Here's an email exchange I had with West Sussex Record Office in 2001 about a discrepancy I had encountered and their very helpful response. This tale suggests various ways discrepancies can happen and possible solutions. Please note that the email addresses used then are no longer in use. I have found other discrepancies which I'll hopefully get time to mention later. ****************************** Dear Ms Cheesman Thank you for your e-mail regarding the Albourne Parish Register Microfiche for the General Register dated 1732 - 1812. I have checked the actual Register of which this microfiche is a copy (Par 226/1/1/2) and the microfiche does appear to be defective. The original Register includes marriages 1733 - 1751 and burials 1733 - 1751 which do not appear to have been included on the microfilm. This was probably because there are a lot of empty folios in the middle of the Register between folio 25 (1812 baptisms) and folios 60 - 62 (marriages 1733 - 1751). We will get the Register re-filmed so that a new microfiche can be produced containing all the entries in the Register. As far as the later Marriage Register is concerned, however, it is missing. It has never been deposited at the Record Office and has never been found. The Record Office does have the Bishops Transcripts for the whole of Sussex (copies of the Parish Registers which were sent each year to the Bishop) and I have checked the returns for Albourne for the year 1768. This records the marriage as follows: "James Banks of Keymer and Anne Gillam of this parish were married 17 November 1768". The Albourne Bishops Transcripts are available on microfilm (MF 595) and the Record Office is happy to provide photocopies (£3.00 minimum charge for a postal order). Yours sincerely Richard Childs County Archivist West Sussex Record Office County Hall Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RN "Julie Cheesman" <[email protected]> on 05/10/2001 09:18:10 AM wrote: To: <[email protected]> Subject: Albourne parish register fiche FJL/AV7M I recently attempted to confirm a marriage which supposedly took place at Albourne in 1768 (James Banks & Anne Gillam) by using the copy of the Albourne parish register fiche held at the Sussex Family History Group's library at Lewes. I believe the copies that they hold are exactly the same as those held at the West Sussex Record Office. The fiche for the relevant period is described as 1732-1812 General Register (1 fiche) but it only contains Baptisms and Burials. There are no marriages on the fiche, this was also checked by two other SFHG officials, Phil Lucas and Mick Henry. There is no separate fiche listed for marriages at Albourne for these dates, unlike with some other parishes who were using a book containing the printed forms at that time. The IGI entry for the marriage concerned appears to be from a private submission, so perhaps the marriage entries were never filmed by LDS. I don't have easy access to Chichester so can you please tell me if the Albourne parish register with marriages for 1732-1812 exists? Thank you Julie Cheesman, SFHG Internet Mailing List Administrator ********************************