Hi NJO It does have to be early records . My son was married in Perth Australia in the 1980`s . The Priest was old and retired soon after the marriage . The new Priest suggested to the old Priest as a momento would you like the old Birth-Mariage and Death books as I will be starting new ones . The new Priest did not know the entries had not been sent to the Registrar`s office and when the old priest died all his possessions were destroyed thus we have 12 months of missing registrations . I am sure this is not an isolated case . Laurie Australia researching Pickersgill/Kirkby of Methley/Leeds This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ovington1_1 Surnames: Classification: queries Hi Kim For many reasons not all births were registered particularly in the earlier years of civil registration, the parents forgot or they were in the wrong place and wanted to register it somewhere specific (even though it should be where the birth occurred) etc etc Or they registered the birth and the local registrar did not pass on the detail to the GRO in their quarterly returns or mangled the name in their transcription.