Information recorded in Parish Registers (Parish Records)

by admin , Forest of Dean, Sunday, August 23, 2009, 08:30 (5354 days ago)

England, Wales and Northern Ireland
The information you can find in parish registers is very variable. Names may have been spelled phonetically and entries prior to 1733, when English became the official language, might have been written in Latin.

Baptism

A standard form was introduced in England and Wales in 1812 which required that the following information be recorded:

• Date of baptism
  
• Child's Christian name
  
• Family name
  
• Parents' Christian names
  
• Family address
  
• Father's occupation
  
• Name of the person conducting the ceremony.

Generally, less information was recorded before 1812.
In some entries the mother's name is not recorded at all.

Marriage

As with baptisms, the information collected is very variable. In England and Wales before 1754, often only the names of the bride and groom were noted along with the date. Sometimes only the groom's name was recorded.

The marriage act of 1753 said that in England and Wales the following information had to be recorded (from 1754)

• Names of the bride and groom
  
• Date
  
• Place - this had to be a parish church or licensed chapel
• in which the banns had been called
  
• Whether the marriage was by banns or licence
  
• That consent had been given by the parents if either of the couple were under the age of 21
  
• Signatures of the minister performing the marriage, the bride and groom and two witnesses
  
• Marital status of bride and groom
  
• names of witnesses
  
• from 1837
  
• From 1 July 1837 the following information was also collected:
  
• Current address of bride and groom
  
• Names and occupations of the fathers of the bride and groom

The marriage act of 1753 was also significant because it stated that a marriage was only legitimate if it was carried out in an Anglican Church where banns had been called or a licence granted.

Burial

Parish registers can contain the following information on burials.

• Full name of deceased
  
• Date of death
  
• Place of death
  
• Age (from 1866)
  
• Cause of death
  
• Occupation
  
• Signature, title and address of the person who registered the death.
  
• Date of registration
  
• Signature of registrar

FamilyRecords.gov.uk
http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/topics/religious-2.htm