records

Records

Census:
      Every ten years, since 1801, England conducts a census of its population. The first useful census was taken in 1841. The Census contains information such as: the place of residence, the name of the head of household and any other family member, their ages and place of birth. It also contains profession or occupation of the person. The census is taken in April and records every person who was at that home on that day. Privacy laws require a waiting period of 100 years before the information in these records is made available to the general public. In January of 2001, the British 1901 census was released on-line. There is a fee to view final copies of the census and you will find a link to that page under the 'Links' menu.
See sample: 1881 Census

Birth Records:
      To find a birth certificate, you must first search the birth indexes. As all indexes, these are broken into quarters. January to March is the 1st quarter; April to June, the 2nd quarter, July to August the 3rd and October to December being the 4th quarter. On these indexes, you will find a set of numbers beside each name. These first set (9c for example) will indicate the county and district in which the person was born. The second number is the registration number. Both will be needed when ordering a birth record. The actual birth certificate contains: when and where the person was born; the child's name and sex, the father's name and the mother's name including her maiden name; as well as the place of residence.
See sample: Birth Certificate

Marriage Records:
      As with all vital statistic records you will have to search the indexes for the find the people you are looking for. Marriage indexes can be a frustrating search because you must be able to search for both people in different sections of the indexes. They are in alphabetical order. The key to your search is the two sets of numbers after the name. To find the right married partners, these numbers MUST match. A marriage certificate will tell you the date of marriage, their names and usually their ages. In some cases the word 'full' is put into the age section meaning they were of legal age to marry. You will also find out their 'condition', usually bachelor and spinster but you may also find widow or widower. Their occupation, residence at the time of marriage and their father's name and occupation. Pay close attention to the witnesses of the marriage. These can sometimes provide you with leads to other siblings or family members.
See sample: Marriage Certificate

Death Records:
      Search the indexes first and look for the set of code numbers. The death certificate will provide you with information of when and where the person died. Their name, sex and age at time of passing. Their occupation and in the case of wives, their husband's name as well as the cause of death and the member of the family who witnessed or reported the death.
See sample: Death Certificate

Church Records:
      Since Civil registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths didn't begin until 1837, you will eventually have to research Church records. In 1538, Thomas Cromwell ordered all parishes to start keeping records. These are valuable records to search. They will provide some the information you have found in the vital statistic search but with some differences. Marriage certificates can be found here as well as marriages by Bannes. Bannes is a system where a pending marriage was posted on three consecutive weeks prior to the ceremony. If no objections were presented, the marriage proceeded. When you search for births, you will only find the date of christening. You may also find the parish record to indicate the age of the child if they were no longer an infant. The date of passing is recorded as the date of burial, which usually happened a few days after the death.

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