Although civil registration was introduced with effect from 1 July 1837, the registration of births was NOT compulsory (i.e. there was no penalty for failing to register a birth) until the mid 1870s. As a result many births were not registered during the early years. Adrian ----- Original Message ----- From: "Caroline Bradford" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2012 10:12 PM Subject: Re: [MDX] birth recprds/certificates of birth > Compulsory civil registration of births began on 1 July 1837. Baptism was > and is a matter of personal choice. > > Sent from my iPad > > On 5 Aug 2012, at 21:43, COLEEN COLEMAN <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Would like to know if England kept records of births or if they were >> baptisms kept instead? John Hyland born 1855 To Thomas and Mary (Dwyer) >> Hyland and Margaret born 1859 to >> Thomas and Mary (Dwyer) Hyland. Thanks so much for your input.

The 1836 Act for Registering Births, Marriages and Deaths in England (which was a very poorly drafted piece of legislation) required all births to be registered. Penalties were not imposed on parents for failing to register a birth because the Act placed the responsibility for registration on the *Registrar*, not the parents. It is inaccurate to suggest that this made birth registration in any way "optional" until 1875 when the 1874 Act came into force. It is true that some births were "missed" in the early years, particularly in the poorest, most overcrowded urban areas and that other registrations were "lost" in the process of transmission of the information from Registrar to Superintendent Registrar, from Superintendent Registrar to GRO and thence to the Index. Nevertheless, the number of registrations actually went down in 1875 which may well indicate that the old system was more efficient than the new one. Caroline > Although civil registration was introduced with effect from 1 July > 1837, the registration of births was NOT compulsory (i.e. there was no > penalty for failing to register a birth) until the mid 1870s. As a > result many births were not registered during the early years. > > Adrian >