Nonconformists were those who did not conform - in other words, did not belong to the Church of England. The Church of England was established when Henry VIII broke with the Pope and the Roman Catholic church in the 16th century. However, it was not long before groups who disagreed with the beliefs and practices of the Church of England formed their own congregations. They were referred to as dissenters or non-conformists. Initially they were persecuted and often had to meet in secret or go into exile. They might be Protestants (among these were the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Independents, Congregationalists and Quakers) or Roman Catholics. By 1851, a quarter of the English population were nonconformists.
These churches have their foundations in congregations which formed in the 17th century. Congregations were often fluid; a change in minister could alter the emphasis on different tenets of faith and could cause part of the congregation to split, and join, or found, another meeting elsewhere. The history of the non-conformist chapels in Exeter illustrates this very well. For example, Castle Lane Meeting began as an Independent meeting in the late 17th century. It closed in 1730 and the congregation joined the United Dissenters at Bow Meeting. They separated from Bow Meeting in 1795 and moved to Castle Street Chapel; later they became a Congregational church, and are now the United Reformed Church in Southernhay, Exeter.
A number of non-conformist chapels and congregations surrendered their registers to the Registrar General in the nineteenth century, and therefore most surviving pre-1837 registers are now at The National Archives. Many of these have been indexed on the International Genealogical Index (IGI). More information on accessing these registers can be found below.
Baptism registers, (of congregations which believed in infant baptisms), can cover a wide geographical area around each chapel. Separate marriage registers were kept from 1898. Burials usually took place in Church of England (Anglican) churchyards until the larger towns had their own cemeteries. In 1880 the burial of non-conformists by their own ministers in Anglican churchyards was permitted. However, in London, Dissenters had their own burial ground at Bunhill Fields, which was opened in 1665. Bunhill Fields Burial Registers date from 1715 and are now at The National Archives. In 1743, Dissenters also established a Register of Births at Dr William’s Library, in London, which was, however, not only for Londoners. Parents paid 6d to register a birth. The child’s name, parents’ names, place and date of birth and name of maternal grandfather were all recorded. These registers are also now at The National Archives.
This movement began as an evangelical revival in the Church of England (Anglican) church. At first, members attended the parish church on Sundays, and were baptised, married and buried by Anglican clergy, while going to preaching services at the chapel in the week. By the end of the 18th century, Methodists had split away from the Anglican church and Methodist children were baptised in their own chapels.
The Methodist movement itself split into various factions, following the lead of different preachers. The Bible Christian movement was particularly strong in the West Country. It was started by William O’Bryan, a preacher from Luxulyan, Cornwall, and from its foundation in Shebbear, quickly spread throughout North Devon and Cornwall. The various Methodist churches combined into fewer groups in the 20th century. In 1907 the Methodist New Connection and the Bible Christians combined with the United Methodist Free Church to form the United Methodist Church, and in 1932 this combined with the Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitive Methodists to become the Methodist Church.
Methodist chapels are organised into circuits. While each chapel will keep its own marriage register, baptisms are entered into one register for the whole circuit. Baptism registers date from the 1790’s, and marriage registers from 1898. Burial registers are rare because Methodists did not usually have their own burial grounds. Before civil registration, Methodists had their own Metropolitan Register of Births and Baptisms in London, similar to the Registry at Dr William’s Library. This was opened in the early 19th century. Between 1818 and 1841, 10,000 births were registered, and these records are now in The National Archives.
The Quakers were founded by George Fox in the 17th century. They did not believe in an ordained ministry, sacraments, formal church services or church buildings, and refused to take oaths or pay tithes. However, they were always good at keeping records, especially records of "Sufferings", the persecutions inflicted because of their beliefs. In 1656 George Fox asked the Friends in each meeting to buy books for registering births, marriages and deaths. The registration system was improved in 1776 when printed registers were introduced. The Friends submitted all their registers in 1840 and 1857, but collected them all first in London and copied and indexed them in 85 volumes. One copy remains in Friends House, and a second copy was sent to the relevant Quarterly Meeting. In 1860, it was decided that a digest of all births, marriages and deaths be preserved in London for the years 1837 to 1859, and from then on, an annual digest was made. The digest of births was discontinued in 1959 when it was decided not to have birthright membership any longer.
Births
Women were responsible for registering their children’s births. Two copies of the birth note were written out and both were signed by the registrar at the Monthly Meeting and copied into the register. One copy was then given back to the parents and the second sent to the Quarterly Meeting for filing. After 1837, when civil registration was introduced, this form of birth registration ended. Parents of children entitled to membership completed a birth note which was produced at the Monthly Meeting, a minute made, and the note passed to the Friend in charge of the list of members. Parents often put birth announcements in "The Friend", and the list of births in this magazine is more complete than the annual digests.
Marriages
Marriage in a church was not approved, and a Friend who married there was disowned. Friends were more strict about observing degrees of kinship than Anglicans, and until 1883 marriage between first cousins was not allowed. Marriage by Quaker usage of a Friend to a non-Friend was not permitted until 1859.
Two people wishing to marry had to appear both at the women’s meeting and at the men’s meeting with parents, grandparents, guardians and friends to give their consent. At the next Monthly Meeting, two enquirers testified that the couple were free to marry and were Friends of the Truth. At the next Meeting, the couple were given permission to marry. The wedding took place at a mid-week meeting for worship. Both parties made a declaration of their intentions, which was written on the certificate and this was signed by the people present at the Meeting. The certificate was copied into the register at the Monthly Meeting. After 1794, however, books of abstracts of certificates were kept by both the Monthly and the Quarterly Meetings. From 1837 onwards, Friends adopted the civil marriage registers and one person in each Meeting was made responsible for their upkeep.
Burials
The first Quakers were buried in the parish churchyard or in their own gardens or orchards, but by the end of the 17th century, most meeting-houses had their own graveyard. When a Friend died, a burial note was issued to the grave-maker, and after burial the note was returned to the Monthly Meeting and entered in the register. It was then passed on to the Monthly Meeting to which the deceased belonged, if it was different. Every year, the notes were sent to the Quarterly Meeting and registered there. After 1837, this burial system ended, but burial notes were still issued and a minute recording name and date of death recorded at the Monthly Meeting.
The Friends were very law-abiding, and complied with the Burial in Woollens Act; parish burial registers may contain a note that Quakers have made an affidavit, even though the deceased person was not buried in the churchyard. The use of head-stones in Friends’ burial grounds was denounced by the Yearly Meeting in 1717, which meant that Friends' graves should be unmarked, although in practice this was often not the case. After the 1864 Act, Friends began to keep a separate burial register for each burial ground.
Microfilm copies of these, covering the overall period 1567-1970, can be seen at the Family Records Centre and at The National Archives. The register series/film numbers are RG4 and RG8. Those registers in RG4 are arranged according to county (with English counties followed by Welsh counties), and within counties are arranged alphabetically by place. All registers of foreign churches have been removed from their county and placed in a separate section. Very few registers extend beyond 1837, and they are mainly those of Protestant non-conformist chapels and congregations, though some north-country Roman Catholic records, and registers of Foreign Protestant congregations in England and Wales (the Huguenot and Walloon churches for example) are included.
Copies of these microfilms are held at other libraries and record repositories, and can also be ordered for viewing through the Mormon Family History Centres in England and around the world. In Devon, the microfilms for Devon and Cornwall registers are among the Devon and Cornwall Record Society's holdings at the Westcountry Studies Library in Exeter. They can also be ordered through Mormon Family History Centres in Exeter and Plymouth.
Many of these registers have been indexed or edited for publication by local family history societies. The Huguenot Society has published transcripts of the foreign registers. The International Genealogical Index includes entries indexed from the registers in RG4, but NOT RG8.
As well as the above registers, The National Archives hold records of birth registrations in the Protestant Dissenters' Registry (sometimes called Dr Williams's Library). This registry was set up in 1742 for Baptists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians. The records are indexed, and cover dates up to the commencement of civil registration of births in 1837. They include a record of births of some people born before the official start dates, in this country, as well as others born overseas. They are found in RG4, and are microfilmed, but are NOT INCLUDED in the International Genealogical Index.
The records of the Metropolitan Registry which was established for Wesleyan Methodists in 1818, are also found in RG4. The records are indexed, and contain births which occurred before the official start dates, and the names of people born countrywide as well as overseas. The birth registrations cover dates up to 1837. They are microfilmed but NOT INCLUDED in the International Genealogical Index.
Birth certificates from the Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist Registry (Dr Williams's Library) and from the Wesleyan Methodist Metropolitan Registry are in RG5 at The National Archives.
Records of births, marriages, deaths and burials of members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 1578-1841, are held at The National Archives, in RG6. They include some records for the Channel Islands and Isle of Man. County digests of the entries, arranged by initial index, can be searched for a fee at the Society of Friends Library, Friends' House, Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ, tel: +44 (0)20 7387 3601.
Family Records Centre leaflet on how to use Non-conformist Registers
For more information about the The National Archives, and to search the on-line catalogues of RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7 and RG8
Back to top