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Birth Marriage and Death records (BMD) in England & Wales

There are two sets of Birth, Marriage and Death indexes in the UK; the original indexes held by the local register offices (LRO) and a secondary index created by the General Register Office (GRO).

Since 1837 all births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales have had to be registered by hand or type at the local register office in the district where the event took place. (In Scotland such registration became compulsory for all in 1855 and for Ireland it was 1864 for births & deaths and in 1845 for marriages).

The original indexes to these registers are held by the local register offices and many of these are now being transcribed by the local authorities in conjunction with Family History Societies, and the data placed on-line as LRO indexes in a variety of web sites, (e.g. Ancestry.com).

Quarterly, the original entries were re-transcribed and then re-indexed by the central government and these indexes have been made available as the GRO indexes, many of which are available for viewing at web sites (e.g. FreeBMD).

However, the many stages involved in making this secondary GRO copy have introduced many errors and omissions in the national indexes - so the recommendation is, as always, to look for original data first, i.e. in the original local indexes in the local register offices (LRO).

(Prior to 1837 parish registers need to be consulted to look for baptism, marriage and burial records. Many web sites have on-line transcribed parish register data and these can be found quite easily.)

 

Birth Marriage and Death records in England & Wales, Key Dates

1st July 1837

Introduction of General Civil Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in England and Wales

Births

Pre-1875 - an estimated 6 to 10% of births NOT registered

1875 more rigorous enforcement of compulsory registration

September quarter 1837 to June quarter 1911 -- only first two full forenames, subsequent initials, registration, district and reference number

September quarter 1911 to present -- only first forename, subsequent initials, registration district and number but also includes mother"s maiden surname.

Marriages

September quarter 1837 to December quarter 1911 -- only first two full forenames, subsequent initials, registration district and ref number

March quarter 1912 to September quarter 1962 -- if female was previously married, index shows maiden name and married name

March quarter 1912 to present day -- surname of spouse added

Deaths

1875 enforcement of compulsory registration

September quarter 1837 to June quarter 1911 -- only first two full forenames, subsequent initials, registration district and reference number

September quarter 1911 onwards - only first forename, subsequent initials, registration district and number

September quarter 1837 to December quarter 1865 -- no age given

March quarter 1866 to March quarter 1969 -- age at death given

June quarter 1969 to present -- exact date of birth given

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All the information here should only be used as a guideline and must not be relied on as primary evidence.