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.

After 1837, parish registers were supplanted by a more complete system of registration,. However, and esp. relevant to the
Forest, was the nineteenth century growth of nonconformist churches with their own registers.