canterbury, and approved by the queen, which notices the very great utility of parish registers, and gives minute directions for keeping them, and for the transmission of a transcript yearly to the diocesan registrar. It appears, too, that persons were appointed for the purpose of ascertaining if the several orders had been complied with; and that every minister, at institution, was required to declare that he would "keep the register-book according to the queen's majesty's injunctions."
In 1603, the first year of the reign of James I, another injunction was issued similar to that of 1597, with the important addition of a clause appointing that the ancient registers, so far as they could be procured, but especially since the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, should be copied into a parchment-book, to be provided by every parish; after which nothing more appears to have emanated, either from the ecclesiastical or civil authorities, on this subject, till the time of the Long Parliament, when the following entry in the Journal of the House of Commons gives evidence of attention to the importance of registration:
"Anno 1644, Dec. 6. Ordered, that it be referred to the committee for bringing in the ordinance for the establishing the directory, to bring in a clause in that ordinance, for registering the time of baptizing of children, and their parents' names, and for registering of burials." In the same year an ordinance was made, directing that in every parish or chapelry in England and Wales the minister and other church-officers should keep a register of birth and baptism, of marriage and of burial; and that all persons reasonably desiring it might search therein and obtain copies.
In August 1653, in pursuance of the recommendations of a law-reform committee appointed in the preceding year, and including many eminent persons, an act was passed, which directed that in every parish a register-book should be provided for registering all marriages, births, and burials in the parish; and that the custody of such book, and the duty of registration, should be given to a person, to be called the parish registrar, appointed by the parishioners chargeable to the poor, and approved by a justice of the peace. It was also enacted that extra-parochial places, or small parishes, might be united, for the purposes of registration, to other parishes, by the justices at their sessions; and that all existing register-books should be kept by the registering officers appointed under that act.
This act was not confirmed at the Restoration, and the business of registration reverted to the clergy of the established church. During the reigns of Charles II. and James II. nothing was done with respect to registers, except that, by a clause in the act of 30 Car. II., c. 3, entitled "An Act for Burying in Woollers," it was enacted that all clergymen do, within their respective parishes, precincts, and places, take an exact account, and keep a register, of all and every person or persons buried in his or their respective parishes or precincts, or in such common burial-places as their respective parishioners are usually buried."
In the reign of William III. registration was rendered a source of revenue. The act of 6 and 7 William III., c. 6, granted duties on births, marriages, and burials, and compelled the clergy, under a penalty of L100, to keep an exact register of all persons born, christened, married, or buried in their respective parishes, to which register the collector of the tax, and all persons concerned, might have free access without fee. It thus imposed on the clergyman the onerous duty of acting gratuitously as a civil functionary, and collecting information of all births within his parish, without distinction of sect, and irrespective of baptism; a duty the difficulty of which was rendered greater by the attempts of the parents to conceal the birth, in order to elude the payment of the tax. With a view to obviate this objection, an act was passed in the following year (7 and 8 William III., c. 35), which provided that parents should, within five days after birth, give notice of the day of the birth to the clergyman, under a penalty of 40s., and that the clergyman should, under a like penalty, register such birth, for which the parents were to pay 6d.; and by the 4th of Anne, c. 12, the clergy were relieved from the ruinous penalties incurred under the act of 6 and 7 William III., c. 6, in all cases where the duties had been really paid.
In 1751 a bill was introduced into Parliament by Mr. Potter (son of Archbishop Potter), for providing a general registry of births, deaths, and marriages, and for taking a yearly account of the population and number of paupers. Although strongly opposed, this bill passed the House of Commons, but was rejected by the Lords.
The 26th Geo. II., c. 33, an act "to prevent clandestine marriages," directed the churchwardens of every parish to provide books of vellum, or good and durable paper, for the registration of marriages. By the 23rd of Geo. III., c. 67, a stamp-duty of 3d. was imposed upon every registered entry of burial, marriage, birth, or christening, to be demanded by the clergyman from the undertaker, or from the parties married, or from the parents of the child whose birth or christening had been registered. By 25 Geo. III., c. 75, the provisions of that act were extended to dissenting ministers. These measures excited much objection, and were repealed in 1794.
The next legislative measure affecting registers was the 52 Geo. III., c. 146, entitled, "An Act for the better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in England." After reciting that "the amending the manner and form of keeping and of preserving registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials of his Majesty's subjects in the several parishes and places in England, will greatly facilitate the proof of pedigrees of persons claiming to be entitled to real or personal estates, and be otherwise of great public benefit and advantage," it enacts that, after the 31st of December 1812, registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, according to the rites of the Established Church, shall be made and kept by the officiating minister of every parish and chapelry, in books to be provided by the king's printer, at the expense of the respective parishes, according to the forms contained in schedules annexed to that act. These schedules contain the following particulars: In case of baptism,—when baptized; child's Christian name; parents' Christian names and surnames; abode; quality, trade, or profession; by whom the ceremony was performed. In case of marriage,—the name and parish of the man; the same of the woman; when married; whether by hams or license; whether by consent of parents or guardians; when; by whom; signature of officiating minister of the parties' married, and of two witnesses. In case of burial,—the name; abode; when buried; age; by whom the ceremony was performed.
The registers of baptism, marriage, and burial were to be kept in separate books, and signed within seven days after each ceremony had been performed. Annual copies were to be made, verified, and signed by the officiating minister, and attested by the churchwardens, and transmitted by them yearly to the registrar of the diocese; which registrar must report thereon to his bishop; must deposit such copies in a safe receptacle, arranged for reference; and cause alphabetical lists of persons and places to be made, kept, and opened for search.
It is to be observed that this act, which referred in its title to registers of births, made no provision for recording the date of birth. Neither did it provide a record of the date of death. It only provided records of the performance of the religious ceremonies of baptism, marriage, and burial, according to the rites of the Established Church. It therefore afforded an insufficient register, even for members of the Established Church; whilst for those who dissented from the Established Church, and therefore did not avail themselves of its ordinances for baptism or burial, it provided no register at all.
The inadequacy of this system, even if fully carried into effect, and the insufficient manner in which it was complied with, called loudly for investigation and remedy, and became the subject of inquiry before a select committee of the House of Commons, appointed in March 1838, who having, as they state, received evidence on registration from clergymen of the Established Church, and from parish-clerks; from gentlemen of the legal profession; from authors devoted to antiquarian research; from persons of different religious denominations, including Catholics, Dissenters, Jews, and Quakers; from gentlemen eminently scientific, and attached to statistical inquiries; from medical authorities, who have long desired ampler and more accurate information on the extent and causes of mortality; Registration.
These acts leave untouched the act of 1812, so far as it relates to the registration of baptisms and burials, but repeal what relates to the registration of marriages, and provide a new registration of marriages, of births, and of deaths.
The circumstances recorded in the register-book under births, the existing law are, in case of birth, the time and place of birth; name and surname of mother; rank or profession of father; signature, description, and residence of the informant; and the baptismal name, if added after registration of birth. In case of death, the time and place; name and surname; sex; age; rank or profession; cause of death; signature, description, and residence of the informant. Every entry must be signed by the informant and by the registrar, who discharges this duty without any immediate expense to the parties requiring registration, but is remunerated by a moderate fee on each entry paid quarterly out of the poor-rates. The informant, in a case of birth, must be one of the parents, or the occupier of the house or tenement in which the child was born; or, if it be a foundling, the overseer of the poor. In a case of death, it must be some person present at the death, or in attendance during the last illness; or, in default of such person, the occupier, or, in default of the occupier, an inmate of the house in which the death occurred; or, if there be an inquest, the coroner. There is no legal obligation upon any one to give notice of a birth or a death to the registrar; the only obligation upon these parties is to give the required particulars, and to sign the register on being requested so to do; and without such signature no birth or death can be duly registered except in cases of inquest.
The form for registration of marriages, applicable alike to all religious denominations, records the place and time of marriage; names and surnames of the parties; whether they are of full age or minors; their civil condition (that is, whether bachelor or spinster, widower or widow); their rank or profession; residence at the time of marriage; father's name and surname; rank or profession of father; by what rites and ceremonies, after what preliminary forms (that is, whether license, banns, or certificate), and by whom solemnized; the entry must also contain the signatures of the parties and of two witnesses.
One of the most important circumstances not previously recorded, for which provision is made in the present register, is the "cause of death," to which a column is assigned in the registers of death, and where it is exhibited in juxtaposition with the period, locality, sex, age, and occupation, thus affording valuable data of the highest importance to medical science. In order to attain the utmost accuracy in the returns of the causes of death, the co-operation of medical practitioners in England and Wales has been invited, and the president of the Royal College of Physicians, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the master of the Society of Apothecaries have recommended "that every practising member of any branch of the medical profession who may have been present at the death, or in attendance during the last illness of any person, shall, immediately after such death, place in the hands of such other persons as were in attendance, or of the occupier of the house in which the death occurred, or of some inmate who may probably be required to give information, a written statement of the cause of death, which such persons may show to the registrar, and give as their information on that subject."
In order that fatal diseases may be recorded in one uniform manner, the registrar-general furnishes all qualified medical practitioners, amounting to about 13,000, with books of printed forms of certificates of cause of death, to be filled up and given to registrars of births and deaths; and he has circulated a nosological table of diseases for the purpose of securing, as far as possible, uniformity of nomenclature in the medical certificates.
The registration system now in force is peculiarly distinguished from other previous measures on that subject, by the provision of a central office in London, called the General Register Office, for the deposit of certified copies of all registers, and general superintendence over everything relating to registration. This office, which is established at Somerset House, London, is presided over by an officer named the Registrar-General, appointed under the great seal, under whom are a chief clerk (who acts as secretary and assistant registrar-general), six superintendents, and a staff of clerks, who are appointed by the lords of the Treasury. Instructions emanate from the central office to all the local officers charged with the various duties of registration under this act, namely, superintendent registrars, registrars of births and deaths, and registrars of marriages, with their respective deputies, all of whom act within their several districts under the directions of the registrar-general, in whom is vested the power of dismissal.
The registrar-general is charged with the direction and superintendence of the entire system, every part of which is subject to his control and responsibility. He also executes various other duties under different acts of Parliament, in addition to those imposed upon him by the Registration Act. Among these may be mentioned the certifying of Nonconformist places of worship, the register of which he keeps; the execution of the provisions of the Compulsory Vaccination Act; the preservation and indexing of registers of marriages solemnized before British consuls abroad, and of marriages celebrated in India; the preparation of returns of mortality in towns, &c., under the Public Health Act; and the custody of the non-parochial registers authenticated by royal commissions in 1836 and 1837. He was also charged with the duty of taking the last decennial census (1851); and as the objects of that important work, and the machinery employed in accomplishing it, are analogous to the ordinary operations of the registration system, it may be presumed that the same course will be adopted on future occasions. The office of registrar-general was held by Thomas Henry Lister, Esq., author of a Life of Clarendon, and other literary productions, to June 1842, since which period it has been filled by George Graham, Esq.
The superintendent-registrar is a local officer created by the registration and marriage acts, acting solely within his district, which is usually identical with a poor-law union, in which case he is either the clerk of the guardians, who, as such, is entitled ex officio to take the office, or he is some person whom the clerk not accepting, the guardians may have appointed, subject in either case to such qualifications as the registrar-general may by any general rule require.
The principal duty of this officer is to receive quarterly, from the registrars of births and deaths and registrars of marriages within his district, the certified copies of births, deaths, and marriages registered by them for the preceding quarter, and, having verified them by comparison with the original entries in the register-books, to certify their correctness, and transmit them to the registrar-general; to receive also and transmit, but not to verify, the certified copies of marriages registered by all clergymen of the Established Church within his district, or by any registering officer of the Quakers, or secretary of a Jewish synagogue, if there be any within or assigned to his district. He has also the care of the register-office of his district, where are deposited all register-books within the district when filled; and he is to make indexes of these, and permit searches, and give copies of entries in the register-books, on payment of certain fixed fees. He may appoint registrars of marriage within his district; and the required previous notice having been given, he may grant certificates for marriage, and also licenses for marriage; the latter, however, can only be granted for marriage in a dissenting place of worship or in the district register-office. It is his duty to be present at marriages in the register-office, where no religious ceremony is permitted.
The registrar of births and deaths is a local officer, appointed in poor-law unions by the board of guardians. His duties are to register, in the books provided for that purpose, the births and deaths occurring within his district; and four times in every year to make, on forms furnished for that purpose, copies of the entries, and to deliver them to the superintendent registrar of his district, who, on comparing them with the register-book, will certify their correctness, and transmit them to the registrar-general. He also delivers an account of the number of entries so copied, which the superintendent registrar verifies, if correct, to enable the registrar to obtain payment of the fees due thereupon from the guardians or overseers of the poor. Registrars of births and deaths are registrars of successful vaccinations, under the Act of 16 and 17 Vict., c. 100.
The registrar of marriages is a local officer appointed by the superintendent-registrar, and acts solely within his district, which is the same as that of the superintendent-registrar by whom he was appointed. His duty is to be present at and to register marriages not according to the forms of the Church of England, solemnized either in registered places of worship or in the district register-office; and to deliver quarterly to the superintendent-registrar certified copies of such entries, in like manner as is done by the registrar of births and deaths.
Marriages, according to the forms of the Established Church, are registered by the officiating clergyman, who delivers certified copies quarterly to the superintendent-registrar of his district, to be transmitted to the registrar-general. The marriages are registered at the time in duplicate; and one of the books, when filled, is deposited in the district register-office.
Marriages, according to the ceremonies of the Quakers and of the Jews, are registered respectively in duplicate by the registering officer of the Quakers and the secretary of the synagogue, and certified copies are given quarterly to the superintendent-registrar for transmission.
The number of persons by whom the registration of births, deaths, and marriages under the existing law is conducted (exclusive of the central establishment of the General Register Office) is as follows:
There are 630 superintendent-registrars, each of whom may appoint a deputy, with the approval of the registrar-general, to act for him in case of his illness or absence. Of these, 586 have accepted the office as clerks of boards of guardians, or have been appointed by the guardians; and 44 are temporary, and have been appointed by the registrar-general.
There are 2197 registrars of births and deaths, each of whom may appoint a deputy, and of this number 2055 are appointed by the guardians established under the Poor-Law Amendment Act, and 142 are registrars of temporary districts, appointed by the Poor-Law Board.
The number of registrars of marriages on the 31st of December 1858 was 1250, each of whom may appoint a deputy; of these about one-half are also registrars of births and deaths. The number of other persons by whom registration of marriage is effected is as follows:—1st, 12,332 officiating ministers of the Established Church, to whom register-books have been furnished; 2d, 86 registering officers of Quakers; 3d, 47 secretaries of synagogues. All these are in communication with the registrar-general with respect to the duties of registration.
The 630 superintendent-registrars' districts, which are in general co-extensive with poor-law unions, vary greatly in population and extent. On an average, each district comprises three or four sub-districts, 26 parishes or places, 28,700 persons (census of 1851), and 59,800 statute acres. The 2197 sub-districts have each on an average 7 parishes or places, 8200 population, and 17,000 acres.
Two inspectors are constantly employed in visiting every district into which England has been divided, for the purpose of instituting a searching inquiry as to the mode in which the responsible duties entrusted to the various registration officers are performed. The inspectors personally visit and instruct in each particular of their duties the registrars of births and deaths and of marriages, scrutinizing the register-books in use, and pointing out any erroneous practices they may discover; they likewise visit the district registrar-offices, and ascertain that the regulations issued for the guidance of superintendent-registrars are adhered to. At the end of each week the inspectors report to the registrar-general the result of their inquiries.
One of the most important features of the present system is the provision, that certified copies shall be deposited quarterly in the General Register Office in London, there to be arranged and indexed for facility of reference; a provision, by means of which a copy of an entry of any registered birth, death, or marriage, in any part of England or Wales, may be obtained by application at a single office, at the trifling cost of 3s. 6d., which includes the fee for search.
The certified copies thus transmitted from the clergy, registrars, registering officers, and secretaries (amounting together to more than 16,000 persons), are all made on separate leaves of durable paper, of an uniform size and peculiar texture, having a distinguishing water-mark for the prevention of forgery, and furnished by the registrar-general to every one of the foregoing persons, on whom the duty of registration devolves. They are sent by the superintendent-registrars by the post, each class of return (i.e., birth, death, and marriage) being sent separate, and in a cover denoting by a mark the nature of the contents, and bearing the name of the district to which it belongs.
On their reception at the central office they are arranged and examined separately, and all defects are noted; and letters on the subject of such defects as are of any importance are addressed to the persons from whom the defective copies come, and who are required to furnish either other copies or such explanations as may remove doubt. The copies are then paged, and bound up in volumes for reference.
Means of immediate reference to any one of the entries of births, deaths, and marriages deposited in the General Register Office are provided in the alphabetical indexes which are made there. This vast work, far exceeding in magnitude anything of a similar kind ever before attempted in this country, is performed in the following manner:—The few particulars requisite for the index are copied from each entry separately on forms prepared for that purpose. These, after having been checked, are cut into separate slips, each containing the reference to one entry; and the slips are then sorted and arranged alphabetically on files, from whence they are then taken off one by one by the indexing clerks, and the contents of each copied into the index. In this manner about a million and a quarter of names are now indexed alphabetically in the course of each year, the processes of transcribing, sorting, and indexing being performed by nineteen persons, most of whom are paid by piece-work. After the lapse of a reasonable time for the completion of the arrangements referred to, the entry of any marriage, birth, or death which has been registered can generally, on the mere mention of the name, without intimation of the exact date or of the part of the kingdom in which it occurred, be very soon discovered, and a certified copy given; which copy, being stamped with the official seal, will be "received as evidence of the birth, death, or marriage to which the same relates, without any further or other proof of such entry." Thus not only are means afforded of obtaining (for legal purposes, by application at one central office, certified copies of registers from every part of England and Wales, but the copies so obtained have the additional advantage of being sufficient evidence, without an affidavit, of their being correct, which is often required for the confirmation of extracts given from such registers.
The alphabetical indexes prepared in the General Register Office comprised, at the end of the year 1858, no less than the registration in 26,600,392 names—viz., 6,083,906 of persons married, 12,209,383 of children born, and 8,307,103 of persons who died in the 20½ years from 1st July 1837, when the present law came into operation. The following table exhibits the yearly additions to the registers and indexes during this period:
### I. Marriages, Births, and Deaths registered in England and Wales from July 1, 1837, to Dec. 31, 1858.
| Year | Marriages | Births | Deaths | Total Names entered in the Registers and Indexes | |------|-----------|-------|--------|-----------------------------------------------| | | Number | | | | | 1837 | 59,478 | 116,058 | 164,116 | 429,775 | | 1838 | 118,607 | 236,131 | 469,787 | 312,760 | 1,042,631 | | 1839 | 133,166 | 246,332 | 492,574 | 338,384 | 1,071,890 | | 1840 | 122,665 | 245,330 | 502,303 | 359,657 | 1,107,320 | | 1841 | 122,494 | 214,992 | 512,158 | 343,847 | 1,109,907 | | 1842 | 128,822 | 237,650 | 517,739 | 349,519 | 1,164,908 | | 1843 | 122,915 | 247,636 | 527,325 | 345,445 | 1,121,406 | | 1844 | 132,249 | 261,498 | 540,763 | 356,933 | 1,162,194 | | 1845 | 143,743 | 287,482 | 543,521 | 349,366 | 1,180,373 | | 1846 | 145,664 | 291,329 | 572,625 | 350,315 | 1,254,958 | | 1847 | 135,845 | 271,693 | 539,965 | 423,304 | 1,234,810 | | 1848 | 138,230 | 276,450 | 563,050 | 399,835 | 1,289,535 | | 1849 | 141,833 | 283,766 | 578,159 | 419,859 | 1,330,764 | | 1850 | 152,744 | 305,488 | 593,422 | 358,926 | 1,501,905 | | 1851 | 154,206 | 308,412 | 615,865 | 393,396 | 1,319,678 | | 1852 | 158,782 | 317,564 | 624,012 | 467,133 | 1,346,711 | | 1853 | 164,520 | 329,040 | 612,391 | 421,697 | 1,362,528 | | 1854 | 159,727 | 319,454 | 634,105 | 437,908 | 1,391,764 | | 1855 | 152,113 | 304,226 | 635,043 | 425,703 | 1,361,972 | | 1856 | 159,337 | 318,674 | 657,453 | 390,906 | 1,365,332 | | 1857 | 159,057 | 318,194 | 669,071 | 419,515 | 1,401,630 | | 1858 | 156,297 | 312,594 | 655,627 | 450,018 | 1,418,239 |
Total in 20½ yrs. 3,041,953; 6,083,906; 12,209,383; 8,307,103; 26,600,392
* Half-year from July 1, 1837, when operation of act commenced.
From these extensive nominal lists of the immediate subs. Facts reflect one or more of the events of birth, death, and marriage, relating to the family or personal nomenclature of the people—a subject which has engaged the attention of antiquaries and others, who have discovered much that is illustrative of the early condition, customs, and employments of the inhabitants of this country in the names which have been handed down from bygone generations. A striking circumstance connected with this subject is the extraordinary number and variety of the surnames found to exist in England. The indexes of the births and deaths registered in a single quarter, after a careful elimination of all duplicates, were found to yield together 32,818 different surnames out of 275,405 entries; and from this result it is estimated that between 35,000 and 40,000 different surnames exist in England and Wales. This number is probably below the truth; at least, it is clear that by the introduction... of the fresh names of foreigners and immigrants, and the corruption of existing names amongst the illiterate, the number is constantly increasing.
The acquisition of a particular surname was the result in most cases of arbitrary circumstances affecting the individual who first bore it; for instance, John Smith, instead of being called after his occupation, might equally have chanced to become John Johnston, from his father's Christian name; or John Brown, from his tawny complexion; or John Hill, from the local position of his abode. But the curious question arises, whether the surnames which have attained so remarkable a predominance over others owe this wholly to their original numerical importance, or whether any circumstances acting upon the ordinary laws of increase, have caused the descendants of their first possessors to multiply at a faster rate than the bearers of other names. The indexes have determined one point—namely, the surnames which have acquired the strongest hold on the people. The following list of 50 of the most common surnames—embracing 18 in every 100 persons registered—is derived from 25 quarterly indexes (9 of births, 8 of deaths, and 8 of marriages); and the probable number of persons in England and Wales of each surname is computed from the indexes of 1853:
II. Fifty of the most common Surnames in England and Wales, and Estimated Number of Persons bearing each Surname in the Year 1853.
| Surnames | Estimated Number of Persons bearing each Surname in 1853 | |----------|--------------------------------------------------------| | Smith | 253,600 | | Jones | 242,100 | | Williams | 159,900 | | Taylor | 124,400 | | Davies | 113,600 | | Brown | 105,600 | | Thomas | 94,000 | | Taylor | 90,000 | | Roberts | 78,400 | | Johnson | 69,500 | | Wilson | 66,800 | | Robinson | 66,700 | | Wright | 62,700 | | Wood | 61,200 | | Thompson | 60,600 | | Hall | 60,400 | | Green | 59,400 |
Thus nearly one-sixth of the entries in the indexes relate to persons of these fifty surnames. The three at the head of the list, Smith, Jones, and Williams, are greatly in advance of the others; and so numerous are the great tribes bearing these names, that on an average one person in every 28 of the population would answer to one or other of them. Smith is pre-eminently the most common English surname, but that of Jones, from its frequency in Wales, not only competes for priority in point of numbers with the Smiths, but in several years contributes a larger number to the indexes. The following table exhibits—
III. Number of Entries of the respective Surnames of Smith and Jones in the Registration Indexes, 1838–54.
| Year | Entries in the Indexes of the Surname of Smith | Entries in the Indexes of the Surname of Jones | Difference | |------|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------| | | Smith | Jones | | | 1838 | 14,891 | 14,414 | 477 | | 1839 | 14,905 | 15,696 | 191 | | 1840 | 15,483 | 16,296 | 773 | | 1841 | 15,237 | 15,532 | 302 | | 1842 | 15,316 | 15,437 | 122 | | 1843 | 15,414 | 15,434 | 237 | | 1844 | 16,203 | 16,332 | 271 | | 1845 | 16,633 | 16,676 | 43 | | 1846 | 17,299 | 17,177 | 122 | | 1847 | 16,917 | 17,296 | 379 | | 1848 | 17,313 | 16,958 | 355 | | 1849 | 18,691 | 17,677 | 414 | | 1850 | 17,405 | 17,135 | 270 | | 1851 | 18,156 | 17,525 | 631 | | 1852 | 18,564 | 17,549 | 915 | | 1853 | 18,775 | 17,925 | 849 | | 1854 | 19,000 | 18,653 | 356 | | Total| 295,037 | 282,900 | 4947 |
The result of this tabular view of the relative frequency of these widely-spread surnames in the indexes of the years 1838–54, is an excess of 3137 Smiths in the seventeen years, but in six of the years the Joneses were more numerous than the Smiths; together, they furnish no less than 568,937 entries, or 1 in 56 of the whole number recorded. Thus it appears that, while Smith is the most generally diffused of English surnames, Jones is considerably superior to Smith in point of local distribution.
These large alphabetical lists of surnames have also determined the proportionate number occurring under each initial letter—a fact which may not be without interest to the philologist. The letter B is, it seems, the most frequent initial of surnames in England, comprising more than a tenth of the whole; next in number are the surnames ranked under the letter H (9½ per cent.), then those under S and W (8½ and 8½ per cent.). The vowels are not of extensive occurrence as initial letters of surnames, although the contrary is the case with respect to the ordinary words of the English language. Other curious particulars, including a list of singular surnames met with in the indexes, will be found in the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Registrar-General.
Although the primary object of registration is to furnish the means of establishing descent, and thereby to facilitate the legal distribution of property, it answers several other vital public purposes not less important. The expectations of those who predicted that from this system of observation and record materials would be derived of vast importance to the science of vital statistics have not been disappointed. No other country now possesses so extensive a collection of digested facts illustrative of the laws of mortality, the progress of population, and the influence of locality, occupation, seasons, and other physical causes upon the health of the people. The task of analysing the registered causes of death, and of collecting and arranging the important results of the... Statistical materials deducible from the registers of births and marriages, as well as of deaths, has been committed to Dr William Farr.
Before the results of the researches conducted by Dr Farr were published in the reports of the registrar-general, scarcely any attention was given to measures for the promotion of the public health. Dr Southwood Smith and others had indeed strongly urged the necessity for attending to the conditions essential to the preservation of health in towns, but it remained for the registration system to furnish the fundamental facts which led to a practical recognition of the importance of the question. The influences arrayed against sanitary legislation were powerful, and the general want of knowledge on the subject served to encourage the opposition with which it was assailed by vested interests. It was impossible, however, to disregard or controvert the facts and statistical calculations contained in the registrar-general's reports, in which it was shown that certain districts were infested with epidemics constantly recurring, while others enjoyed a comparative immunity; and that people suffered most in town districts where the causes of insalubrity operated with greater force than in other parts of the country. The excess of mortality in unhealthy districts, as compared with other localities, was unhesitatingly ascribed to artificial and preventible causes, producing "unnatural deaths" and inflicting material loss on the nation. With wealth, industry, and science at command, it was urged that means could be found to check the waste of life and health, and the evils resulting from men being cut off from their country and mankind before their time. In the year 1845 the first general enactment for enforcing measures of sanitary improvement passed the legislature; and by several subsequent acts extensive powers have been granted for the same purpose. Able and intelligent officers of health have been appointed in the metropolis, Liverpool, and most of the principal towns; extensive drainage works have been undertaken; and an improved water supply obtained. It cannot be doubted that these and other measures adopted to improve the public health are calculated to effect an amelioration in the physical condition of the inhabitants of this country.
The annual reports of the registrar-general, of which nineteen have been laid before Parliament, form a valuable store-house of information upon the various subjects connected with vital statistics. Besides detailed abstracts for each year of the marriages, births, and deaths, tables of the fatal diseases, classified in combination with ages, are given, and comments upon the salient points of the year's registration accompany the whole. With regard to the marriages, a great number of statistical details are published, showing whether according or not according to the rites of the Established Church, the preliminary form (whether banns, license, or certificate), the civil condition of the parties, their ages, and whether they signed the marriage-register by writing their names or by making marks. The latter fact is not without interest, as throwing light upon the state of elementary education in England some fifteen years before; and it is grievous to find from this test that in the year 1857, of 100 men married, 28 could not write their names; of 100 women married, 39 signed with marks. No less than 30,518 marriages were celebrated in that year in which both the husband and the wife signed with marks; so that it may be inferred that an equal number of families would be founded in which neither the father nor the mother could read and write. In this respect, however, England cannot be unfavourably contrasted with France, for it is a curious fact that, exclusive of the metropolitan cities in the two countries, nearly the same proportion (34 in every 100) of the men who marry sign the register with marks; while the French women are even less versed in writing than English women, for of 100 women married, 55 in France, against 48 in England, did not write their names. These proportions, which are for the year 1853, are deplorably high, and show how much has to be done to convey the first rudiments of instruction to the great body of the people in two of the most enlightened nations of the world. In the abstract of births, those of children born out of wedlock are distinguished. All these particulars relating to marriages and births are given for each of the registration districts, counties, and divisions of England and Wales. The causes of death in each year are returned in detailed tables and discussed by Dr Farr, who has also, in occasional papers which have appeared in the reports, treated of the construction of life tables, the English life table and its uses, the principles of a statistical nosology, violent deaths in England, and many other subjects connected with vital statistics. These various practical applications of the facts shown in the abstracts are of great value and interest. An elaborate report on the cholera epidemic of 1849 has also been printed in a separate form.
From the annual reports of the registrar-general it appears that the mean annual rate of marriage in England is 8 marriages, or 16 persons married, to every 1000 persons living,—or one person in 61 of the population is married annually; there are 33 births to every 1000 persons living, or 1 birth in 30 of the population; and 22 deaths to 1000 persons living, or one death in 45 of the population. The marriage-rate was highest in the years 1845, 1846, 1850, and four following years, in all of which it exceeded 85 marriages to 1000 persons living; it was lowest in 1842 and 1843, when it fell below 76 per 1000. The birth-rate was highest (over 34 per 1000) in 1851, 1852, 1855, and 1857; and lowest in the earlier years of registration, when many births were unrecorded. Fluctuations in the death-rate are mainly influenced by epidemics, and by the varying temperatures of different years. In 1849 and 1854, years in which cholera greatly increased the mortality in this country, the rates were 25 and 23·5 per 1000; in 1847, when influenza prevailed epidemically, the rate was 24·7 per 1000. Amongst the healthiest years were 1845, 1850, and 1856, in each of which the rate of mortality was below 21 per 1000.
About thirty days after the termination of each quarter a return is published showing the number of births and deaths registered in the quarter in each of the 630 superintendent-registrars' districts in England and Wales, derived from statements sent to the central office by the 2197 registrars of births and deaths; the number of marriages is stated for the preceding three months. This return also comprises tables exhibiting the progress of population, emigration, the average prices of the funds and provisions, with meteorological observations taken at stations in different parts of the country under the supervision of Mr Glaisher; the whole is accompanied with remarks, in which the facts are generalized, and inferences drawn on points to which it is desirable that public attention should be directed. These quarterly reports have been continued since the year 1842; in the first instance, however, they referred only to the more populous districts, and not to the whole of England as at present.
Since the commencement of the year 1840 a report relating to London has been printed on the Tuesday in each week, compiled from returns received at the General Register Office on the preceding Monday. The metropolitan registrars who furnish these returns are 136 in number; they extract from the death register-books certain particulars respecting all the deaths registered in the week ending Saturday night, and state the total number of births registered. In this manner, early and accurate information is obtained with respect to the causes affecting the mortality of an aggregated town population, which amounted in 1851 Registration.
The cost to the country of the registration system in force in England and Wales is now about £100,000 a year, of which sum about £65,000 are defrayed from the poor-rates for registrars' fees; and the remainder—consisting of £18,000, for the central establishment, and £17,000 for fees to superintendent-registrars and expenses of registration officers—is defrayed out of the public revenue. The portion of the expenditure paid from the national exchequer is annually voted by Parliament.
It is to be regretted that a machinery entailing so large an expense on the public is in some of its details marred by defects which render its operation unsatisfactory. In the first place, the registration of births is incomplete; for although the preamble of the act of William IV., sets forth the expediency of establishing and maintaining "a complete and uniform system of registration of births," &c., no obligation is imposed upon any one to give notice of a birth to the registrar. As a consequence of this laxity in the law, many births pass altogether unrecorded, especially in large towns and amongst the poor. The registrar-general, in his Sixth Annual Report (1844), thus refers to the results of this omission in the act.—"At present I am well aware that many thousands of births annually escape registration; increased exertions on the part of the registrars may effect much; but in my opinion all the births will not be registered until by law it be made compulsory on the father or mother, or some other qualified informant, to give notice within a fixed period to the registrar of a birth having occurred, under a small penalty to be inflicted on default of giving such notice." This statement was made to the secretary of state nearly fifteen years ago, but no remedy has yet been applied, although under the provisions of the Compulsory Vaccination Act of 1854, the penalty for neglect of vaccination can only be enforced after due notice has been given by the registrar to the parents of the child on the registration of its birth. In order to make the first movement in the machinery of this statute universal, it is obvious that the penalty ought to be extended to the neglect of registering the birth.
The next defect of the English registration system is the absence of effectual precautionary measures against fabricated and fraudulent entries. Any person who has a sufficient motive for so doing has but to go to the house of the registrar and profess to give information of a birth or a death, and, by inventing consistent particulars, he may procure the insertion in the register of a purely fictitious entry, merely signing his name or making his mark as informant. In the memorable case of "Regina v. Barber, Fletcher, and others," a fraud to a considerable extent was effected on the Bank of England by means of a forged will, and a certified copy of a false entry of the pretended death of one Ann Slack. Besides the frauds committed by informants, several instances have occurred in which, for the sake of increasing their fees, registrars have fabricated entries on a very large scale; and similar frauds on a smaller scale may be carried on in town districts almost with impunity.
After twenty years' experience of the working of the present system, the application of a remedy to these defects could not be a very difficult matter. Some additional checks are obviously required for the prevention of fictitious and fraudulent entries. If, in the case of births, the register were attested by another witness besides the informant, such as the accoucheur or mid-wife, or some other person assisting at the birth,—and, in the case of deaths, the register were to contain an authenticated statement of the fact of burial as well as of the cause of death, inserted from the certificates of authorized parties,—these guarantees would interpose great difficulties in the way of frauds. A compulsory enactment, making it incumbent on all who are present at a birth or a death, and the occupier of the house in which it takes place, to give notice of the fact to the registrar, would ensure complete resignation. The schedules are also susceptible of considerable improvement. The following schedules, compiled by a committee of the Statistical Society of London from the schedules of other states in which registration is practised, are given as models; the information provided for in the English schedules is indicated by the words printed in italics:
Schedule A.—Marriages.
County, Middlesex; District, Marylebone.—1847. Marriages solemnized at the Parish Church, in the Parish of Marylebone.
| No. | When, where, and how Married. | Names and Surnames of the Parties. | Residence. | Condition. | Parents. | |-----|-----------------------------|---------------------------------|------------|------------|----------| | | | | | | | | 124 | On March 3, 1847, at Marylebone Parish Church. Marriage, after banns, was solemnized between us according to the rites and ceremonies of the Established Church. | William Hastings, Sophia Ann Mitchell. | 3 South Street, Marylebone. | Chelmsford, Essex. | 32 Carpenter. | Widower, 4th Nov. 1840. | Bristol. Peter Hastings, deceased, and Ann Hastings (maiden name, Payne). Upholsterer. John Hastings, Jane Mitchell, witnesses. James Hollingshead, Curate, officiating minister. | In order to determine whether any practical difficulties would be found in eliciting for registration the various facts required in these schedules, experiments were made in several parts of London, and it was found that all the information was furnished without objection by the parties applied to; and the committee of the Statistical Society considered that no insuperable difficulties existed in the way of carrying out such a plan on a national scale.
It is stated in the preface to the Population Abstract for 1831, as the result of an inquiry respecting parochial registers in England, "that eight hundred and twelve English parish registers commence in the year 1538, about forty of which contain entries (copied probably from family Bibles and tomb-stones), anterior to the date of Cromwell's injunction; 1822 parish registers commence from A.D. 1538 to 1558, when Queen Elizabeth required a protestation from the clergy; 2448 parish registers commence from A.D. 1558 to 1603, when the canons authorized by King James directed a copy of all extant parish registers to be made and preserved; and nearly one-half of them (5092) have been preserved accordingly, and are now extant. Parish registers to the number of 969 commence between that time to the year 1650; 2757 from A.D. 1650 to 1700; 1476 parish registers from A.D. 1700 to the year 1750; the rest (six or seven hundred) since that time.
In addition to the registers heretofore and now kept under the sanction of ordinances and acts of Parliament, there is a vast number of non-parochial registers and records of marriages, births and baptisms, deaths or burials, which have been kept in some instances from a very remote period by various dissenting congregations, and in many cases with great care and correctness, but in no form prescribed by authority and under no legal sanction, and which were therefore not admitted in evidence as registers in courts of justice.
In September 1836 a commission was issued, directing certain commissioners to inquire into the state, custody, and authenticity of such registers or records; "and to inquire whether any or what measures could be beneficially adopted for collecting and arranging all or any of such registers or records, and for depositing the same, or copies thereof in the office of the registrar-general of births, deaths, and marriages, or for otherwise preserving the same; and also to consider and advise the proper measures to be adopted for giving full force and effect in evidence, in all courts of justice, to all such registers as might be found accurate and faithful, and for facilitating the production and reception of the same." From the report of the commissioners of the result of their labours, it appears that about 7000 non-parochial registers were transmitted to them for inspection, from 3630 religious congregations, namely,
| Religious Congregations | Number | |-------------------------|--------| | Foreign Protestant churches | 37 | | Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists | 2624 | | Wesleyan Methodists | 818 | | Moravians | 10 | | Baptist Union, Connecticut | 44 | | Calvinistic Methodists | 436 | | Swedenborgians | 21 |
Total: 3630
"Each of these registers," says the Report, "was authenticated by a certificate under the signature of the minister, or of some officer of the church or denomination, from whom it was received; and this certificate was generally accompanied by answers to the questions which had been circulated by the commissioners." After being "classed in lists according to the several counties in England and..." Wales, and entered in a book, with a careful annotation of any particulars applicable to their state or custody," they were "submitted to the inspection of the board, by whom the question as to their admissibility was discussed and recorded; and in every instance the chairman, or the commissioner representing the chairman, authenticated such inspection and examination, by affixing his initials to the first and last entry in each register; or if some parts of the register appeared to be copies, or not to bear marks of authenticity, he affixes his initials to such parts only as were deemed original or authentic." With respect to all such registers as were thus examined and deemed authentic, wholly or in part, the commissioners recommended "that they be kept together in some secure place of deposit, under the care of the registrar-general, or some other officer to be appointed for that purpose, that, under certain conditions, they be receivable in evidence in all courts of justice;" and that the authorized custos of these registers should permit searches, and grant certified extracts, on payment of moderate fees.
These several recommendations were embodied in an act of Parliament, passed in 1840, "for enabling courts of justice to admit non-parochial registers as evidence of births or baptisms, deaths or burials, and marriages" (3 and 4 Vict., c. 92); and, pursuant to its provisions, the registers have been placed in the custody of the registrar-general, by whom searches are permitted, and certified copies granted. The Society of Friends having discovered in different parts of the country a considerable number of registers which had been overlooked when the others were collected, were naturally anxious to secure an extension to them of benefits similar to those conferred by the act above cited; and to afford the Society, and other religious communities who might be in possession of registers under similar circumstances, an opportunity to effect this object, a second royal commission was issued in 1857 for the purpose of verifying the registers. The general course of proceeding adopted by this commission was the same as on the former occasion, and 303 register-books were, after examination and inquiry, reported upon as fit to be received into the custody of the registrar-general. By an act which passed in 1858, these additional registers were placed on the same footing as the other non-parochial records.
The institution of parish registers in Scotland dates from the year 1551, when, amongst other new canons enacted by the provincial council of Scottish clergy held at Edinburgh, was one establishing parochial registers of baptisms and proclamations of marriage. In this canon no provision was made for any record of burials, but the deficiency was afterwards supplied during the early struggles of the Reformation. In 1616 an act of the Scottish Privy Council ordained that in every parish a book should be kept in which the minister should insert "the tymes and names of the persones to be married, and of the bairnes to be baptized, within the said parrochionne, with the witnesse of the saidis bairnes, as alswa the names and tymes of personis deceisand within the same;" and the minister or reader, along with two of the kirk-session, in the case of births and marriages, and two persons present at the burial, in the case of deaths, were to subscribe the register-book at the close of the entries of each day. The Directory for Public Worship, which was approved by an act of the General Assembly, and also by a statute of the Scottish Parliament in 1645, soon after the re-establishment of Presbyterianism, declares that a register for marriages shall be carefully kept, but contains no similar injunction regarding baptisms and burials. In the year 1746 the General Assembly appears to have found it necessary to pass an act to provide for the registration of burials. The records of the church contain no other provisions respecting registration until the year 1816, when the defective state of the parochial registers engaged the attention of the General Assembly, which recommended that the several presbyteries should take the steps necessary to secure the keeping of three separate registers in each parish: one for births, whether the parents of the children belonged to the church or were dissenters; another for marriages, whether legally solemnized or not; and a third for deaths and burials.
Ecclesiastical injunctions having failed to remedy the manifold defects of the system of parochial registration, Lord Rutherford, who then filled the office of Lord Advocate, in the year 1847 brought into Parliament two bills, by one of which it was proposed to alter the law concerning marriages, while the object of the other was to secure the compulsory registration of births, deaths, and marriages. These two bills passed the Upper House, and were read a second time in the House of Commons in the same session, and again in 1848, when they were finally abandoned by the government. With a more successful result, a bill was prepared and introduced into Parliament by Lord Elcho, M.P., one of the lords of the Treasury, to whose persevering efforts his country is indebted for the valuable measure which passed the legislature in 1854, "for the better registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland" (17 and 18 Vict., c. 80).
The provisions of this act—which are in some degree analogous to those of the English acts, but with the necessary adaptations of machinery to the peculiarities of Scottish institutions, and some important improvements—came into full operation on 1st January 1855. A "General Registry Office" is established at Edinburgh, the business of which is conducted by a registrar-general (the deputy for the time being of the lord clerk register) and a secretary, besides clerks and other officers; and local registrars are appointed to act in every parish and burgh. The appointment of registrar in parishes not being burghal is vested in the parochial board; in burghs it is vested in the town-council. The control and superintendence of the registrars within each county devolves upon the sheriff, by whom they may be removed on the application of the parochial board or the registrar-general. It is the duty of the registrar to inform himself of every birth and death within his parish, and to register the same in duplicate. In order to assist informants, the registrar is to furnish gratis printed forms, setting forth the heads of the particulars required to be recorded. An important provision, the absence of which is one of the defects in the English law, secures the complete registration of births. Within twenty-one days after the occurrence of any birth, the parents or parent, or (in case of their death or inability) the person in charge of the child born, the occupier of the house, and the nurse, are required, under a penalty not exceeding 20s. in case of failure, to attend personally upon the registrar, and give information concerning the particulars of the birth. So also, in the case of deaths, the nearest relatives present at the death, and the occupier of the house in which it occurred—and if the occupier should be deceased, then his or her nearest relatives, and the inmates of such house—are bound, under a penalty not exceeding 20s. in case of failure, to attend personally upon the registrar, and give information concerning the particulars required to be registered. In both cases, one of the parties attending to give information is required to sign the register in duplicate in the presence of the registrar. After the expiry of three months, no birth can be recorded without the authority of the sheriff, by whom also the entry must be signed. In cases of doubt, parents may be required, under a penalty for refusal, to produce the child to the registrar.
The genuineness of the registry of death is supported by two important corroborative documents. Within fourteen days after the death, the medical attendant is required, under a penalty not exceeding 40s. in case of failure, to transmit to the registrar a certificate in the form prescribed; and within three days after the interment, the undertaker, under a like penalty for default, is to transmit to the registrar a certificate thereof. The particulars of these certificates are forthwith inserted in the registers.
The Scottish law of marriage and the proclamation of banns are nowise affected by the Registration Act; regular marriages are registered upon the receipt of the proper schedule, duly signed, from the contracting parties, or by the registrar on his attending for that purpose at the solemnization of the marriage. Due provision is made for the registry of irregular marriages.
All registers are required to be kept in duplicate; and after they have been examined, compared, and docqueted by the district examiner, one of the duplicates is retained by the registrar, and the other is transmitted to the registrar-general. At the General Registry Office alphabetical indexes of the duplicate registers there deposited are prepared, and any person is entitled to search the indexes on payment of the fee of 1s., and to have an extract of any entry under the hand of the registrar-general, on the payment of the further fee of 2s. Gratis searches may be permitted, and gratis extracts given to persons of whose inability to pay the registrar-general shall be satisfied.
The following are the numbers of births, deaths, and marriages, registered in Scotland, in each of the four complete years during which the present system has been in operation:
| Year | Marriages | Births | Deaths | |------|-----------|--------|--------| | 1855 | 19,690 | 39,380 | 93,590 | | 1856 | 20,487 | 40,974 | 101,748| | 1857 | 21,314 | 42,628 | 103,628| | 1858 | 19,603 | 39,206 | 104,195|
Of the 104,195 births in the year 1858, 9256 were illegitimate. This gives the proportion of one illegitimate in every eleven births, or 9 per cent.; a proportion much higher than that shown by the English registers, which, however, are incomplete. In Scotland the ratio of births to population rather exceeds that in England; while the ratio of marriages is greatly inferior to it; the mean mortality in Scotland is below that of England.
The annual reports hitherto published consist merely of general abstracts of the numbers of registered births, deaths, and marriages, which the registrar-general is required to transmit to the secretary of state, to be laid before Parliament; the figures are given for Scotland, and for each of the divisions and counties, without comment. A quarterly return is prepared, showing each quarter's registration more in detail, the numbers for the several parishes or districts, as well as for counties and divisions, being given; and a monthly report is made for Glasgow, Edinburgh, and six other principal towns, comprising, in addition to other particulars respecting the results of registration, classified lists of the causes of death at four periods of age.
The schedules annexed to the Registration Act, according to which the registers were to be made, were framed with a view to obtain more comprehensive information than that provided for by the English schedule, and the additional facts to be ascertained on registering a birth, death, or marriage were of importance both for the better identification of the parties, and for the purposes of statistical inquiry. It is to be regretted, however, that under the powers given by the act to the registrar-general to alter the schedules, some of the additional heads of information have been omitted in the register books now in use, the alteration having been made after a very short trial of the Registration schedules annexed to the act.
The want of a complete measure of registration for Ireland has on various occasions been the subject of representations in Parliament and elsewhere. In the year in which an act was passed for the registration of marriages in Ireland (7 and 8 Vict., c. 81); but that statute is obviously imperfect as a measure of registration since the marriages of Roman Catholics, who form the majority of the population, are excluded from its provisions. Such exclusion arose from the fact of certain formalities being required by the statute to be observed in the case of every marriage falling within its purview, the omission of which formalities might be held to render a marriage invalid; and these restrictions in the case of their marriages were considered objectionable by Roman Catholics. The registration under this act commenced on 1st April 1845; the total number of marriages registered in the nine years 1846-54 inclusive, was 83,085, giving an average of 9228 marriages annually, or about 1 marriage for every 710 of the population. In England, during the same nine years, the marriages were in the ratio of 1 to every 119 persons; so that, taking the marriages of the Irish people in the same ratio, an annual average of 55,062 marriages, instead of 9228, would have been recorded under a complete system.
There is in Ireland no provision for the registration of births and deaths, the duties of the registrar-general and the district registrars being confined to marriages. A bill to provide for a general system of registration has been prepared by the chief secretary for Ireland, Lord Nassau, M.P.; and it may reasonably be hoped that Ireland will not long be pointed at as the only civilized country in Europe, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, in which there is no registry of births, deaths, and marriages.
The registration of births, deaths, and marriages in France is conducted under the provisions of the Code Civil of Napoleon. The maire of each commune, of which there are about 37,300 in France, is the registering officer charged with the duty of registering, in books provided for the purpose, all births, deaths, and marriages occurring within his commune. Births and deaths are registered in duplicate, the former upon information, in the presence of two witnesses, and are signed in duplicate by the informant, the two witnesses, and the registering officer; in the case of deaths, one of the witnesses may be also the informant. Marriages are registered in the presence of four witnesses, and signed by the parties, the witnesses, and the registering officer. The register of births records the year, day, hour, and place of birth; the sex and name of the child; the name, surnames, professions, and residences of the parents, witnesses, and informant; the date of registration, and the name and quality of the registering officer; and must be signed by him, by the witnesses, and by the informant. When the child is illegitimate, the name of the father cannot be given except by the authority of the father himself.
The register of deaths records the year, day, hour, and place of death; the name, surname, age, profession, and residence of the deceased person; the names, surnames, ages, professions, and residences of the parents of the deceased, and of the witnesses; and the name and surname of the husband or wife, if the deceased was married; also the date of registration, and the name and quality of the registering officer.
The register of marriages records the names, surnames, ages, professions, places of birth, and residences of the parties; the names, surnames, professions, and residences of their respective parents, and of the four witnesses, with the relation in which they stand to the parties; the consent of the parents; whether the marriage has been opposed; time and place of solemnization and registration; and the name and quality of the registering officer. Registration of births is secured by a provision which requires, under pain of fine and imprisonment, from the father of the child, or, in default of the father, from some person present and assisting at the birth, a declaration thereof, within three days afterwards, to the registering officer, to whom the child must also be shown.
The registration of deaths is secured by a provision rendering it penal for a burial to take place without the registering officer having first seen the body and registered the death.
The registers are closed at the end of every year, with formalities which preclude interpolation. Alphabetical indexes are annually formed in duplicate for each. One of the duplicate registers, with its index, remains in the commune to which it belongs; the other is transmitted to the tribunal of the district, where it is examined and placed under the superintendence of the procureur du roi, or the local officer of the crown. Abstracts are made by the registering officer of each commune, a copy of which is transmitted to the sub-prefect, who from thence frames an abstract for his arrondissement, a copy of which he sends to the prefect; he also from the abstracts of the arrondissement makes an abstract for his department; and copies of such abstracts are sent by the prefects of departments to be deposited in a central office at Paris.
The system of registration observed in France was introduced into Belgium, Geneva, and the Rhenish provinces of Prussia when under the dominion of France, and is still retained in those countries.
In Austria, registers of births, deaths, and marriages are kept by each minister of the church for his parish, and also by the Jewish rabbi for those of their own persuasion.
The register of births records the year, month, and day of birth; the number of the house in which the birth occurred; the name of the child and its sex, and whether it be born in wedlock or illegitimate; the names and surnames of the parents; their religion; and the names and surnames and condition of the sponsors. In the case of illegitimate children the name of the father cannot be entered unless he acknowledges the paternity.
The register of deaths records the year, month, and day of death; the number of the house in which it occurred; the name, religion, sex, and stated age of the deceased; and, when the information of a physician or surgeon can be supplied, the name of the fatal disease. For this purpose, medical men are required to inform the minister, in writing, of the cause of death of such patients as they have attended.
The register of marriages records the year, month, and day of the marriage; the place of solemnization; the names and surnames of the parties; their religion, age, and whether single or widowed; and the names, surnames, and condition of the witnesses.
Bishops, on every visitation of their dioceses, are obliged to call for the production of the registers of births, deaths, and marriages. The provincial authorities are also required to ascertain whether these registers are kept in all places as prescribed by law.
Annual abstracts must be made by the ministers and the rabbins, of which copies must be sent to the district of the conscriptions, and to the office of the circle.
In Prussia, except the Rhenish provinces, registration is committed to the clergyman of the parish amongst Christians, and the elders amongst Jews. The clergyman is bound to enter the births, marriages, and deaths, of persons who are not of the Established Church, but who are "simply tolerated," on the declaration of the parties or their ministers, and to include these declarations in his annual returns. Duplicates of the registers are to be made, and at the end of each year deposited, when examined and verified, in the local civil court, being "the tribunal of the place."
(Report by the Select Committee on Parochial Registration, 1835; History of Parish Registers in England, by J. S. Burn, 1829; Population Abstract for 1831; Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the State, Custody, and Authenticity of Non-Parochial Registers, 1838; Registrar-General's Reports, 1838 to 1858; Letters on the Law of Registration, by Horace Mann, barrister, 1849; Manuel des Officiers de l'Etat Civil pour la tenue des Registres, par A. E. le Mott, Paris, 1827; Sketch of the History of the Parochial Records in Scotland, by Geo. Seton, advocate, 1854.)