General Chat

Can anyone tell me what year was things like birth,marriage and deaths were first recorded as I am trying to find my gt gt gt grandfathers parents.
I had thought they only went back as far as 1837 in which case I would possibly only be able to get his marriage certificate and I think I would only see his father recorded on it.
Thank you

Have you tried Parish Registers?
They would always have been recorded by the church, surely.
Good luck.
Deanna X

Parish records of marriges pre 1837 had limited info on them they didnt show fathers names and wouldn't usually give the ages of the bridal pair .would state their marital status though on marriage and would say whether or not of the parish

The recording by the General Register Office of a register of Birth Marriage and Death certificates started on 1st July 1837.

However, despite being compulsory, it was the duty of the registrar to visit people to get a record of the births, so many births went unregistered.

In 1875 the onus was put on the parents, with a fine payable for an unregistered birth,


Baptism, Marriage and Death records from the Church can go back many hundreds of years before that, depending on each Parish and what records survived.,and the information on them was limited.

Many are transcribed on Various sites.

Only fathers details are recorded on England and Wales Marriage certs, but the names of the Witness`s can sometimes be useful if they are family members.

Records from Scotland for example has both parents names, and occupations and I think their parents names,

If you need any help, put up the details of the person you are looking for.

Nicky