Although the organised keeping of church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials dates from a Mandate issued by Thomas Cromwell in 1538, a few religious houses and parish priests had kept informal notes of such events, usually relating to leading local families, before the Reformation.
Thomas Cromwell's Mandate ordered each incumbent to enter in a register book every baptism, marriage and burial occurring in his parish. This book was to be kept in a substantial coffer fitted with two locks, the parson having custody of one key and the churchwardens the other. Entries were to be made each Sunday after service in the presence of one of the wardens. They were usually made on paper, sometimes on loose sheets, and so the survival rate of these earliest registers is poor.
The system of registration was amended by the Order issued in 1598, which required each parish to purchase more durable parchment registers and to copy the earlier paper register into the new books.
The 1598 Order also stipulated that the weekly entries should be made in the presence of both churchwardens, and that a third lock be added to the parish chest. Within one month of Easter each year, the churchwardens were to send to the Diocesan Registry a copy of all the register entries for the preceding year, the so-called 'Bishops Transcripts'. Where these still survive they can provide a valuable alternative if there are gaps in the registers themselves.
The Civil War and the Commonwealth period temporarily disrupted the keeping of parish registers. An Act passed in 1653 transferred the custody of registers to Parliament, who appointed secular (non-ecclesiastical) 'Parish Registers' to keep the records and introduced a system of civil marriages performed by local magistrates. Broadclyst parish register has an excellent coverage of entries for this period. However, many parishes refused to adopt the new regulations, and a fee of one shilling per entry meant that many events escaped registration altogether. Many clergy were ejected, and some parish registers have large gaps during this period. An added complication, resulting from the abolition of the episcopacy (the Bishops) in 1642, is that there are no Bishops Transcripts from this date until the Restoration.
The Acts passed in 1667 and 1678, and ordering that all corpses should be buried in a woollen shroud, were not repealed until 1814, but by then they had been more honoured in the breach than the observance for some time.
Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1754 stipulated every marriage was to be preceded either by banns, read in the respective churches on three consecutive Sundays before the ceremony was to take place, or by licence from the Bishop of the diocese. Bound volumes of printed forms were introduced for the first time, accompanied by a record of banns, either as part of the same register or in a separate volume.
Rose's Act of 1812 introduced separate printed registers for both baptisms and burials, together with a marriage register with a new more detailed format.
The General Registration Act of 1836 introduced the system of civil registration by the State which exists today. Since the 1st of July 1837 all births, marriages and deaths have been recorded both locally at District register offices, as well as centrally at the General Register Office, although registration in the early years of the system is not complete. The General Register Office records are now held at Smedley Hydro, Southport, Merseyside and orders for certificates are sent there.
The Marriage Act of 1836 allowed Superintendent Registrars to conduct marriages in Register Offices from July 1837, and permitted marriages to take place in nonconformist chapels which were licensed to perform marriage ceremonies.
After 1837, therefore, parish registers were supplanted by a more complete system of registration and this, coupled with the nineteenth century growth of nonconformist churches with their own registers, meant that they no longer possessed their former unique value as a genealogical resource.
Before the introduction of separate printed volumes in 1754 (marriages) and 1812 (baptisms and burials), parish registers consisted of handwritten entries, usually occupying one line only. It is difficult to generalise about the content of entries, for there was no standard practice, and the format varied considerably from parish to parish. In some registers, all entries for a particular year are grouped together, while in others baptisms, marriages and burials form three distinct sections. The arrangement is usually, but not always, chronological. Some registers contain more detail than others, and extraneous material may occasionally be entered, such as notes on natural disasters or other memorable events in the parish.
Later printed registers included provision for the recording of more detailed information. Baptism registers, which before 1813 had usually consisted of the names of the child and its parents together with the date of baptism, now included the occupation of the father and his abode.
From 1813, burial registers, which previously recorded simply the name of the deceased and the date of burial, listed both age and abode as well as the name of the minister who had performed the ceremony. The cause of death was rarely recorded, though very occasionally deaths from cholera , smallpox or other epidemic diseases were noted as such. A burial following an accident or coroner's enquiry might also contain a note to that effect in the entry. However, the cause of death before 1837 is not recorded anywhere in the majority of cases. For deaths after July 1837, you must obtain a copy of the death certificate for this information. Some twentieth century burial registers may sometimes contain additional information, including reference to the location of the burial plot in the churchyard.
Printed marriage registers introduced in 1754 included the status of the parties (i.e. bachelor, spinster, widow or widower), their parishes and the groom's occupation; moreover, they were signed by both parties and two witnesses, who were often relatives.
The 1836 Marriage Act introduced the familiar green cloth bound marriage registers still sometimes in use today, containing additional details of age and occupation or profession of both parties, together with the name and occupation of both fathers.
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